We love the complex flavors of natural tea, but hot summer days call for a cooler option. While we always keep a pitcher of cold brew tea in the fridge, we also love to experiment, infusing the fantastic flavors of tea into all our favorite treats. Today, we’re sharing two tried-and-tested recipes for tea-based summer treats.

First, we used our rare Persimmon Blossom oolong tea to flavor this custard-like ice cream base, and paired the creamy result with dried and frozen hachiya persimmons.

Persimmon Blossom Ice Cream

(Adapted from The New York Times’ custard base)

Ingredients:

1. Add 20g of tea leaves to 1.5 cup 1% milk and simmer for 15 minutes on very low heat. Turn off the heat and let cool until the milk is room temperature, then place the infusion in the fridge overnight to continue steeping.

2. Strain the milk through a sieve to produce 1 cup of infused milk. (The leaves will soak up approx. ½ cup during the infusion process.)

3. In a small pot, mix heavy cream, milk, sugar and salt. Simmer over low heat and stir until sugar completely dissolves. Remove the pot from heat.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly whisk in about a third of the cream-based mixture, then whisk this combination back into the pot with the cream.

5. Return the pot to medium-low heat and gently cook until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon (at about 170°F).

6. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cool the mixture to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight. Mix or blend to add some air, then churn in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Serve right away or store in the freezer until needed.

Then, for a bright and refreshing diversion, we sweetened a caffeine free infusion of hibiscus flowers with our Winter Melon Sugar and added a bit of lime. This flavor really pops!

Hibiscus-Lime Popsicles

Ingredients:

1. First, if using our dried Winter Melon Sugar, dissolve the solid block into a pot of water and boil until the liquid has reduced into a syrup.

2. Simmer 10g of hibiscus flowers in two cups of water and add syrup to taste.

3. Let cool, strain through a fine sieve to remove flowers.

4. Halve Australia limes and squeeze the caviar-like pulp into the mixture.

5. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze until solid. Squeeze extra lime over the popsicle when serving to experience the pop of lime in your mouth!

Watch the video below for an inside look at our final taste test (featuring a special guest).

Let us know what kind of sweet treats you’ve made with tea in the comments below!

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