Iced tea can have a Persian twist, thanks to a cardamom and rose water infusion. Photo courtesy of Stock.xchng.
Hey guys, I wrote this post a few days ago, then didn’t publish. I was trying to get a snap of me enjoying today’s iced tea recipe. Oh well, I got a pic, then didn’t upload it, and my camera is in my checked luggage. Yes, I’m typing this in the JetBlue terminal at New York’s JFK airport as I wait to board my flight to Texas. Gotta LOVE free, public Wi-Fi.
We’re deep in the workweek now, but I started the post out asking. . .
How was your Fourth of July (if you celebrate it?) What were you all up to for the holiday?
Mine was great, even if it was HOT out. I enjoyed some blissful time off. Saw some friends, did Yoga both days, plus rollerbladed around Central Park early in the morning on Monday the 5th before the heat hit. Hit up the farmer’s market and the local store as well and enjoyed walking around a quiet, somewhat empty Manhattan.
I ate more than my share of watermelon this weekend. Yum! Photo courtesy of Stock.xchng.
Throughout the weekend, I ate a ridiculous amount of fresh watermelon, cherries, and crispy local Kirby cucumbers. Cooling, filling, and most of all, tasty. Heavy food on hot days generally doesn’t do it for me. The heat kinda puts a damper on my normally slightly voracious appetite. Admittedly, not a complete damper. I gotta say, if there were legal limits on watermelon and cherries in particular, I’d have been waaaaay over. 😉
Fireworks! Can you believe the people in my neighborhood put on their own display? Some of the fireworks actually looked like this. Photo source: Stock.xchng.
On the night of the Fourth, as is an annual tradition up here in Harlem, the neighbors were blowing up fireworks in the local park across the street from me that rivaled the “real” fireworks display further downtown. Seriously, from my window, I had a front-row seat to the neighborhood’s (illegal) display. Further in the distance, the official fireworks display was going off. Double trouble, baby! Some of those local fireworks were no joke–my guesstimate is that the local fireworks shot up and exploded at around 15-20 stories high. They were loud, too. The cat was like “What the. . .?”
It was kinda fun to see and hear all of the commotion and brightness, in an illicit and underground sort of way. Ha!
Today's Persian Iced Tea recipe is influenced by the hot black tea I sometimes brew and infuse with cardamom pods and a splash of rose water. Note the dark amber hue of the tea. This is the color we are going for when brewing our tea. You could go lighter if you prefer, of course. Photo courtesy of Stock.xchng.
Another thing I did this weekend was tinker around with some recipes. I’d been meaning to make a Persian influenced iced tea for the longest time, but never got around to it, until this weekend. It’s really quite easy and has an exotic taste, thanks to cardamom, rose water, and classic black tea. It’s a subtle flavor, but a refreshing one. Yes, the rose water and cardamom might be exotic ingredients for some readers. Check out your local Middle Eastern, Indian, Mediterranean, or market to find these ingredients at competitive prices. For example, gourmet markets sell rose water for like $7 a jar, but I can get the exact same jar at Patel Brothers out in Jackson Heights for $1.99. It pays to shop around. Amazon carries this stuff, too. Cardamom and rose water are used in lots of other recipes, so they’re worth having.
This drink recipe comes at a perfect time, as I’ll be shoving off to my home state of Texas in a few days, and am sooooo looking forward to the plentiful and perfect iced tea there. The iced tea in New York City doesn’t hold a candle to Texas tea. Dunno why, but it just doesn’t. Some of my favorite memories are of my mom and older sister brewing a big ‘ol jar of “sun tea” out in the backyard. I’ll have to ask them to teach me how, because I forgot. If I ever know (not sure if I did). So with this Persian Iced Tea recipe, I pay homage to both sides of my heritage: Proud (part) Persian and proud native Texan.
PG Tipps tea is my black tea of choice, but any decent quality black tea will do for this recipe. Lipton, for example. works well.
By the way, the other day I went on a bit of a shopping spree. For me, that means spending like, $30 outside of the grocery store. Yeah, I was a frugalista or recessionista or whatever-ISTA waaaaaaay before the terms were trendy. And I still mostly am, even though, at the moment, I have more work than I can shake a stick at. I know the ebbs and flows of life, and that this feast of work shall likely pass, so I always try to strike a balance with my spending so that things don’t get too out of control in either direction–too frugal, deprived, and miserable, or too bloated and spendy and equally miserable.
Anywho, I finally got a big, beautiful glass pitcher, something I’ve been wanting for a long time. For some reason, a glass pitcher and cake display plates have always seemed so luxurious to me, like items to get only on a gift registry or somesuch. I’ve recently begun to realize that this mentality is kinda silly, especially for people like me who do cook, prep drinks and smoothies, and even have people over for food relatively often. It’s not like my kitchen tools are museum display pieces. They’re real workhorses. They kinda have to be, because in my tiny NYC kitchen, I have room for very little.
So when I spotted a lovely glass pitcher For $3.99 at a discount store up here in NYC known as Conway (a chain better known for its clubwear and underwear that’s so trashy, I deem it disposable lingerie-ha!), I was all over it (the pitcher, not the lingerie!) I snapped it right up.
Rose petals, rose water. It's all good in this tea.
Right away, I was up to brewing teas, smoothies, and other chilly concoctions as my excuse reason to use the pitcher. (Well, after I paid for the pitcher, took it home, de-boxed and washed it, that is 😉 ) So the Persian Iced Tea is the first recipe that I’m sharing with you, debuting the new pitcher. I think if this story had a moral, it’d be that simple things can make us happy, and why deprive ourselves of this happiness for some unknown tomorrow. Live in the moment, and enjoy amazing tea while you’re at it!
Which reminds me: I’m not sure how much (or if), I’ll be posting while I’m away in Texas. Lately I’m all about not putting too much pressure on myself, so if that means a few days in between posts, that’s okay, right? Well, I sure hope so 😉 See you all around online soon. Xoxo!
Persian Iced Tea
Made with rose water ice cubes, cardamom-spiked simple syrup or agave nectar, and quick brew black tea, this Persian inspired iced tea has an exotic flare and refreshing taste:
Ingredients:
- 6 ounces rose water
- Black tea (I used 2 PG Tipps bags, a strong brew that’s brewed hot. You can use a cold brew tea as well)
- 6 cups of filtered water, plus more for ice cubes
- 2 Tablespoons agave nectar (or simple syrup–linkage to directions below)
- 2 teaspoons powdered cardamom (or 4-6 pods of green cardamom)
- Fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)
Directions:
1. Make the rose water ice cubes. Pour 6 ounces of rosewater into an ice tray and top off with more filtered water to make perfect cubes. Pop into freezer overnight, or until frozen solid.
2. Brew the tea according to package instructions. For example, with my PG Tipps brand tea, all I needed was 2 teabags to 6 cups of boiling water. (PG Tipps is a strong brew!) I immersed the teabags for no more than 30 seconds, and the tea was the perfect dark amber hue. Your mileage will vary, depending on the brand of tea you use, and if you use a cold or a hot brew tea. (With a cold brew tea, you don’t have to boil water. You just dump the bags into the cold water and allow them to infuse. Love that!) So in short, carefully follow the package instructions that will yield 6 cups of tea total.
3. Make the agave-cardamom syrup by warming agave over low heat. Or, if you don’t have agave, follow these directions for a classic simple syrup that we can then infuse with cardamom.
4. Add the cardamom powder or pods to the syrup, and stir well to allow its flavor to infuse. Remember, LOW heat here is your friend. It only takes a few seconds for the infusion to happen, so taste test the syrup, make sure you can taste the cardamom, and then remove it from the heat immediately.
5. Add the syrup, a little at a time, to the brewed tea, and stir generously. (Taste as you go here–everyone likes their tea sweetened a little differently, or not at all. For that matter, you could put the syrup on the side and let everyone use the amount they want in their individual tea glasses).
6. To serve, pour tea over rosewater ice cubes that you’ve placed into a tall glass. As the rose water cubes melt, their flavor will infuse into the tea. Garnish with fresh mint, if desired.
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West of Persia 
