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Tea: Lemon Verbena Iced Tea

Source of Recipe

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Lemon Verbena Iced Tea

Judy Lockhart, Cooking Light - June 2005
6 servings

Lemon verbena infuses the lightly sweetened iced tea with sunny citrus flavor. You can also use the fragrant syrup to enliven cocktails or moisten pound cake.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup lemon verbena leaves
4 cups ice
6 cups brewed tea, chilled
Mint leaves (optional)
Lemon wedges (optional)

Preparation:
Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until sugar dissolves. Cool sugar syrup completely.

Cook lemon verbena leaves in boiling water 1 minute. Drain and plunge into ice water; drain.

Combine sugar syrup and verbena leaves in a blender; process until smooth. Cover and chill overnight. Strain sugar syrup through a fine sieve into a bowl. Place 2/3 cup ice into each of 6 tall glasses; add 1 cup brewed tea and 2 tablespoons sugar syrup to each serving, stirring to combine. Garnish with mint leaves and lemon wedges, if desired.


Note:
Blanching the herb leaves brightens their color so the syrup will stay green. Avoid using a strongly flavored tea, such as Earl Grey, as it will overpower the taste of the syrup.