Mango Iced Tea

With home-made mango syrup

So here’s the thing.

The one thing (apart from many things) that I miss most about India is the variety of fruits one gets there and not in Europe. I mean, it is almost summer, there are only two fresh mangoes in the supermarket aisle, and it does not even get better even when it is fully summer anyway. In India, I think we have enough mangoes to have a yearly Mangotina festival (for the ones who didn’t get it, google 'Tomatina') and probably one for each variety. But you know what? I wouldn’t want it because I don’t think I can bear seeing even one mango being crushed and wasted other than for consuming. If I could, I would add mangoes in every dish I prepare. They are precious!

Sadly, I don’t get so many varieties of mangoes here in Germany but that doesn’t stop me. Mangoes are precious! So, I was in the supermarket, I picked a mango (out of the two), I came home and I made this delightfully fruity and refreshing mango iced tea. Fruit infused herbal or green tea is one of the best ways to drink tea and with ice in summers, they become my favorite.

Make this mangolicious mango-iced-tea fresh mangoes and any green, white or black tea. 

THE RECIPE

Category: Beverage

Servings: 3-4 glasses

Ingredients:

Mango Syrup (250 ml) :

 - 1 mango, big size

 - 3 tablespoons sugar, optional

 - 100 ml tablespoons water

Iced Tea :
 - 2 black tea bags, normal
 - 500 ml water
 - Sweetener of choice
 - ice cubes

Instructions:
Mango Syrup:

1. Peel and chop the mango roughly. Add it in a pan with water, close and cook in medium heat until mango is mushy (adjust water quantity if necessary). Keep few mango pieces aside for garnish.
2. Once the mangoes are mushy, add sugar and stir for 2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Skip sugar if not preferred.
3. Take off from heat, cool and puree it in a blender or mixer. Add water if necessary to adjust bring to a syrup-like consistency. Pour into a clean glass bottle and store up to 1 week.

Iced Tea :
1. Boil water in a vessel, take off from heat and add in 2 tea bags. Let the tea steep for 2-3 minutes only (or according to the instructions). As I'm using black tea, I steeped only for 2 minutes as it can get stronger if steeped longer.
2. Fill half a pitcher or jug with ice cubes.
3. After 2 minutes of steeping, remove tea bags and immediately pour hot tea on the ice cubes. This prevents tea from getting bitter.
4. To this, add about 10-12 tablespoons of prepared mango syrup and stir well. Add in sweetener like honey or sugar syrup and stir.
5. Serve iced tea in glasses with more ice cubes and garnish with small chopped mango pieces. And now, feel refreshed.

Alternatively, you can make iced tea and store in glass bottles and refrigerate (for up to a week) them for a later party or carry it in your bag for instant refreshment.