Update: Homemade Green Tea
As I briefly mentioned in my first green tea post I really don’t like brewing my tea into/with plastic. Similar to my reasons for getting rid of our microwave over eight years ago, I just get the heebie jeebies these days about ingesting food or liquid which was surrounded by any kind of plastic especially if it was heated/cooked/brewed etc. in or around plastic. Because of my feelings on this matter, I am trying little by little to rid our kitchen of all plastic items which have inert alternatives.1 So when the plastic pitcher which came with my tea maker broke yet again last week, I was forced with a decision: obtain yet another plastic pitcher by means of ordering a new one online2, search thrift stores for a plastic pitcher with limited chances for success, buy a new whole machine at a poorly-lit discount store3 or search around for a glass or stainless steel alternative I could buy that day for the all important immediate satisfaction. I opted for trying to find a personally more preferable replacement.
- coffeemaker is next on the list [↩]
- waiting over a week for delivery [↩]
- all of which I have done several times [↩]
My Green Tea Recipe
I have been making my own tea for about one year now. I searched and searched for an alternative to our previous main beverage experience which was a national brand of green tea sold in gallon quantities using a cheap sweetener called high fructose corn syrup. I have worked hard to remove this ingredient from our diet which is not a really easy thing to do because it is in just about everything. This was the last product containing this ingredient on our weekly groceries list. Then I found agave syrup in our local health food store. This is a great alternative sweetener and just the thing I needed to begin making my own green tea.
The recipe I have come to make almost daily is as follows:
- 2 TBSP (heaping*) Bancha Green Tea Leaves
- 5/8 – 1 cup honey
- 3/8 cup agave syrup
- 2 capsules powdered ginseng or 20-30 drops of liquid ginseng
- water
Right now, I make tea using a 3 quart Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker however, I would love to acquire this teapot sometime in the future to heat the water and steep the tea. I measure the tea leaves and pour into the brew basket. Fill the machine full of water. Pour the honey and agave syrup into the bottom of the tea pitcher. I do not measure out the honey so the above amounts are estimated and will need to be adjusted based on your taste. Occasionally, if I run out of the agave syrup I find that just adding more honey makes the tea sweet enough to drink. I brew and steep the tea in the pitcher. When the tea leaves have cooled to a reasonable enough temperature to handle I squeeze the remaining tea out of the tea leaves and discard the leaves in my compost pile. Be careful not to let the brewed tea cool down too much. You want the brewed tea to still be warm so you can stir the honey at the bottom of the pitcher so it blends with the tea; the honey is easier to blend when the tea is still hot. Pour mixture into 1 gallon sized container or 2 half gallon containers (preferably glass or other pitcher made of inert materials). Fill pitcher full with ice cubes and/or cold water. Enjoy!
If this recipe doesn’t make you want to drink some then here are 7 seven more reasons to enjoy a nice cup of green tea.
* I chose the amount of tea leaves to brew based on the fact that the tea syrup it brews can be mixed with enough water to make 1 gallon of very delicious “iced” or cold tea.
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