Recipe: Refreshing Lemon Iced Tea

As we dive into summer, it's possible that everyone is constantly in the hunt for something cold to consume, especially when it's so hot outside.

Let this icy concoction, with its caffeine kick, come to your rescue.

The Lemon Iced Tea, with its refreshing lemon notes and balanced sweetness is a thanda-thanda-cool-cool way to quench your thirst.

By evening, with a shot of vodka or rum, you have a recipe for a cokctail or an Arnold Palmer as it is called. And with a peg of whiskey, instead, you can convert it to Bourbon Tea. Cheers.

Lemon Iced Tea

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 4 cups water
• 2 tsp CTC black tea granules or black tea leaves
• 2 tbsp lemon juice or lemon squash
• 2-4 lemon slices, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar or honey, optional if using lemon squash
• Pinch salt
• Ice cubes
• Tall glass

Method

For the tea decoction

• In a saucepan, heat the water over medium heat.
  Take off heat and add the tea powder or tea leaves.
  Stir and let the decoction steep for five minutes.
  Using a sieve, strain the tea into a bowl or jar and bring it to room temperature.
  Refrigerate until further use.

For serving

• In a tall glass, add the lemon juice or lemon squash.
  Mix in the sugar or the honey, if required.
  Add in the salt.
  Pour in the chilled tea and stir.
  Add the ice cubes and the lemon slices as a garnish.
  Serve chilled.

Mayur's Note: Do not boil the tea as it may leave a bitter taste.

For a stronger flavour, let the tea brew for a little longer.

You can opt for green tea instead of black tea, but the taste will vary.

Adjust the lemon juice and sugar as per your taste and preference.

Use any sweetener of your choice, like jaggery powder, stevia, agave nectar or date syrup, instead of refined sugar, but again, the taste may vary.

Once you have the tea decoction ready, experiment with the squash and use flavours like peach, orange, mango, pineapple, rose or strawberry. The rest of the recipe will remain the same.