A Nice Cuppa

Don’t you just love being let in on a secret? One of my favorite columns in Bon App??tit, RSVP, answers readers inquiries on restaurants’ secret recipes. June’s issue revealed an iced tea recipe from Taste in West Hollywood. I don’t even typically like sweetened iced tea, but this recipe, sweetened with coconut, mint and lemon juice, sucked me in with it’s tropical sounding goodness. I had to make it.

The only trick to this recipe is finding the coconut syrup. You want to use the kind for Italian sodas (like Torani) so your tea stays crystal clear. I had a bit of a hard time finding it… after trying 3 different grocery stores (including Whole Foods), I gave up and just stopped by Starbucks in Safeway and bought it by the shot, drawing very odd looks from the barista… who orders a cup full of coconut syrup???

I adjusted a few of the ingredient measurements to create a tea that isn’t overwhelmingly coconutty… it’s quite subtle, sweet without being overpowering. You can use black tea, a tropical blend (as the original recipe called for), or even green tea (as I did). Serve it up to your friends and see if they can guess what’s in it. My daughter decided to dress it up a bit more, and added fresh strawberries to garnish hers… also delightfully delicious.

Coconut Mint Iced Tea
1 cup fresh mint leaves
4 green tea bags
6 cups hot water
1/3 cup coconut syrup
lemon juice to taste

Muddle the mint, ideally in the pitcher you will be making the tea in. Add the tea bags and hot water. Refrigerate to cool. Remove the mint and tea bags, and stir in the coconut syrup and lemon juice. Serve over ice.