One of the new things my 4 year old likes to help with these days is making iced tea. It’s fun to watch her select the tea, open each bag, and place them in our pitcher. I prep and pour in the piping hot water and then she eagerly stirs while the tea & water are steeping – while I’m also reminder her to be gentle so she doesn’t splash and burn herself. She’ll then sip the spoon and say, “Delicious!” One day this summer we even made sun tea as a “vintage” summer activity together.
I like to buy green tea varieties that have additional fruity flavors like passion fruit, peach, or white mangosteen. We love to get unsweet tea when we are at Panera (now St. Louis Bread Co for us) or McAlister’s so the whole goal is to bring these flavors and memories home with us. Not to mention green tea is packed with antioxidants, more so than black and herbal teas, which can benefit heart disease (and prevention) among many other chronic conditions.
During the recent summer heat wave we turned some simple brewed tea into popsicles and truly the hardest part of the whole process is answering the continuous, “Are the popsicles done yet?”
I’m questioning whether I can actually call this a recipe because it is as easy as brewing homemade tea. That process can be a little tricky to get the right boldness of flavor without being too bitter or too dilute. Depending on your size of pitcher at home, you may have to do some adjusting and personalizing.
It’d be great to add fresh, frozen, or dehydrated fruit in the steeping process to boost the flavor and antioxidants even further. I haven’t progressed to this yet with her, as she is still learning to try foods that she thinks she doesn’t like.
Green Tea Popsicles
Makes: about 8 cups of tea {only a portion is used for popsicles}
Ingredients:
4 cups water
8 tea bags
4 cups ice
Directions:
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil or heat in microwave for about 4 minutes.
Pour hot water over tea bags and allow to steep for about 3-5 minutes, until the water darkens from the tea leaves diffusing into the water. Discard the tea bags.
Carefully, add the ice to the hot tea mixture. Stir to combine and chill until needed.
Serve over ice or pour into popsicle mold/s {which will need time to freeze – approx 4 hours minimum}.
Enjoy on a hot summer day or night!
xo,
Becca
twistednutritionblog.com 