Auntie gave us a bag of lychee, just the kind of take-home gift that I love! So besides enjoying the fresh and plump lychee as it is, we even got more to splurge on fruity black tea.
Lychee and apple black tea -
Ingredients (about 3 to 4 servings)?
- 10 to 12 lychee
- 1 to 2 apple (1 big one or 2 medium sized apples)
- 4 cups fruity scented black tea
- Some ice cubes
- Some simple syrup (optional)
- Some honey (optional)
How?
Brew the black tea of your choice. I used wakoucha here, which is a type of Japanese black tea. Store the tea in the fridge till cold. You can prepare the tea a day before.
Peel and remove the seeds from the apple. Slice the apple to medium size chunks and add to a blender or food processor. Also pour in 1/2 cup of brewed tea. Blend till smooth.
Peel off the bumpy lychee skin and remove the seed in the center. Repeat for all the lychees and transfer the sweet flesh to a cup. Beat till the flesh break down to smaller bits, and lots of juice flows out.
Of course you can just use the food processor to do the job, especially if you're aiming for smaller pieces of fresh lychee when enjoying the tea.
Have your serving cup or glass ready, add 2 tablespoons of lychee juice along with 2 tablespoons of the lychee flesh. Also add 2 tablespoons of apple juice with plup. Fill 1/3 or up to half of the cup with ice cubes.
Pour the cold black tea all the way up. Stir and give it a quick taste. If sweeter taste is preferred, consider adding some simple syrup or second best choice honey to the tea.
To make the simple syrup, mix together equal amount of sugar and drinkable water. You need to use low heat to warm up the water so that the sugar will dissolve completely. Try to store the simple syrup in the fridge and wait till cold before use in drinks.
I didn't add any extra syrup or honey for my tea. The natural sweetness from the plump lychees I got was enough. Also when biting into the lychee flesh, you'll get a a sudden pop of sweetness from it, really enjoyable.
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