Red bush tea

Recipe:

1 bag of Red bush tea.

229ml hot water.

1mg balsamic vinegar.

1g white sugar.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Tenderly sweet, and sour with red bush flavour.

Smell:  Gently sweet with balsamic vinegar.

Colour: Dark amber.

Additional notes: I expected this tea be as tasty as Black tea with balsamic vinegar and sugar, but it turned out as not as an exciting brew, which disappointed me.

I tried this recipe at the beginning with 5mg of balsamic vinegar. It turned sour and overlapped other flavours. I gradually reduced its dosage (3ml, 2ml) to 1mg and even then it seemed not as good as I expected. However, all the flavours seemed finally nicely balanced. 

Here I would not change anything and I would leave it as it is.

I planned to make a recipe with balsamic vinegar only, but after experience drinking this brew, I concluded that it was not a good idea as it would be pretty sour. Sugar helps here to make the brew more pleasant.

11/03/24

Recipe: 

1 bag of red bush tea.

210ml hot water.

20ml coconut milk.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Gentle coconut with hints of red bush.

Smell: Light coconut.

Colour: Cacao, bright brown, non-transparent.

Additional notes: If I had not known that it is red bush tea with coconut milk, I would have taken it as black tea with milk.

I think that the proportions of ingredients were greatly balanced.

02/03/24

Recipe:

1 bag of red bush tea.

150ml hot water.

80ml coconut water.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Light coconut, feels as if thick drink. It has sour after flavour leaving dryness in the mouth.

 Smell: Sweet like sugar, tender coconut.

Colour: Bright amber, orange, cloudy.

Additional notes:  I tried a second time with ingredients of coconut water adding 70ml and hot water 160ml.  I learned that coconut flavour is not as effective as from my first brew and still, I could not detect red bush taste.

 It made me conclude that if I keep on reducing the coconut water then the brew might be neutral without flavours, but if I increase the coconut water then the brew might become too sweet and unpleasant to drink as it happened with black tea and coconut water.

20/02/24

Recipe:

1 bag of red bush tea.

210ml hot water.

20ml freshly squeezed lemonade.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Sweet, citrusy with tender red bush tea aftertaste.

Smell: Gentle lemon and red bush.

Colour: Dark amber, cloudy.

Additional notes: This was a wonderful match of ingredients. Seemingly lemon flavour overlapped a little red bush flavour, but I still loved it.

 However, I created another recipe to see whether I can get more balanced flavours  - 15ml freshly squeezed lemonade; 215ml hot water and 1 bag of red bush tea.

 This was a great option too, flavours seemed, indeed, better balanced highlighting more red bush flavour.

 But overall, I prefer my first version.

23/02/24

Recipe:
1 bag of red bush tea.

210 ml hot water.

20ml orange juice.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Hints of sweet like sugar, tenderly citrus and red bush flavours.

Smell:  Citrus, sweet.

Colour: Orange, cloudy with orange bits, bright amber.

Additional notes:  It took me a few attempts to tune incorrect taste as I did not want not lose the red bush flavour. 

I started with 30ml of orange juice and experimented with the brew by increasing orange juice to 40ml vs 190ml hot water. The brew was too citrusy in flavour and I gradually decreased the orange juice to  20ml vs 210ml of hot water. The last attempt was a perfect match of ingredients. 

Of course, if you want to taste distinct orange flavours, you are okay with 30 ml vs 200 ml.

22/02/24

Recipe:

1 bag of red bush tea.

200ml hot water.

30ml pineapple juice.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Gentle pineapple with tender red bush tea flavour.

Smell: Gentle pineapple.

Colour: Bright amber, orange, cloudy.

Additional notes: It was a gentle, flavour-balanced and lovely drink. Interestingly pineapple juice reduced red bush flavour quite a lot.

 If you want to feel more pineapple flavour add more pineapple juice.  I would not do so as it might disbalance flavours.

It is an excellent choice to drink something different from ordinary teas.

17/02/24

Recipe:

1 bag of red bush tea.

200ml hot water.

30ml strawberry milk.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste:  Red bush with very mild strawberry flavour.

Smell:  Red bush with tender strawberry.

Colour: Bright brown, non-transparent. 

Additional notes: Strawberry milk by itself is lovely, but adding it to red bush tea it turns out nothing exciting. The brew is watery leaving an impression that it is black tea with plain milk.

 I assume, if you want get strawberry flavour into this drink, you rather add strawberry juice or strawberry squash plus plain milk (5ml) just for colour.

In this recipe, you can even add 20ml of strawberry milk as my experience shows that there is no obvious difference in flavour. 

15/03/24