Renewed, with new flavors and ice cream, tea replaces soft drinks as a refreshing and natural option against the heat.
High temperatures make us drink more liquid. The body needs it. Here is the dilemma. A soda or flavored water? There are many more options to get out of industrial drinks that are also very refreshing, tasty and healthy. One of them is iced tea, or in Creole iced tea. The benefits of tea are many, highlighting above all its antioxidant and diuretic power, among other virtues.
Iced tea, ideal drink for summer
Iced tea with mandarin. (Argentine School of Tea)
What better than preparing a refreshing, healthy and natural drink? Ice is added to the base of the tea (everyone is welcome) and voila! Those who want something a little more daring can add fruit and sweeteners, and the blender will do the rest.
Inside Tea Connection works like a laboratory of flavors. There they try the most played recipes which include coconut milk, fruit juice, horchata and various sweeteners. “We want to break away from traditional tea. People have associated tea when they are sick or what their grandmother drank and it is not like that! Currently the consumption of iced tea is a worldwide trend. Everything is valid, take it alone with ice or mix it with fruit and enjoy it in another way – says Maggie Bianchi, Inside team. We mix it with super fresh seasonal ingredients and it’s ultra healthy. It’s a real non-alcoholic cocktail.”
An important fact about this drink is that it contains approximately 70% tea. It is a sine qua non condition that is infused hot so that the strands release all their properties and flavours. Once the tea is obtained, it must be cooled. This will be the base of the concoction. For the success to be complete, Maggie clarifies that, since ice is going to be added to the preparation, the tea needs to be a little more concentrated than if it is going to be consumed right away, so that its flavor is not diluted. . Fact: one gram of tea flavors 100 cc of water, but if we are going to make iced tea, the dose must reach 1.5 grams.
Although it can be prepared with any variety of tea (it is absolutely a matter of taste), each style of strands has its time and temperature of infusion: green tea is prepared with water at 85° and is left to infuse for two minutes while the temperature of the red and black water rises 10° reaching 9°, and the contact time of the strands with the water must be four minutes. What happens if we spend time or use water at a temperature higher than indicated? The tea becomes astringent and gives a harsh feeling in the mouth.
This drink is so versatile that it can accompany us at all times of the day. Breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. A good tip is to prepare it ahead of time and leave the jar in the fridge. It is preserved for 24 hours.
You have the whole weekend ahead of you and the temperature does not let up. Feel like a bartender and make iced tea for the whole family with recipes from Inside Tea Connection. A good way to cool down.
Coco Bongo
Super refreshing, Coco Bongo has pineapple and coconut milk
Ingredients (for a large bottle)
Orange Oolong Tea Strands (combines Taiwanese red tea strands with orange curls). 180cc
Freshly squeezed orange juice. 30cc
Syrup to sweeten. 30cc
Coconut milk. 15cc
Pineapple cut into cubes. 80 grams
Ice. 8 blocks
Preparation
Infuse 1.7 grams of loose tea in 180 cc.
Let stand, strain and chill In a blender to make frozen drinks mix all ingredients.
Cut ¼ slice of pineapple with peel. Make a small groove with a knife in the bottom, to be able to decorate the mouth of the jar.
Cut two pineapple pineapples and decorate with them facing up.
berry honey
Berry Honey, an Inside Tea Connection specialty
Ingredients (for a large bottle)
Blueberry Stranded Tea (combines black tea strands with blueberries from Patagonia and orange zest). 180cc
Red fruit juice (blackberries, raspberries and blueberries). 90cc
Orange juice. 1 tablespoon
lime juice ½ tablespoon
Homemade honey syrup. (In a saucepan, over low heat, mix equal parts water and organic honey.) 75cc
Ice. 8 blocks
Preparation:
Infuse 1.7 grams of loose tea per 180 cc of water.
In a blender to make frozen drinks mix all the ingredients.
Decorate with some red berries and a fresh branch of sky blue eucalyptus.
LimaThai
Thai lime, the most requested iced tea.
Ingredients (for a large bottle)
Almond Toffee Loose Tea (A very smooth black tea, combined with sliced almonds, toasted pistachio seeds and calendula petals). 240cc
Freshly squeezed orange juice. 45cc
Neutral syrup to sweeten. (Mix over low heat, in a saucepan, equal parts of water and organic sugar). 45cc
lime juice 30cc
Passion fruit pulp, with seeds! (Don’t worry, when blending you have some spectacular pints left until the final drink). 30cc
Ice. 8 blocks
Preparation
Infuse 3.6 grams of loose tea in 240 cc of water.
In a blender to make frozen drinks mix all the ingredients.
Cut a slice of lime and decorate the jar or glass.
Using a grater, grate the lime peel and create lines in various directions.
Use a wooden stick to hold the segment in the mouth of the jar.