Iced mint green tea sweetened with lychee and strawberries, a perfect beverage for a warm summer day.
Have you ever had lychee before? It’s a sweet Asian fruit with a tough reddish brown outer skin and a big black seed in the middle. No? You should really try it.
I’ve been craving it. Unfortunately, lychee is a summer fruit so it’s too early to be in season right now. At least, where I live. I haven’t even seen them at the supermarket, and if they are sold right now, it’s probably very expensive because it’s not in season. Therefore, I had to resort to the next best thing, canned lychee. Once, fresh lychees are in season, I plan to revisit this recipe and adjust it. =)
Easy to follow with only a few simple steps, my recipe will allow you to enjoy your summery beverage ready in no time. This iced green tea will have the exotic flavor of lychee, the refreshing taste of mint, and the familiar sweetness of strawberries. Since you are making this drink at home, you can customize it to your taste, unlike the fruit flavored teas that you find at Asian milk tea shops.
Speaking of those Asian milk tea shops, I have a confession. I’m a milk tea addict. I love the taste of honey milk black tea with tapioca pearls. But I’m trying to get myself off it. The good news is that many of those Asian milk tea shops now allow you to customize the level of sweetness, which is a lot better than before, right? And half of those shops use real brewed tea, while the other half uses powder mixes. So if you want to try certain milk tea shops, make sure to look at reviews to see what people say.
Anyway, in a small pot, boil about two cups of water and add in two bags of green tea. This part, you can adjust to the amount of tea you want. Remember, about one cup of water per tea bag per person. So you can increase the amount according to the number of people you’re serving.
Remove the pot from heat. Add in mint leaves. Allow the tea bags and mint leaves to steep for a few minutes. The longer you leave in the water, the stronger the taste. Once the mint green tea has reached your liking, remove the mint and tea bags and allow the tea to sit for a few more minutes to cool. This is how I make my homemade mint green tea. If that’s what you want, you can stop right there and enjoy your hot mint green tea. I added a few lychees to see if it would enhance the lychee flavor, not really. So don’t do it.
But if you want to continue for a more exotic iced tea… =)
Open the can of lychee. Measure about ½ – 1 cup of the lychee syrup and pour it into the mint green tea. Stir to evenly mix the flavors. I added about a cup of the lychee syrup, but you should add it to your taste. If you prefer your drink less sweet, add less of the lychee syrup. If you like your tea sweeter, add more of the syrup. The lychee syrup is pretty much the same as simple syrup except that it tastes like lychee. You won’t use all the syrup or the lychee. That means you can use it for a different recipe or you can eat as is.
Divide the lychee mint green tea into 2-3 glasses. Add in 3-4 lychees per glass.
Add in chopped strawberries.
Add in a few mint leaves for garnish and a more refreshing taste.
For decoration, slice a strawberry in half, leaving the top intact. That photo did not come out well. Unfortunately, it was the only one I took. But you get the picture =) Place the sliced strawberry over the rim of the glass.
Add a few ice cubes or chill the tea in the refrigerator for at least a half hour.
Serve the beverage cold and enjoy!
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Definitely trying this.
I hope you’ll like it =)
All of this is so new to me! I would love to try this recipe out. I will have to hunt down the lychees, but if I find them, it’s on! Also the milk tea…I will have to look into that. I don’t know where they would sell it.
You can find lychee at an Asian supermarket, especially a Chinese or Vietnamese one. As for milk tea, there’s so many in the San Francisco area so it’s not hard to find for me, but I’d look at Asian communities like Chinatown. =)
Thanks! I might have to go to a big city or maybe a trip to Texas. I read that they grow them in Texas. I don’t know of anywhere near me in Louisiana that has a Chinatown.
Any Asian supermarkets should carry it. My uncle owns one in Harvey, just outside of New Orleans. lol. Sorry if I sound like I’m advertising. I’m not. lol.
Texas should have them too. =)
I haven’t been to Louisiana in years. I miss Southern food. It’s not the same eating them in SF.
I will have to find his store when I’m ready to make this. Thanks for letting me know. I am not too far from New Orleans.
my kids would definitely loveeeeeee this.
I hope so! =)
It’s so pretty! UUuuumm, being a wordress.com blog, how did you add the plugin for your recipe thingy??? Just wondering because I would like to add a plugin to mine (obviously not the same one) but haven’t figured our how…
Thanks, Joanna! And sorry about taking this long to get back to you. It takes awhile to get through all the comments!
I don’t have a plugin for my recipes. For the fancier one, it’s just an image. And for the printer friendly version, it’s a PDF that I uploaded to wordpress.
Basically, save the post that you’re working on and go to your dashboard and open it as a draft. At the top, where all your formatting is, there’s a button that says “Add media.” You can upload your PDF that way, and insert the link wherever you want.
I hope that helps. If you have questions or need help, just message me or email me. =)
So basically, they’re photos??
Which one are you asking about?
The green one that you can see directly on the post is just an image, saved in jpeg format and then uploaded just like any other photo.
The printer friendly one, the one where you have to click “here,” is a PDF document.
I can email you the details, if you like. Just let me know which you’re asking about. =)
Yeah, the green one. I got it all figured out. Thank you so much! Just a little more tweaking and it will be ready! 🙂
I have never heard of lychees. Never had milk tea either! I really need to get out more! HaHa! Would I find these in an Asian market? I live in the US. It sounds fabulous!
You can definitely find lychee at Asian supermarkets. It’s not in season yet so if you’re looking for fresh ones you’ll have to wait until summer. But Asian supermarkets will carry canned ones too. It’s just a bit sweeter.
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area so milk tea shops are everywhere for me. But you can probably find milk tea shops in Asian communities like Chinatown. Usually it’s fruit flavored teas with ingredients like jelly or tapioca pearls. I’m addicted to them and it’s bad because they’re sugary. lol
Hope that helps =)
Looks really good! Thanks for the post.
Thank you!
looks yummy! I bet it tastes as good as it looks.
Thank you! It is very good. Both fruity and minty =)
I really like fresh lychees, though the canned ones are a bit sweet. will keep this in mind when I find fresh ones.
I hope you’ll like the recipe when you give it a try. I was just too excited when I came up with the recipe to wait for the fresh ones to be in season. lol
Looks delicious. A summer treat for me! 🙂
Thank you! It’s definitely a summer treat. I just couldn’t wait =)
I will be sipping a tall, frosted glass out by the patio one day soon (I hope). Enjoying my potted flowers and lovely birds. I can’t wait. Thanks for your recipe! 🙂