It's summer. It's lavender harvest time. It's also a bit hot out. That trifecta of statements means that it is of course time to brew some lavender-infused iced tea! Because reasons!
Honestly, I never need a reason to brew iced tea because I pretty much live on the stuff, I love just plain old brewed black iced tea, but I'm also a proponent of enjoying seasonal produce and goods, so with all the lavender swirling around me, I thought it might be nice to incorporate it into my daily sipper for a spell.
And does anyone ever need a reason to enjoy lemons?
Being an adherent of the fresher the better way of living (especially when it comes to socks!), I wandered out to the lavender field again and grabbed some fresh stems. Okay, I might have grabbed a few more than I needed, but seriously, what's the point of growing an entire field of lavender if you don't pluck a few stems of blooming awesomeness to enjoy?
After getting more lavender than I needed, I walked back to the house, many random pets following in my wake, and proceeded to strip about a Tablespoon of fresh flowers from their stems.
Then, I got out a mixing bowl, threw in four large tagless iced tea bags and got my electric kettle going. It was during the waiting for the water to boil interlude that I got in some very much needed kitten therapy for the day. Three minutes of happiness right there! They are now mobile so what I actually did is put them back into their closet nursery, those needle claws of theirs are like little acupuncture needles of existential awareness, meow-ouch!
Once the kettle signaled it was boiling, I poured the water on the tea and lavender in the mixing bowl and went back to kitten-land for playtime while the tea steeped for five minutes. Belly scritches!
When I emerged from kitten playtime I walked to the cupboard and got out the food grade lemon essential oil that has been lurking in my cupboard since I purchased it for a previous project. It definitely needed to be utilized, and what better way than to infuse the stuff into iced tea!
Before the lemon could be added to the libation, I got out my super high tech and very bougie, three hundred year old, slightly rusty, mesh strainer that I think I procured from an estate sale about a decade and a half ago. My nice mesh strainer was in the dish washer, so the antique had to do.
I sat the strainer in a funnel on top of my half gallon mason jar that I use for iced tea and poured the tea through the strainer and into the jar.
Fun lavender fact: Lavender buds look like rodent feces, they really don't add anything to the aesthetics of one's ingestibles.
After straining the tea, I went to the freezer and grabbed out several handfuls of ice, adding them to the jar until it was full. Then I stirred in the lemon oil.
Finally, I went and got a cupful of ice in my soon to be sipping glass of lavender lemon iced tea gloriousness, and poured myself a cuppa.
Here's the thing, iced tea is my go-to drink, but iced lavender lemon iced tea is the BOMB. When you sip it you get the tannin-awesomeness bite of the tea, the refreshing burst of lemon flavor, and the scent and floral magnificence of the lavender. Not to mention lavender has a relaxing effect, so yep, calm vibes flow over you as you work your way through the glass and chill reigns.
And on that chill vibin note I shall leave you with the recipe and go enjoy another glass of said concoction!
Lavender Lemon Iced Tea
4 cups of water
1 TBSP fresh lavender blooms/buds (or 1 tsp dried)
4 big black tea bags (I used the tagless iced tea kind)
1/8 tsp food grade lemon essential oil
iceBoil the water, in a bowl place the lavender and tea bags, pour water over the tea and lavender and steep for five minutes.
Strain out tea and lavender, add ice to bring down temperature of tea, then stir in lemon oil. Pour into an ice filled cup, sweeten if desired, and enjoy!!