Iced Lemon Tea With Oomph

 

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Iced Lemon Tea With Oomph

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This is iced lemon tea that tastes like the one I rather enjoy from a can. 

In my mind, there are two kinds of iced lemon teas. The pure iced lemon tea which is just tea, lemon and sugar. Then there is this iced lemon with oomph. I like that extra tart taste that can only come from the addition of citric acid.

Another way to enjoy this iced lemon tea is to add some crushed mint. 

If there is any leftover iced lemon tea, I crush some mint with a mortar and pestle or with a rolling pin, pop it into a glass, pour in iced lemon tea and top up with some ice cubes. It is always good.

I am posting this recipe as I had a few lemons left after using just the zest of those lemons for my Crisp Lemon Cookies plus I had a lot of citric acid left. If you like super lemony cookies, you might just like the ones I bake.

ICED LEMON TEA WITH OOMPH                                          

Prep:	10 minutes
Cook:	5 minutes
Inactive:	5 minutes
Level:	Easy
Makes:	2.5 litres and perhaps more, depending on how much water you add
Oven Temperature:	-
Can recipe be doubled?	Yes
Make ahead?	A day ahead. It does keeps well refrigerated up to 3 days.

Ingredients

The measurements for these ingredients only serve as a guide. You should adjust the quantities to suit your taste. 

5 cups of water (plus more to top up)
3/4 cup of black tea leaves
2 and 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons citric acid
Find out more about this natural ingredient. Refer to the post before, Crisp Lemon Cookies.
3/4 cups lemon juice
2 bunches (or less) of mint (optional)

Method

Boil 5 cups of water. Once water comes to a boil, throw in tea leaves. Turn off the burner and let tea steep for 5 minutes. Any longer and you will get bitter tea.

After 5 minutes, drain tea through a fine mesh sieve into a 2 litre measuring jug or a large vessel. Add all the sugar and stir to dissolve or leave it alone to dissolve in the residual heat. Cool completely.

Stir in lemon juice and citric acid. Add enough cold water and ice. Adjust to your taste.

If you choose to add mint, you must crush the mint either with a mortar and pestle or with a rolling pin to get maximum flavour out of it. Cutting it or putting it in a food processor will not work. I tried the last two methods and the strength of the mint was barely discernible in the tea. I use about 3 to 4  three inch length sprigs of mint per glass cup.

Immediately top crushed mint with iced lemon tea and ice before serving.

Tips

You could choose to leave the iced lemon tea in a more concentrated solution and dilute with cold water and ice before you serve. This way, it will take less refrigerator space and you can easily store it bottled, up to three days.
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