Saturday, July 4, 2009

Red, White & Blueberry Tea Float: A "Simple Saturday Sipper" for Independence Day

Happy July 4th! In honor of our Nation's Independence Day, I thought I should make a "Simple Saturday Sipper" that gets into the spirit of the holiday with some red, white and blue. I'll be honest, when putting this drink together color became about as important as flavor, but luckily the flavor turned out to be really good. A combination of Red Zinger herbal tea, coconut water, lemon-lime soda for a bit of fizz and coconut sorbet--it might sound like a lot of random ingredients but the taste is delicious; a little tangy, a bit sweet and very exotic from the tea and sorbet. If you are not familiar with Red Zinger, it is an herbal tea, or more accurately tisane or herbal infusion that was introduced by Celestial Seasonings in 1972 and according to the company is described as "a blend of tart and tangy Chinese hibiscus and fruity Thai hibiscus, balanced by cool, refreshing peppermint and the unique, earthy sweetness of wild cherry bark."


Red, White and Blueberry Tea Float
by Deb, Kahakai Kitchen
(Makes about 2 quarts or about 5 large floats)

4 cups water
8 Red Zinger Tea Bags*
1 Tbsp agave, honey or other sweetener (optional)
2 cups coconut water*
2 cups lemon lime soda
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (blackberries will also work)
1 pint good coconut sorbet

Bring water to just boiling. Remove from heat, add tea bags and let steep about 6 minutes, remove tea bags and add sweetener to tea if using. Pour tea into pitcher and place in refrigerator to cool completely. When ready to serve, add coconut milk and lemon-lime soda to tea in pitcher. Place about 2 heaping tablespoons of blueberries in the bottom of each glass. and pour soda mixture in. Top with a scoop of coconut sorbet and some additional blueberries. Serve immediately with a long spoon and/or wide straw. Enjoy!

*Both coconut water (juice or liquid from green or young coconuts) and Red Zinger tea can be found in most health or natural foods stores.


Notes/Results: Delicious! It ends up with a complex, berry-like flavor with a nice coconut flavor coming through as well. You can adjust the sweetness by adding some agave or honey to the tart tea if you want. Since I was using a lemon-lime soda and adding sorbet, I didn't feel the need to add any additional sweetener, but I probably would have if I had used club soda or seltzer instead of the flavored soda. With all the antioxidants and vitamin C from the hibiscus in the tea and the blueberries, as well as the potassium and minerals in the coconut milk you get some health benefits from this colorful and delicious drink. (BTW: It really looks better in person than in these pictures as you can see all the colors and layers more clearly). A fun drink not just for the holiday and variations with different teas, fruit and sorbets would be great too.


Have a wonderful weekend (and a Happy July 4th if you are celebrating). 

12 comments:

  1. A gorgeous drink! Wish I had the ingredients so I could make it for our bbq today. Happy 4th in our most beautiful state.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So pretty, and tasty looking! Happy 4th!

    ReplyDelete
  3. georgoeus! I've never thought of a tea float!

    I used to love red zinger when I was a kid - I had forgotten all about it! I also recently found that goya sells coconut water at a good price if you have a store with a good import section. A big can (16 oz maybe) if 99-cents. Mans I can get twice the coconut water for half the price as just buying a coconut. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I really love this! Have a wonderful holiday.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a festive and tasty drink! Happy 4th!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It does look so refreshing...and sounds delicious :) Hope you had a great 4th...well, you probably are still enjoying it come to think of it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This looks so perfectly refreshing and so perfect for the holiday. Love the layered look.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That is a very well thought-through combination of flavours. I haven't had Red Zinger in years - I must see if I can find a Celestial Seasonings stockist.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a great way to celebrate! This would definitely put me in a patriotic mood.

    ReplyDelete
  10. A perfect drink for the 4th! Hope you had a great holiday weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  11. This drink is gorgeous!! I hope you got a chance to show it off : ) It just looks so festive and I'd love to try it. You should win an award for that one.

    ReplyDelete

Mahalo for visiting and for leaving a comment. I love reading them and they mean a lot!

All advertising, spam, inappropriate (or just plain rude) comments will be promptly deleted. I do appreciate your right to free speech and to your opinion but I'm not into mean, rude, or mean snarky (non-mean snarky is just fine!) ;-)