Agua de Jamaica
Whether you call it Agua de Jamaica or Hibiscus Tea, this delicious, refreshing infusion is high in vitamin C and may also help to reduce systolic blood pressure..
Rinse hibiscus calyces under cold water to remove any impurities, then bring 2 cups of water and 1 cup of hibiscus to a boil, then remove from heat and add a handful of fresh mint and another of fresh stevia (or another non-refined sweetener such as raw honey or rapadura/sucanat) to the pot and allow to cool to room temperature.
Add 2 quarts of cold filtered water, strain and serve in a tall glass over cracked ice.
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Dink said,
June 4, 2009 at 7:06 pm
I want some where do I get the hibiscus?
Ren said,
June 4, 2009 at 7:17 pm
If you can’t find it locally, you can order it from Mountain Rose Herbs – I’ve always been happy with their stuff.
Erin said,
June 7, 2009 at 10:22 am
I L-O-V-E Jamaica! I sometimes will add a coupe of cloves & a cinnamon stick to the brew & I used to use Agave to sweeten, but now I will just go with Honey or Rapadura.
It’s the best summertime beverage!
Also, I shouldn’t mention (because I haven’t tried it it yet, but I made a Water Kefir with it! It’s prolly done ‘fermenting” and gosh does it look purty! Cheers!
PS I love your blog, it inspires me to be a bit more creative with my meals! I wanna know who you cook for that you go to such lengths! ;)
Ren said,
June 7, 2009 at 11:50 am
I decided to grow stevia this year (I gave up on the agave too) to see what all the hype is about. While it works OK in teas and infusions, I haven’t found much other use for it. I may try dehydrating the leaves at the end of the season, but I’ll likely stick with honey, rapadura/sucanat and the occasional piloncillo.
I had the same thought with water kefir the other day while reading cheeseslave’s post about homemade soda pop- please let us know how that turns out!
I cook for all my loved ones, here and gone :-)
Thanks, Erin!
Ren
Clementina said,
June 18, 2009 at 10:06 pm
I think stevia and agua de jamaica go togetherl perfecty. I’m going to try it the next time I make some.
Ren said,
June 18, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Thank you, Clementina! The whole, fresh leaves seem to work pretty well in an infusion such as this.
I need to try your recipe for horchata- it sounds amazing!
Carla said,
July 29, 2010 at 2:42 pm
I had to make this after coming across your site on tastespotting a few days ago! I found the hibiscus calyces at a local Mexican grocery store and I can’t tell you how delicious and refreshing it turned out. Thanks for posting your recipe!!
Ren said,
July 29, 2010 at 4:19 pm
That’s great to hear! Thanks very much, Carla!