Lychees taste juicy and sweet and refine many Asian dishes. They also do well in tea - both hot and iced.
Lychees have long been known not only to fans of Asian cuisine. Native to China and Thailand, the fruit with the reddish prickly skin and white, sweet and sour flesh can be found both canned and fresh in many supermarkets. The small fruits are used, for example, in Asian dishes and exotic salads. They also add a sophisticated flavor to some cocktails.
In the meantime, some manufacturers also offer lychee ice tea in the non-alcoholic version. However, industrially produced ice teas usually contain a lot of sugar and very few natural ingredients. If you want to use the many he althy nutrients in lychees, you can quickly and easily prepare the thirst quencher yourself and enjoy it both as iced tea and as warm tea.
Ingredients (for approx. 1 l tea):
- 200 g fresh lychees, peeled and pitted
- 10 kaffir lime leaves (available at Asian stores)
- 1 organic lime
- 1 piece of fresh ginger
- 2 tbsp jasmine tea (loose)
- 2 - 3 tablespoons sugar or honey to taste
Preparation:
Put the washed and finely chopped lime leaves in a saucepan together with the quartered lime and the peeled ginger cut into small pieces, pour in 800 ml water and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.
Then cut the lychees in half, crush them with a mortar or a knife so that the juice comes out more easily, and put them in the pot as well. Bring to the boil again and then remove from the stove.
Add the jasmine tea, stir and let everything steep for 5 minutes. Then pour the tea through a fine sieve into a carafe or pot, sweeten with sugar or honey and drink warm or cold.
➤ Tip: Depending on your own preferences, you can also add other ingredients such as mint leaves or a piece of orange peel.