Karkade or Hibiscus Tea

Recently I bought a pack of Hibiscus Tea. Well, in teabags, unfortunately. But it's good enough. For some reason this drink is not popular in US, but it is many other countries. It's a very common in Russia, so I missed in here. We call it Karkade in Russia, and not many Russians know that it actually comes from the beautiful Hibiscus flower. This tea has a distinct sour taste and bright reddish-pink color. It's very invigorating, especially, if you drink it hot and without sugar. I love it hot in the morning and cold in the evening. When you cool it down, it looses the sourness and has a just pleasant flower taste. Hibiscus tea is actually a mixture of herbal tea and hibiscus flower petals.

When I was in Mexico, I wanted to try something really local. My Mexican friend ordered Nopales or Nopal - grilled fleshy leaves of Opuntia cactus. My mom used to grow it as a pot plant in Siberia. But who would have thought that you can eat those prickly thick leaves! As for a drink, my friend recommended agua de Jamaica. And even though it is called "Jamaican Water" it's a traditional Mexican drink. Well, what do you think I said when I had the first sip? Karkade! Yes, that actually was ice cold hibiscus tea. And it was perfect on a hot day in the old colonial town of Puebla.

I think every drink is especially good in the right place and at the right time. I like my hibiscus tea on a Monday morning, to get energized for the long week! And I just wanna say "thank you" to the hibiscus plant, for giving us beautiful flowers and a tasty drink!

Soursop

One of the things I enjoy most about tea is the aroma. But not all teas have distinct smells, and sometimes I want a 'tasteless' tea. For example, when I brew green tea to cool it down and take with me on a bike ride. So, I was tasting the smell of every tea jar in my house to find the finest aroma. And I found it - Pi Lo Chun from Adagio Teas. My friend recommended to add some Soursop tea to add a flavor. I really liked the smell of soursop and I decided to do some research on that.

So, soursop or Annona muricata is a tropical fruit native to the Caribbean and South Africa. It's also called guanabana - I heard this name before! The fruit is used to make ice-cream, smoothies and drinks. But to make the soursop tea, you actually need the essence, which possesses diuretic quality. Well, it's good for your health, especially, on a hot day.

If you want to buy soursop tea, you can find it on Amazon, as almost anything else. The soursop tea has too much of a flavor to me, so I prefer to add just a touch to some tasteless green or white tea. The best thing is that it keeps the fragrance even when the drink is ice-cold. Perfect for the summer time!