One of the most decadent, sweet, and beautiful herbal teas to make its way across the world is Hibiscus. This crimson-red flower shows up in herbal tea recipes from Latin America where it’s known as Agua De Jamaica to India where it’s called Arhul Ka Phool. The distinctive red color of the infusion makes it instantly recognizable, and the sweetly-sour flavor makes it the perfect herb to choose for hot weather iced herbal tea brews. In celebration of this world famous floral infusion, I’m going to share a few of my favorite ways to prepare it with you – all using a simple cold steeped method that will keep the flavor, color, and aroma in perfect form.
Tart Roselle
Hibiscus flowers are native to West Africa and are often called roselle, and they’re famous around the world for their tart, sweetly-sour taste. Many people find that the flavor is somewhere between a tart cherry, a cranberry, and a rose petal. I love sour and tart fruits, so hibiscus has always been one of my personal favorites.
When brewing hibiscus herbal tea, it’s just the flower petals that are used. When dried, they turn a super dark crimson red color.
The Healing Properties Of Hibiscus
Hibiscus flowers are packed with vitamin C – something most of us don’t get enough of each day. They’re also loaded with some important minerals that help with healthy body and brain function.
The tart nature of hibiscus flowers makes them cooling, so drinking an iced herbal tea made from them can actually help us to feel much cooler in hot weather – one reason why this is a popular tea in hot, dry countries like Africa, Egypt, and India.
Hibiscus is also known to help with hypertension.
How To Make Hibiscus Herbal Tea
For me, hibiscus is a hot-weather drink. It lends itself perfectly to being iced, and in fact I think it really tastes best served as cold as possible. While you can make a traditional cup of herbal tea and pour it over ice, I find that the delicate flavors, aroma, and color of roselle petals do best with a cold steep.
Here are two easy tutorials I created that will show you how to make iced tea the easy way:
How To Make Cold Steeped Herbal Tea
Once you learn how to make your tea with the instructions above, you can make the following recipe and see why hibiscus herbal tea is so popular during the spring and summer seasons.
Cool Hibiscus Herbal Tea Recipe
Here’s a simple recipe to create Hibiscus herbal tea your way – feel free to get creative with it!
What You’ll Need:
- 1/2 Cup Whole-Dried Organic Hibiscus Flowers
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 1/2 Lime
- 1/2 Tangerine
- 1″ Peeled Ginger Root
- 4 Cups Cool Water
- Large Canning Jar With Lid
- Natural Sweetener To Taste : Agave, Stevia, Honey, Coconut Water, Fresh Fruit Juice, etc.
- Optional Additions: Cardamom, Clove, Nutmeg
Here’s How To Make It:
- Add all ingredients except sweetener to your jar
- Top off with cool water
- Secure lid and place in refrigerator for 6-12 hours
- Strain to separate herbs and fruits from infusion
- Pour into glasses over ice cubes and garnish with lime or tangerine wedges, cinnamon stick, or mint leaves
Try This!
I love making ice cubes with coconut water. Once solid, you can use them as the ice cubes in your hibiscus tea to give it an extra kick of sweetness and a lot more chill!
Hibiscus herbal tea really is the perfect all-natural treat for hot days. It makes a wonderful offering to visiting friends and family, a delightful treat in a jug or carafe at a party, or a great take-along brew in your water bottle.
If you’ve never experienced this famous tea, I think now is the time!
I get my whole, organic hibiscus flowers and all of my organic spices.
Happy Brewing!
Resources:
- “Roselle.” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roselle_(plant)
- “Hibiscus Tea.” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_tea
- Zak, Victoria. 20,000 Secrets Of Tea. Dell Publishing, 1999. Print.
