You have had it black as well as green, but have you tried blueberry, peppered mint or orange flavoured tea? If you haven’t then there are more reasons than one for you to explore tea in its various hues and fragrances. Whether it’s fresh petals, herbs or concentrated formulas, your regular tea has evolved beyond milk and lemon.
Souf chef Nettar Singh from Abbey Road talks about Orange Pekoe tea. “It is a grade of black tea that is becoming quite popular and is one of the most sought after these days even at our restaurant. The taste of orange pekoe tea is fine and rich, and it is being promoted as an extremely healthy drink. It prevents and possibly reverses artery clogging in the most tasteful manner ever.”
For Tarun Kapoor, executive Sous Chef, The Metropolitan Hotel, it was the mint tea in Udaipur that led him to experiment and come up with peppered mint tea. “When I was working in Udaipur, I had mint tea from the famous Nathdwara temple. It was refreshing and I have added pepper to it, which makes it suitable for winters. Pepper is good for the throat, but one must add only a small quantity to the tea,” he says.
Kapoor also experimented with blueberry and has prepared blueberry silver diamond tea, which he calls exotic. “A fruity flavour, silver diamonds are made from edible wrap which is added in the end. The flavour is exotic as well as visually appealing,” he shares.
Describing reasons behind the popularity of flavoured teas, Shamsul Wahid, executive chef, Smoke House Grill & Smoke House Deli says, “These flavours break the monotony in taste. Normal tea after a couple of sips loses its surprise element. The object of engineering suspended jasmine and basil tea is to make the tea very exciting. Unlike other teas in which everything settles at the bottom, Xanthan helps to keep the garnishes in suspension and you can taste them with every sip. We do not add any sugar or milk to this as you should just have tea and savour it in different flavours.”

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Blueberry
silver
diamond tea

INGREDIENTS
1 tsp tea leaves
½ tsp blueberry concentrate
2-3 silver leaf
1 cup hot water
Sugar (optional)

PROCEDURE
Put tea leaves in a pot and pour hot water on top and brew for a few seconds. Pour water in a teacup and put the blueberry concentrate on top. Cut the silver leaf in the shape of diamonds and place on teacup. Add sugar if required.

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Orange Pekoe Tea

INGREDIENTS
Basic simple syrup
2 oranges, zest removed in strips
8 cups cold water
9 orange pekoe teabags
Ice cubes
1 orange, sliced into 8 rounds

PREPARATION OF SYRUP
In a small saucepan, mix the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Simmer the mixture over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves.

PROCEDURE
In the syrup prepared, add the strips of orange zest before bringing it to a boil. Remove from heat and let it cool for 30 minutes. Strain the orange syrup into a large measuring cup. In a large saucepan, bring the cold water to a boil. Remove from heat and add teabags, let it cool for five minutes. Remove teabags and let it reach room temperature. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until chilled.
Pour the tea into a large pitcher. Stir in 3/4 cup of the orange syrup, or more to taste, refrigerate the rest for later use. Serve in eight tall glasses with ice, garnished with a slice of orange.

By Souf Chef Nettar Singh, Abbey Road

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Ginger tea with honey

INGREDIENTS
1 inch piece ginger root, peeled
1 large strip lemon rind
6 cups water
1/3 cup honey, eyeball it
1 lemon, juiced
4 camomile or other teabags

PROCEDURE
Slice the ginger into round coins. Heat the ginger, lemon rind, water and honey and bring to a boil in a small pot. Add lemon juice to hot water and transfer to a teapot. Add teabags to pot. Remove bags and serve tea.
Recipe courtesy Urban Café

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Suspended jasmine and basil iced tea

INGREDIENTS
200 ml water
1 regular teabag
A few Jasmine flower petals or essence
100 gm raspberry pearls (optional)
½ lemon rind
1 basil stem
1 basil leaf
30 ml apple juice
½ apple rind
2 gm xanthan

PROCEDURE
Boil water. Add basil stems and half the jasmine petals and simmer for a bit. Add the teabag and leave for around 30 seconds. Take the teabag out, allow the mixture to cool. Add xanthan and chill. Slice very finely the lemon rind and apple skin. Make raspberry pearls. Once the tea is nicely chilled add the flower petals, lemon rind, apple skin and apple juice. Stir until the garnishes are suspended and not settling down. Serve chilled but not with ice.

By Shamsul Wahid, Smoke House Grill & Smoke House Deli

By Tarun Kapoor, The Metropolitan