Thursday, May 7, 2009

Tarragon Green Tea



Let's take a break from our Singapore food trip (You may want to read Part 1 and Part 2 here and here) and enjoy this refreshing drink.

I discovered this delicious drink when we were dining in a restaurant with our pastor. He ordered the tarragon tea. Maybe you already know about tarragon tea, but this is our first time to encounter this concoction. I found it to be refreshing and delicious! It was slightly sweet, with a flavor not far from rootbeer. In fact, my son was asking me if the rootbeer is made from tarragon or not! Since we love rootbeer, we of course, fell in love with tarragon tea - a healthier alternative to rootbeer!

I know about tarragon, the herb and its usage in food and in cooking. I know it is a popular herb used in French cooking. I rarely use this herb in our home cooking though, because, well, for a time, it was not available here. Maybe it does not grow well in tropical weather. But lately though, this herb can be found sold fresh (not dried), in upscale supermarkets, supplied by specialty farms from Tagaytay ( a cool, mountain city south of Manila).

And so, I bought a pack of fresh tarragon leaves and made this tea. A 100 gm pack gave a lot of cups of tea! This is very simple to make. Simply steep 4 or 5 stalks of tarragon (per cup) and green tea in boiling water for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the tea leaves and the tarragon leaves. Enjoy! You can drink it hot or cold. I also prefer our tea unsweetened.

By the way, this is my own concoction. I think the restaurant simply used purely tarragon leaves and nothing else, for the tea they served was very light colored- almost like water. While my version with green tea turned amber. And by the way, I used China green tea, which turns amber when steeped. This is different from the Japanese green tea, which turns green when steeped.

Try this refreshing drink this summer. Or after eating a bowl-ful of spicy food :)




Sharing this refreshing drink with the Weekend Herb Blogging community, launched by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, now headed and managed by Haalo of Cook Almost Anything At Least Once. This edition's (#185) host is Susan from the Well-Seasoned Cook.

12 comments:

  1. i so am going to try this... it sounds good. i know tarragon goes well with chicken, but with tea? heheh.. worth a try. sounds refreshing, indeed.

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  2. This is gorgeous, Ning! I'm going to try it this weekend - I adore tarragon. Thank you for sharing it with WHB. : )

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  3. Hi Tigerfish! Hope you get to try it. It is mildly sweet similar to licorice :) Quite refreshing!

    Thanks Jescel! If you are cooking chicken with tarragon, why not set aside a few stalks for a cup of tea?

    Hi Susan! I agree... what's not to love about tarragon? and this tea concoction is truly worth trying (like what Jescel said :)

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  4. Sounds yummmmmmmy!! I'm gonna look for this in the supermarket..

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  5. I didn't know tarragon can be brewed as tea, and it looks really refreshing :)

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  6. Tarragon is an herb that I would like to use more. A tarragon green tea sounds really good!

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  7. Hi Galatians! I'm so happy you are willing to try this! :)

    Hi Noobcook! I did not know this either until I encountered this in a restaurant. :)

    Hi Kevin! Yeah, it's good, and natural! :)

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  8. This sounds so good. Tarragon flourishes in my garden and I am always looking for ways to use it.

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  9. When are tired , we can drink some of this tea, it is delicious,I live it,, green tea is so healthy

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  10. I have to admit that it looks better with the plant on the liquid. I would love to give it a try.

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  11. I just purchase a fresh tarragon in BPI in pedro gil. They say it was so easy to take care, and by the way i bought it for just 10 pesos.

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