Friday, October 23, 2009

Pandan Iced Tea



One of my recent successes in the food and beverage department is Pandan Iced Tea. I admit, that I never thought that I would have to buy Pandan leaves since it's practically a weed in Zamboanga. When we were still living in Lustre, we had our own pandan bush and when we moved to Tugbungan, there was a whole colony of pandan by the river, free for all. In Manila, people don't know what exactly a pandan looks like in the wild and I have to shell out some cash to get a decent bundle.



So like the picture up there ^ wash the leaves and tie them into a little chignon. Then boil it up, until the water changes color...it should be greenish-brown. Maybe 3-5 minutes after the water starts to boil furiously will be sufficient to get the flavor out.



Next, allow a couple of teabags to steep. It is, after all, essentially iced tea. I used Lipton and left it in the pot for around 3 minutes. Lipton is pretty astringent, so it can easily overpower the pandan essence. After steeping the tea, add sugar, preferably brown or muscovado, because it tastes better and has more character than white sugar. But anything is ok, basta dulce.



Add ice and enjoy!

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