When Vicki and I go walking, we often stop for a beverage and a bit of a chat.   In warm weather, one of my favorite choices is a shaken Rooibus iced tea with a little lemon syrup.  It costs about $4.00.  I’m such a DIY geek – I knew I could easily do this at home, if I just bought a bottle of the lemon syrup.

$13.00.  Really?  I don’t think so.

We used to make flavored simple syrups at cooking school to sprinkle on cake layers to prevent them drying out in the course of making a beautifully decorated cake.  You can make any flavor of syrup your imagination can dream up.  It’s a multi-tasker, great drizzled over ice cream and fresh fruit for example, with a nice long self-life in the fridge, even longer in the freezer.  Because citrus fruit is a winter crop, you can make up a batch when the fruit is at its best, and freeze it for summer beverages.

Lemon is just the beginning.  You can flavor the syrup with any citrus zest and juice.  You could add fresh herbs (like mint or lemon verbena) at the steeping stage, or several thin slices of fresh ginger.  You could add mashed berries to the syrup, simmer it for a few minutes, then strain out the solids for perfectly lovely raspberry or strawberry or blueberry syrup.

Although sugar is a pretty efficient preservative, I would suggest making your syrup up in relatively small batches, and freezing it if you find you’re not using it up quickly.  There was the suggestion that the addition of a tablespoon of vodka to about 2 cups of syrup would sterilize it.  While it won’t hurt, I’m not 100% convinced the concentration would be strong enough to be truly disinfectant.  You could add a shot of liquor for flavor, if you wanted to – any clear liqueur in a harmonious flavor (something almond-y or licorice-y) would add an interesting dimension.

While you’re playing “kitchen scientist”, make up some tea concentrate as well.  My Gramma and her church ladies used to make up big batches of “Tea Essence”, which allowed them to quickly and efficiently produce endless pots at the Strawberry Tea (and later the Harvest Tea, and even the Christmas Craft Tea) without waiting for each individual pot to steep.  You can use any kind of tea you like, from Earl Grey to Red Zinger.

With a bottle of Tea Essence, and a bottle of Lemon Syrup in the fridge, and ice in the freezer, you can have the most beautiful iced tea at a moment’s notice, and it will be just as strong and just as sweet as you want it to be – something that can’t be said for powdered mixes!  Enjoy!

Lemon Syrup

There are lots of recipes out there, some starting with simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water), some starting with lemon juice and sugar, and several combinations in between.  This is the one that works best for me.  A little goes a long way, so I don’t feel any guilt about the sugar content.

A good-sized thin-skinned heavy lemon may yield as much as ¼ cup of juice.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 nice big juicy lemons, zested and juiced

1.Dissolve the sugar in the water by heating it in a saucepan until it comes to the boil, stirring until it is clear.

2. Add the lemon zest.  Pop on a lid and let it sit for 30 minutes.

4. Add the strained juice.  Bring the mixture just back to the boil.

5. Strain into a wide bowl, so it will cool to room temperature quickly.

Save this candied zest for your next batch of muffins or cookies.

Bottle and refrigerate, or freeze.

NOTE:  If your first batch isn’t “zingy” enough for you, double up the lemons.  I don’t know if there is a limit to the number of lemons you can use, but more zest will equal more flavor until you get to the “too much” point, and then the syrup will be bitter.  Go stingy with limes and grapefruit, but generous with oranges.

Tea Essence

One of my sources suggested removing the tea from teabags for better hot water circulation.  That process is messy, and doesn’t seem to be necessary, so don’t bother.

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup loose tea leaves, or 8 teabags
  • 2 cups boiling water

Brew the tea exactly the way your mother taught you:

Heat the pot by filling it with very hot water, letting it sit until it feels hot on the outside, and then pouring the hot water out.

Put the tea in the hot pot.  Loose tea gives lots of flavor; I also had excellent success with herbal tea in bags.  The better the quality of the tea, the better the flavor of the Tea Essence.

Pour 2 cups (measure, please) of freshly boiling water over the tea.

Let it steep for 6 minutes, if you’re using any kind of black or green tea.  If you’re using an herbal tea, you can let it steep a little longer, maybe 10 minutes.  It’s all about preventing unpleasant bitterness, and you may need to experiment a little to satisfy your palate.  A very long steeping of black tea will NOT result in tasty concentrate — use lots of good tea, and only steep it as you would for a regular pot.

Strain the tea into a clean container. If you used tea bags, resist the temptation to squeeze them — it doesn’t improve the flavor.

Store in a covered container in the refrigerator.  Squeeze bottles are nice, but this is a chance to use one of the million water bottles you have collected from every conference you attended in the last ten years.  A very clean recycled pop bottle works well too, or maybe that glass bottle from the last commercial iced tea you bought….

Tea Essence does not maintain its fresh flavor forever, and only your palate can determine when it’s no longer doing the job.  If you’re not refreshing the multitudes, keep your batches on the small side.

Hot or cold, the recommended dilution ratio for Tea Essence is 1:16.  Start with 1 Tablespoon of concentrate to 1 cup of water for a single serving (or 15ml to approximately 250ml, for the metric equivalent). Adjust to taste. I use about double that concentration for my iced Rooibus.

Sweeten to taste with your beautiful Lemon Syrup.  I use about a tablespoon in a 10-ounce glass.

If you want to make a pitcher of iced tea, start with ½ cup of concentrate to 8 cups of water (125ml per 2 litres).

As always, let your tastebuds be your guide.  Hot liquids taste more flavorful than cold liquids, so you may need more concentrate for iced tea than you would for hot tea.

Enjoy this little bit of kitchen chemistry.  Invite a friend over and play with flavors!