June 27, 2014

Hong Kong Style Iced Lemon Tea 香港凍檸茶

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In Hong Kong where summers are long, hot and exhausting, there is that one and only quintessential Hong Kong drink that can really quench that terrible summer thirst: Hong Kong Style Iced Lemon Tea, or  凍檸茶. You can order this refreshing drink at almost all local Hong Kong style diners, i.e. cha chaan tengs 茶餐廳. I love this deliciously icy drink enough to miss it terribly when I'm away from Hong Kong.

There's really nothing quite like walking into a cha chaan teng, feeling the blast of ice cold air conditioning, folding yourself into one of the tiny booths and slowly drinking up a Hong Kong Style Iced Lemon Tea.  The only thing that I don't like is that I know that they probably use high fructose corn syrup for sweetening the tea.  

Recently as it's been getting hotter and hotter in Hong Kong as the days swing into the long summer, we have been longing for something cool and refreshing to drink at home.  So we thought, why not try to make our favorite Hong Kong Style Iced Lemon Tea at home?

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It turns out that the Hong Kong Style Iced Lemon Tea is really quite easy to make.  And it tastes pretty darn close to the real thing, or maybe even a bit better because of we used Himalayan honey as the sweetener.  This Himalayan honey is amazing in taste, a clear, pure sweet taste, not at all heavy like a lot of honey.  (See the photo of crystallized Himalayan honey bottom left.  For more info see our  Himalaya Wild Honey post.)

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Teabags
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Lemons

For the tea you have to use Lipton Yellow Label Tea , which comes in bags and also loose leaf.  You have to use this tea bag because this is exactly what the cha chaan tengs use in their Iced Lemon Tea!  If you use this tea you can get that exact same fragrance and taste at home.  (It's Orange Pekoe tea, if you're curious.)  Everything else is straightforward, just water and fresh lemons and ice.  Easy Peasy!

The great thing about this Hong Kong Style Iced Lemon Tea is that, before, we are always struggling with the question of what to drink at home.  I mean we drink the occasional pops and juice boxes when we're out and about, but those are not things we want to have at home.  Especially not the pop.  So it's nice to have something a bit more 'real', healthy and also yummilicious to drink when we're at home!

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Himalaya wild honey
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Swirl the tea
Hong Kong Style Iced Lemon Tea Recipe
香港凍檸茶
(Prep time: 2 mins  Cook time: 15 mins)

Ingredients:


Directions:

Boil water and pour into your glass jug.  Immerse tea bags in the water for 10-15 minutes.  Add sugar and stir a bit while the water is still hot so as to melt the sugar.

Once you think the tea is strong enough for your taste, remove the tea bags.  (In Hong Kong, this tea is made quite strong.)  Allow the tea to cool.  

Slice four slices of lemon.  Add ice to your glass (long and tall is preferred), then place lemon slices over.  Fill up glass with your sugared tea and serve!

Tip:  In Hong Kong Cha Chaan Teng ( or Hong Kong style diners)  this Iced Lemon Tea is served along with a spoon and a straw.  The spoon is for pressing down on the lemon slices to release lemon juice into the iced tea.  How much you press is your preference.  

Personally I usually don't press very much, finding that the presence of the lemon slices already creates enough of a lemony fragrance.

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13 comments:

  1. Apart from the lemons, this reminds me of making tea at my Grandma's house as a child, in rural SW Missouri. <3

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    Replies
    1. 😋. Much love for grandmas and all the wonderful food they make!

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  2. I lived in Hong Kong for 5 years and miss the leamon teas so much looking forward to trying this!! Thankyou

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    Replies
    1. Hey Kirra - I hear you, the lemon teas in HK are so tasty and refreshing. It's my favorite! Glad to help you have a cuppa again! ~ellen

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  3. Loved that, will try the recipe in sha Allah

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  4. Just tried this, I think it needs to be a bit sweeter for me so I added 2 extra tablespoons of sugar. Overall pretty good, almost burnt the tea bags’s paper part tho 😂

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  5. Absolutely adjust to the sweetness level you like!

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