Tangerine tea is a delicious caffeine free tea made with dried tangerine peel and other aromatics that’s so easy to make at home.
I’m a die hard coffee drinker, but I can’t ‘do’ caffeine after noon. I end up wide awake in bed, thinking about things like the fiscal cliff, or how in the world Downton can go on without cousin Matthew. So in the second half of the day I turn to herbal fruit teas as my hot beverage of choice, especially in the winter. When I feel chilled, they warm me, and get me through the late afternoon snack attack. But the ready made stuff is pretty boring, it usually lacks the flavor I’m looking for. I’m going to fix all that by making it myself.
According to Livestrong, tangerine peel can help lower cholesterol and fight cancer. That’s great because tangerine tea is my favorite and tangerines are in season right now, so grab a bagful to get started. Because you’re going to be using the peel, try and find organic fruit— you want a fresh, fragrant fruit tea, not a chemical soup.
how to make homemade tangerine tea
Wash and dry a few tangerines and then peel them. You can just let the peels air dry for a day or two, or set them in a low oven to dry out. When they’re crisp dry, you can crumble them by hand, chop them with a knife, or use a small food processor to break them up into small pieces.
There are a lot of flavors that go well with tangerine, like mint, ginger, cinnamon, clove, star anise, even vanilla. But after some experimenting I decided I really wanted to feature the tangerine flavor in my tea, so I went with some hibiscus for its citrusy tang and rosy color, and a few jasmine green tea leaves. I found these at the spice stand at my farmer’s market, but if you don’t have a spice stand nearby 🙂 you can find loose tea in regular markets, and hibiscus at health food stores, or online. Just mix it up together in a small bowl.
how to store homemade tea
To store your tea you need something opaque and airtight. Air and light will destroy the flavors you worked so hard to put in there. Glazed ceramic or a metal tin work perfectly, and you probably have something around the house already. Ideally, put small amounts of tea in small plastic bags or baggies, and then into the container. Keep in a cool dark dry place, i.e not in the fridge, not next to the stove, not on a sunny windowsill.
how to make a cup of homemade tea
You could buy empty tea bags to fill, but I think it’s so much easier to use it loose with an infuser, or even in a small coffee press. I found my delicate little vintage spoon infuser in a thrift store.
Pour boiling water into your cup or pot and let the tea steep for several minutes. Much as I love it hot, this tea will be amazing iced in the summer, too.
The wonderful color and aroma of this tea makes you forget that it’s completely calorie free! Unless you drop in a little bit of honey. Which I recommend; it enhances the tangerine flavor.
Pretty, huh?
Love this idea for tea, am wondering what to do with a tree loaded with tangerines!
Being a tea addict this looks perfect.
This is beautiful! I’m loving all the colors and textures in the dried tea mixture.
These teas are a pretty good help in cutting down on calories, I just focus on the wonderful color and fragrance and try to forget about the bag of chips in the cupboard 😉
This is a grand, beautiful idea Sue! I’m like you and don’t like to drink coffee after lunch time. Plus I like my coffee with lots of creamer so that makes it too rich for more than a cup a day. I love herbal teas but I’m sure this one is way better than anything that comes in a box! Thanks so much for this idea!
Oh, what a beautiful tea – I can just imagine the perfume of a pretty pink cupful!
The color is pretty, I wish it were more orange, but the peels don’t give off much color. I can’t wait to make iced tea with it.
Yes, it is such a beautiful color. I think the tangerine peels toasting in the oven would be a lovely smell. We have lots of satsumas and grapefruits in season down here in Texas. I would love to try mixing up my own teas.
The scent really got intense when I was grinding up the peels in the little processor!
Oh, that is so beautiful…I love the pic of the dried tea in the dish! This sounds lovely (says another coffee drinker…). Wishing you a very happy new year, Sue!
Thanks Heather, here’s to fun blogging in 2013!
Your tea sounds wonderful and I’ll have to give this a try (and it sounds virtuous and delicious after the holiday excesses). I also try to avoid caffeine in the afternoon and haven’t been thrilled with the commercial choices. One question: are you using the tea leaves from jasmine tea or the jasmine blossoms? I think the tea leaves are a regular sort of green tea and will have some bit of caffeine, though not much.
I’ve recently discovered that home brew stores have a wonderful array of flavoring ingredients. I was at a local store to buy cocoa nibs for cookies, and saw elder flowers, jasmine flowers and other curious ingredients. I think I might try some of them in teas!
I think you’re right, I did read that green tea has some caffeine. I just sprinkled in a few of the Jasmine leaves because I love the fragrance so much. I am jealous that you have a home brew store in your area, I’ll have to head down to Chinatown to see if I can find one! Thanks for visiting!
This is so fancy and beautiful that it reminds me of the tea at Teavana (ever been to one of those at the mall?) Oh I could just go nuts on this! The color alone is divine, Sue!
I think we have one at our mall and I always pass right by. I have to check it out now 🙂