Roselle Tea 洛神花茶

Roselle tea is extremely popular in Tai O. You can find them in almost every store there! Bottled up and cooled in mountains of ice, roselle tea is extremely rejuvenating.

Quite an eye-candy in itself, this ruby-coloured drink tastes tart like cranberry juice. Oh, in fact it tastes more like Ribena, the blackcurrant juice! But more to it, there is a faint, sweet air of freshness and earthiness, like the taste of those soft, fine fibre strands growing out of the ear of the corns. Thanks to Google, I finally know the proper name of these strands- corn stigma, 玉米鬚.

Apparently, roselle is a species of Hibiscus. It is well-known for its high Vitamin-C content, for reducing cholesterol and treating high blood pressure level.  I used fresh roselle to make my pro-health drink, but I was told by the market vendors that the same could also be produced out of dried calyces. You may also try making roselle jam by slowly simmering the flower with sugar.

Roselle Tea

(Serving: 8 cups)

Ingredients

- 1 lbs (around 450g) of fresh roselle

- 10 cups of water

- rock sugar (4 lumps, less or more, depending on your taste)

Instructions

1. Rinse the fresh roselle and bring them to boil over medium fire for around 20-30 minutes. 
2. Add 4 lumps of rock sugar. 
3. Taste and add in more sugar if you have a sweet tooth.
4. The tea may be served hot or cold. Add a few ice cubes and they're perfect for summer.  I suspect that this tea goes well with soda water too.