Ginger Snap Iced Tea

This iced tea is based on one served at the Sydney baking institution, Flour & Stone. Earlier in the year a friend and I spent the day in the city, wandering around the shops and stopping in at Flour & Stone for lunch. Lunch was delicious and we also ordered a carafe of their Ginger Snap Iced Tea to share. It was so nice, it immediately had me wondering how I could recreate it at home. 

The ginger snap element comes from Rabbit Hole Tea’s Ginger Snap tea which is  caffeine free. The Rabbit Hole Tea bar in Barangaroo also serves a great iced version of this tea - the Ginger Snap Iced Latte. This is my go to when I visit Rabbit Hole, and if you make extra concentrate of the tea you can keep it in the fridge and pour over milk and ice to make one at home. 

Iced teas like this one are extremely welcome at this time of year, especially with this heat wave we are experiencing here in Sydney at the moment. I also think it would make a nice caffeine free and alcohol free drink for New Years celebrations and Summer get togethers too. I often like to have a jug of this in the fridge and take some to work in one of those metal tea flasks that keep drinks hot or cold for hours, so I can enjoy a nice cold yet tasty drink while I’m at my desk.

Ginger Snap Tea by The Rabbit Hole Organic Tea Bar

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Ginger Snap Iced Tea

Ingredients: 

1L cloudy apple juice

5 tsp ginger tea (I used Ginger Snap from Rabbit Hole Tea)

pulp of two passionfruit 

a few springs of fresh mint 

Method: 

In a large jug (at least 2 L capacity), brew the tea in about 500ml of warm water. Leave for at least an hour (or longer if you want a stronger taste). Strain the leaves from the tea and allow to cool.

Once cooled, mix in the cloudy apple juice, passionfruit pulp and most of the mint leaves. Top up with chilled water and ice. 

Serve each glass with extra ice and an extra mint leaf or two. 

It will keep in the fridge for a few days, and the flavour develops amazingly over the first day, so if you have time make it the day before you wish to serve it. 

Summer Afternoon Tea with The Girls

In my last post, I mentioned that soon I would have a couple of things to share with you all. This is one of them! 

I am very excited to share, that in collaboration with Liveability, I have created an event guide for a Summer Afternoon Tea. 

I organised, styled, catered and photographed the event, and have put together the guide and mood board for the event which can be viewed on the Liveability site. 

A few of the recipes made on the day, and shared in the Liveability post are my own creations as well. 

I have always enjoyed a good afternoon tea. I love a good pot of tea, especially when the tea can be drunk from a lovely tea cup. Scones are of course, essential, as are a few sweet treats. As the weekend of this event was fairly warm, I opted to have more cold drinks than actual tea. I made an iced tea, a cordial and also provided water. 

Much of the tea ware and serving plates were vintage, mostly from my own collection. In the Liveability post I have listed my favourite shops to find vintage wares. My current favourite is The Lost and Found Department, which is based on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. 

To see the event guide in full click here. 

Many thanks must go to Cecille and Liveability for allowing me the opportunity to do this. I really appreciate it. Thanks! 

Thanks also to those who attended the event. Thanks for being my wonderful hand models for the afternoon! It means a lot that you came and made the effort for me. 

Thanks also to Jackielyn (Inside the Treasure Chest) for my head shot. I didn’t realise we were shooting one at the time, but I’m very glad you took that photo! Thanks for sharing it with me. 

If you are interested in my catering, styling or photography, please contact me at kulinaryadventuresofkath@gmail.com, or via the contact form on this site.

All baking, styling & photography for this post by Kathryn Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath. 

Passionfruit & Strawberry Iced Tea for Summer

Ok. I know my last post was based on passionfruit, but, it’s summer and they are so good at the moment! I also thought this recipe would be great considering how hot it has been in Sydney lately! 

This recipe was inspired by a drink I ordered at the T2 Tea House called ‘Summer Pash’. Technically the ingredients are the same, but my version comes out so different that it hardly ends up being the same thing. Which is good. Because now I can make it at home, and still enjoy their version at the Tea House! 

I found panama passionfruit during the week and used them here. I know I’ve said it before, but if you can get them, do. They are so good and the flavour is just so fantastic! 

This recipe makes about three litres. However, it is quite easy to halve the quantities and only make one and a half litres. 

Ingredients: 

2 litres of cloudy apple juice 

18-20 g green tea - I use ‘Green Rose’ from T2

800ml water, approx.

pulp from 3 panama passionfruit (or 5-6 ordinary passionfruit)

strawberries, to serve 

Method: 

Place tea in a three litre capacity jug (I use a jug that has a removable part for the tea). Heat the water to 80 degrees Celsius, or if using boiling water, allow to cool for a few minutes and add a little cold water to bring the temperature down. Green tea shouldn’t be brewed at 100 degrees Celsius. 

Pour the water over the tea, and allow to brew for 10-15 minutes. Once the tea has brewed, remove tea leaves from the jug. Using a fine strainer or sieve and extra bowl or jug, pour the tea through the sieve to remove any extra fine bits of tea. Rinse the original jug out and pour the tea back into the jug. You may want to pour the tea through the sieve again if there are still bits of tea left after the first time. Leave to cool for a while. 

Once the tea has cooled, add the apple juice and the passionfruit pulp to the jug. Stir everything in. Keep refrigerated. This iced tea tastes better when it has had time to infuse. I always make it the afternoon or evening before.  Add cut up strawberries and ice cubes to serve. You can add the strawberries to the whole jug of tea, I just find the tea won’t keep as long with the strawberries in. Without the strawberries, the tea should last in the fridge for 5-7 days. But really in Summer, how could it last that long?! 

 Originally Posted January 21, 2014.