Highly Quaffable: Hibiscus Sunset Cooler

By Jeannette Ordas of Everybody likes Sandwiches

For years, I've been wanting to brand hibiscus iced tea, but I've had a difficult fourth dimension finding the dried hibiscus blossoms needed for such a task. If anyone has whatsoever leads inward Vancouver, teach out a comment! So instead, I settled on purchasing an herbal tea blend that I constitute at my local grocer.

My start go-around alongside this herbal tea was pretty disappointing. My iced tea was weak as well as tasteless. At start I blamed the tea, but I shortly realized it was the me, the maker at fault. Ooops! The adjacent time, I added inward agency to a greater extent than tea bags than I would if I was making iced tea from dark tea bags. Problem solved.

The resulting iced tea was deep ruby as well as gorgeous. It besides tasted adept as well as because I was using a "hibiscus wild berry blend", I didn't experience the demand to add together sugar. It made for a quaffable sipper.

But instead of leaving good plenty alone, I went a footstep farther as well as added pineapple juice to the mix. Whoa! It tasted precisely similar fruit punch – well, a delicious, refreshing not-very-sweet fruit punch. I loved it.

So I was surprised to run across that inward my recent library mass (the Cafe Flora cookbook), a recipe for a drinkable called Hibiscus Sunset. It was practically the same element listing every bit my drink, except the cite was sexier as well as it involved a clever footling fob inward pouring the drink. Pour the juice into the glass, as well as thus slow pour the iced tea over a large soup spoon. This creates a layer, an ombre effect, that is quite gorgeous. It looks only similar the stunning ruby sunsets we've been having hither inward Vancouver!

So drinkable the iced tea without the juice if you lot desire something uncomplicated or teach for the gusto as well as run the juice over a spoon to brand something impressive to serve your guests.

Hibiscus Sunset Cooler

If you lot similar a sweetness tea, you lot tin flame add together inward saccharide when the tea is hot as well as stir to blend. I

six bags of hibiscus blended tea (I used a hibiscus berry blend, but Red Zinger is besides perfect here)

four cups boiling water

H2O ice cubes

pineapple or orangish juice or lemonade

Remove tea pocketbook tags as well as strings (who wants to drinkable steeped paper?) as well as add together into a drinking glass or ceramic pitcher. Pour boiling H2O over acme as well as allow cool on counter. Move to the refrigerator to teach cold.

Fill a juice drinking glass alongside H2O ice as well as pour inward pineapple or orangish juice to the halfway point*. Rest a tablespoon or soup shortly on the within rim of the drinking glass as well as slow pour the iced tea over the spoon to fill upwards the glass. This creates a layer thus the xanthous or orangish juice is at the bottom piece the ruby tea sits on top. It's pretty as well as it's delicious. Win!

* Note: filling the drinking glass halfway alongside juice makes the best "sunsets" but I prefer the gustation of less juice. Let your tastebuds or your eyeballs hold out the judge!