The news from Jamba Juice is that its upcoming lineup of hot beverages includes "Heavenly Green Tea," made with matcha green tea, cane sugar, and vanilla.
I look forward to tasting one, although I will probably ask them to hold the cane sugar.
And with a bottle of vanilla extract, we could all make our own Heavenly Green Tea.
A farmhouse and its tea field. (Taken by yours truly in Kumamoto, Japan.)
The Hindu gives us a simple recipe for scrumptious green tea ice cream.
The recipe appears in the 2nd half of the article, so if you do not see it above the fold, do not despair — simply scroll down a bit. Trust me — it's worth it!
This recipe calls for matcha, and although our own is currently sold out, the grower has shipped more, so we will be restocked soon.
The recipe for green tea shortbread that I posted recently proved popular among us foodies, so here's another yummy-sounding one—for green tea biscotti.
This article in Canada's National Postgives us three tea recipes, including one for yummy-sounding green tea shortbread made with matcha:
GREEN TEA SHORTBREAD
Green tea turns these cookies an elegant shade of green and the sparkling sugar makes them glitter. For more green tea flavour, use up to 2 tbsp (30 mL) powdered green tea.
- 1 cup (250 mL) butter
- ½ cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
- 2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) powdered green tea (matcha)
- ½ tsp (2 mL) salt
- ¼ cup (50 mL) coarse sparkling sugar (optional)
1. Cream butter with granulated sugar until light.
2. Combine flour, green tea powder and salt in a bowl and add to butter mixture. Mix only until combined. Divide into two parts, flatten slightly, wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.
3. Roll out each piece of dough on a floured surface, ¼-inch (5 mm) thick. Cut out with your fave cookie cutter. Place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with sparkling sugar and press in slightly. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in a preheated 325°F (160°C) oven. Do not let cookies brown. Cool on racks. Makes 36 to 40 cookies
As always, the Monk is willing to sample the results of your culinary experimentations—especially sweet ones.
Click the pic to see another scrumptious green tea shortbread recipe.
If you have a case of the Mondays (yes I know the reference), there would be no shame whatsoever in seeking solace in a glass of green tea watermelon punch.
If anyone needs the punch they make taste-tasted, just let me know.
Green tea cocktails figure prominently among the winners of the Top Tea competition at the World Tea Expo. For instance:
Sencha Kamikaze Submitted by: TeaZen Tea Used: Sencha Lemon The green tea adds a soft light green color and lemon flavor making the drink tasty and refreshing. Tea gently smooths alcohol taste making the cocktail simple delish.
Recipe: 2 oz Dry Gin (Bombay Recommended) 2 oz Triple Sec 2 oz Sencha lemon tea instead of lime juice
Shake the ingridients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime twist.
Rare Tea has a simple recipe for a green tea mojito that sounds absolutely fabulous.
If you can't find Key limes, don't worry. This recipe is all about the flavors of green tea and tart lime.
2 tablespoons finely grated lime zest
5 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cups sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup brewed green tea
1/2 cup strained fresh lime juice
11 full graham crackers, processed to fine crumbs (1 1/4 cups)
3 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup heavy cream
Whisk the zest and yolks in a medium bowl until the yolks are tinted light green, about 2 minutes. Beat in the condensed milk, green tea, and then the lime juice. Set the mixture aside at room temperature to let it thicken.
Adjust an oven rack to the center position and heat the oven to 325 degrees.
Mix the crumbs and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the butter and stir with a fork until well blended. Transfer the mixture to a 9-inch pie pan and press the crumbs over the bottom and up the sides of the pan to form an even crust. Bake until lightly browned and fragrant, about 15 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.
Pour the lime filling into the crust and bake until the center is set, yet wiggly when jiggled, 15 to 17 minutes. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack and then refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours.
Up to 2 hours before serving, whip the cream until medium peaks form. Spread the whipped cream evenly over the pie with a rubber spatula. Return to the refrigerator.
To serve, slice the pie and transfer to serving plates. Makes 1 9-inch pie; serves 8.
...but ignore the part about using tea bags, however. Instead, brew your loose-leaf green tea the way you normally would, pour it into a mug or cup filled with ice, leaving a little room in the cup for the pomegranate juice. Then, once the tea has chilled (it only takes a minute or so), add in about half an inch of pomegranate juice.
You can also chill your brewed tea before pouring it over ice — you get less melting and therefore less dilution of the tea. If you're going to be using hot tea, you can brew your tea on the strong side to allow for dilution by the melting ice.
More tips and recipes for iced green tea are available here.
Signature drink: Green tea lemonade ($8.75), made with Charbay green tea vodka, lemon juice, simple syrup and soda water; raspberry lemon drops flavored with Chambord ($9.25); and refreshing cucumber margaritas ($9.50) are solid choices. Also try the usual suspects, like a mojito or Negroni.
Bartender Kelly Phu pours a cocktail at Bungalow 44. She also makes a mean spiked green tea lemonade.
If you like trout and green tea, then you're in luck, because here is a recipe for green tea-smoked trout with spinach salad. Sounds yummy!
Here's a variation made with black tea instead of green and with apple salad instead of spinach, but you can simply substitute the 1/2 cup of black tea with the same amount of much-healthier green tea leaves.
Mix the chilled green tea with the pineapple juice in a medium-size pitcher. Stir well. Add the ginger ale to the pitcher and blend thoroughly. Pour the tea mixture into tall glasses filled with ice and serve immediately.
If you're in the dog house today for getting your soulmate a Chia Pet for Valentine's Day, you might want to bake some green tea heart-shaped cookies as a peace offering.
Yummy! If anyone out there bakes some, I'm willing to "review" them for you!
Here's a recipe for a green tea mojito. I've modified this recipe, replacing bottled green tea with a freshly brewed infusion of authentic loose-leaf green tea (such as yours truly's).
Ingredients juice of half a lime 6 large mint leaves brewed green tea – 75 ml (1/3 cup) white rum – 30 ml (2 tbsp)
Instructions Pour the lime juice into a highball glass. Add the mint and crush with a spoon. Fill a glass with ice and add the tea and rum. Stir well and garnish with a mint leaf, if desired.
The green tea mojito served up at Kyoya in San Francisco.
Mark "Dr. Tea" Ukra's book The Ultimate Tea Diet is getting consistently excellent reviews on Amazon.com. Here are quotes from a couple of reviews:
On January 1, I cozied up with my copy of The Ultimate Tea Diet, steaming mug of coffee in hand, and by page eleven I was firing up the teakettle.
—The Culinary Tourist
I have read this book and found it to be totally fascinating and informative. I have already started the diet and have started shedding pounds but more importantly inches! It's great... they are just melting away. Plus I have more energy and feel great. I bought some of the craving teas on line and love the way they taste. I have a real sweet tooth and they have really helped me stay away from my daily dose of candy and ice cream.
—Sue from Chicago
And remember—of all the varieties of tea, green tea is thought to be the best at helping you lose weight, as it contains the highest levels of green tea polyphenols, including one found only in green tea—EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate).
Rosemary Orange Tea Chicken • 1/4 cup olive oil • 2 oranges • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon of dried, plus fresh sprigs for garnish • 1/4 teaspoon finely ground green tea • 1-1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Mix together the olive oil, juice of 1-1/2 oranges (set aside the other half0, pepper, salt, chopped rosemary, and dry tea. Pour this marinade into a large resealable plastic bag. Add the chicken, seal the bag and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Heat a grill pan or barbecue until hot. Remove chicken from the bag, discarding the remaining marinade, and grill until browned on both sides. Thinly slice the remaining orange half and serve with the chicken. Decorate with a sprig of rosemary.
Serves 4. Nutrition Per Serving: calories 170, fat 2.5g, protein 28g, carb 8g
In the video below, British chef Luci Lock demonstrates her simple and elegent recipe for green tea soda.
But I just have to make a couple of comments about Ms. Lock's recipe. First of all, when brewing green tea the water you use most definitely does not need to be just-boiled. That may be true for English tea, but water that's too hot will "cook" green tea and spoil the flavor. A water temperature of about 85 degrees celcius, or 185 degrees Fahrenheit, is about right.
But that doesn't mean you have to go out and buy a cooking thermometer. Brewing and drinking green tea is supposed to be a time to relax, not a time to fret. So just do as the English say—walk the kettle to the pot. In other words, after the water has boiled and you've turned off the heat, wait a few minutes before pouring. (I'm surprised Ms. Lock didn't remember that one.)
My second comment is ... tea bags? Tea bags? Let's just say this shows how much work there still is for me to do out there.
Still, this home-made green tea soda is a healthy, satisfying alternative to the high-fructose corn syrupy concoctions you'll find in your friendly neighborhood grocery store.
As tea's health profile has risen, it has increasingly found its way onto dinner plates as well as in tea cups. Green tea is mellow enough to work well with spicy flavors like ginger and garlic; citrus teas give a lift to heavier flavors like chocolate. Green tea cakes and chai cookies are now staples at bakeries, and restaurants are putting tea in marinades and rubs.
The Scotch Whisky Association is poised to announce that the world's top-ten whiskey-consuming nations now include China, where a popular way of imbibing is adding the whiskey to iced green tea.
In China, whiskey is a popular "boost" for green tea.
Back in January I posted a cocktail recipe for a Green Tea Ginger Hot Toddy. The hot toddy has been around for a while, and no doubt the Green Tea Ginger Hot Toddy is only one of countless variations of the drink.
But what I didn't realize until recently is that the hot toddy was originally named for a famous Hollywood actress, Thelma Todd.
Tragically, Thelma died in 1935 at the age of 30. One of the last people to see her alive was her ex-husband, reputed mobster Pat DiCicco. DiCicco, along with actor Wallace Beery, was also a suspect in the death of Ted Healy, the vaudevillian who in the mid-1920s worked with three young funnymen who would eventually find fame as the Three Stooges.
Thelma Todd's death was ruled a suicide—a ruling that is still controversial today. Some even say that Thelma's ghost still haunts Hollywoood.
Here is a yummy-sounding recipe for pan-seared salmon with green tea rice.
Of course, you can also make green tea rice by itself, which boiled down to its essence (pun intended) involves simply adding loose-leaf green tea to rice before steaming.
You may be thinking, "Iced green tea? In wintertime?"
But even when it's cold outside, a nice pitcher of iced green tea is still good at dinnertime or after exercising.
What's nice about this recipe is its use of orange essence—orange is a wonderful complement to green tea. Instead of orange essence, you can also try experimenting with orange peels.
And, most importanty, instead of 2 green tea bags, use two heaping teaspoons of loose-leaf green tea. Then when you're pouring the tea mixture from the saucepan to the pitcher, pour through an over-the-cup tea strainer (such as this one) to catch the tea leaves.
By the way, a tea strainer like the one above is also great for making green tea by the cup.
In an episode of "Art of the Drink," professional bartender Andy Caporale and "guest star" Tracy show how to make a ginger green tea hot toddy, which sounds like the perfect thing for this cold weather we've been experiencing lately.
Hint: To make your own matcha, just put some Mellow Monk loose-leaf green tea in a high-speed food processor and grind it to a powder. (Green tea used in making matcha is grown, harvested, and processed in essentially the same manner as ordinary loose-leaf green tea; the only difference is the powdering process.)
This could easily be Mellow Monk green tea popcorn.
Here's a recipe for a great-tasting healthy drink to beat the summer heat: the Mellow Monk Green Tea Summer Fruit Splash.
Ingredients
1 teaspoon Mellow Monk loose-leaf green tea
8 oz. spring water*
4 oz. unflavored sparkling water
5 ice cubes
1/2 peach, pitted**
1 large (16-20 oz.) cup or glass.
*Or filtered water or, if you must, tap water.
**Instead of a peach, you can use strawberries (3-4), pineapple (3-4 cubes or 1 ring), blueberries (5-6), or whatever your favorite summer fruit is.
Steps
Use a teaspoon of Mellow Monk green tea leaves and 8 oz. of mineral water to make a serving of double-strength tea. (Normal strength would be 1/2 teaspoon per 8 oz. water.)
Let the tea cool, then pour into the large cup.
Add all of the ice cubes.
Add all of the sparkling water.
Drop the fruit into the cup or glass, then use a spoon to mash it slightly.
Mix gently, then enjoy!
Notes
Letting the mashed fruit sit in the tea mixture for a few minutes allows the juices to infuse into the drink, for a fruitier flavor.
Don't waste the fruit—after finishing your first glass of Summer Fruit Splash, make another with the same fruit.
If you have time to plan ahead, make a pitcher of green tea and let it cool in the refrigerator for a few hours ahead of time. The cooler the tea is, the more slowly the ice will melt.
Have a Summer Fruit Splash party! Set a table with a pitcher or two of chilled, extra-strong Mellow Monk green tea, sparkling water, and small bowls of your favorite summer fruits. Experiment with different combinations of fruits, such as pineapple and strawberry. Yummy!