Thursday, October 9, 2008

Te Frio de Yerba Buena (Cold Mint Tea)

In my home when the weather get's hot we always have a variety of homemade drinks to stave of the heat and refresh, water is nice but sometimes I want something more. We have a variety of fruit drinks my mother makes and my grandmother (when she lived with us) liked making herbal tea's and chilling them to refresh. Also you can do the same cold tea drink using "Tila" (in english it is called Linden) instead of Mint. My mother would make "Te de Tila" and chill it when my father was stressed from work so he would feel better.

I don't know if this is Cuban or Spanish or what, I'm sure other cultures do things like this to. Mexicans make these types of tea but always serve it hot, I've never seen Mexicans chill any herbal tea's ONLY WITH THE EXCEPTION OF HIBISCUS TEA. So I'm labeling it as Cuban for navigation purposes and because my grandma cooks mostly Cuban.

Ingredients:
-1 big bunch of fresh mint leaves (washed and cleaned well)
-16 cups of water
-3/4 cups sugar (more or less to taste)

Directions:
(1)Bring water to a boil, add mint leaves, boil for 10 minutes uncovered (so your house can smell and minty and stuff ha ha).
(2)Now when it changes color, shock it with a cup of cold or room temperature water this will make the color deepen stronger when it comes back to boil for another 5 minutes.
(3)Turn of heat, let it cool a bit, put in large pitchers making sure to strain it to get the leaves out of the tea.
(4)Add sugar to taste, and chill in the fridge :)

2 comments:

Marilyn said...

Yes, Nathan, is a Cuban thing! =)
Te de Menta para los males de estomago.
Te de Tila para los nervios.
Saludos!

Patti Norton said...

Hi Im native american from northern california and we pick yerba buena all over locally where I live. I learned the wild crafting from my grandmother in the 1970's and we go through 3-4 gallons a week in our home. I know its native to california and is used for medicinal purposes. I have RA and was told drinking the tea was beneficial and it helps alot. Thanks.