Healthy, Happy, Herbal Iced Tea

Due to some recent health issues, I’ve been researching on and experimenting with herbal drinks. When someone hears “herbal tea” or “herbal drink,” the first thing to come to mind is probably some suspicious-looking, strange-smelling brew that your grandmother forced down your throat. But I wanted to make something that I actually looked forward to drinking, especially on a hot summer afternoon.

Lemongrass (Tanglad) and Golden Lime (Calamansi) are pretty common in Southeast Asia. Lemongrass is known for its numerous health benefits. It detoxifies the kidney and liver, treats hypertension, prevents indigestion, reduces uric acid and helps cool down our bodies on hot summer days.  On the other hand, calamansi is known to cure cough and sore throat, and aids in weight loss. Both grow easily in a typical Pinoy garden (it is nice that we have both in our backyard). In a city like New York, you would most likely find lemongrass in any Asian market or a Thai grocery store, since it’s a staple ingredient in Thai cuisine. It might be somewhat tricky to find fresh calamansi in the city, but there might be calamansi juice in places where Asian products are sold. Alternatively, you could use limes or lemons.

Lemongrass and Calamansi Herbal Iced Tea

Ingredients:

  • 6 stalks of lemongrass (or 300 grams, roughly)
  • ½ cup calamansi juice (that’s about 10 pieces of calamansi, more or less)
  • 6 cups water
  • ½ cup sugar or (better yet) honey

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 6 – 8 people

Directions:

  1. Boil lemongrass in 6 cups of water for 5 – 10 minutes.
  2. Add sugar or honey and mix well. Set aside to cool.
  3. When it’s cooled down, strain the lemongrass and place the tea in a pitcher.
  4. Add calamansi juice.
  5. Add more sugar or calamansi juice, depending on your taste.
  6. Refrigerate for a few hours.
  7. Serve with ice.

(Feature Photo Credit via)

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