Earl Grey Tea Sorbet

I love a nice cup of tea. Delicious chilled desserts like ice-cream and sorbet are my thing too. Therefore this Earl Grey Tea Sorbet is just perfect for me. Tea + dessert = perfection!

Earl Grey Tea Sorbet

The 21st April is National Tea Day. Isn’t that lovely, a day to celebrate all that is good about the nation’s favourite brew. I’m a Tea Jenny, which is a Scots term for someone who loves tea. From good old builder’s tea in the morning to kick start my day to a nice cup of Earl Grey in the afternoon.

A bit of tea history

It is said that the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung had a tea leaf fall into his bowl of hot water way back in 2737BC and enjoyed the taste of the flavoured water so much he started to put the leaves into his water from then on and tea was born.

In 1908 tea bags were invented by accident. A tea trader wanted to give out samples so put a little tea into silk sachets. People didn’t realise that they were meant to empty these into the tea pot and put the bag in instead. It worked and tea bags were born!

Cool stuff

Iced tea is highly popular in USA and this was again invented by accident in 1904 when a tea trader at the World Fair wanted people to try his tea but as it was a heatwave he was afraid nobody would be interested in a hot drink, so he emptied a box of ice into the brew and that is how iced tea became so popular in USA.

Fun facts and figures

• Tea all comes from one type of bush which is properly called Camellia Sinensis. There are four original types of tea and they all come from this plant. The difference in each is just in the way they are processed but they all come from the same plant.
• Black tea, green tea, white tea and Oolong tea.
• Darjeeling Tea is known as the champagne of teas and comes from bushes grown in an area of 70 square miles at the foot of the Himalayas.
• Tea pots were used in Asia and the middle East 11,000 years ago.
• Tea reached Europe in the 16th century.
• Tea was once very expensive indeed and would be kept under lock and key in special tea caddies. Only the lady of the house would hold the key to this treasure chest.
• Some tea is grown in Hawaii and on an island off the coast of USA but most tea is grown in China and India.
• Tea was once used as currency in the far East and would be pressed into brick shapes. These bricks were exchanged for goods and change was given by breaking a piece off the tea  brick.

FIGURES

• In the UK we drink 165 million cups of tea per day!
• Tea is good for you up to 4 cups per day.
• It takes 2000 tiny tea leaves to make 1lb of tea.

 

So after all that information it’s time for my recipe for Earl Grey Tea Sorbet. What could be more refreshing and such a delightful colour too. Okay so April isn’t exactly the month one thinks of for sorbets but when you try this you will certainly save it for summer.

Earl Grey Tea Sorbet

Ingredients;

• 750ml water
• 4 Earl Grey tea bags
• handful of fresh mint
• 225g sugar
• juice of 1 lemon

Method;

• Boil 600ml of water in a kettle and pour into a jug and add the tea bags and steep for 8 minutes before squeezing out the bags into the jug and discarding them
• Roughly chop the mint and add to the jug
• Gently heat the remaining 150ml water with the sugar till it has dissolved
• Add this syrup to the tea along with the lemon juice and leave to cool completely then chill in the fridge for 2 hours
• Strain to remove the mint and discard
• Pour the tea into an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions
• Scoop into a freezer proof box and cover with baking parchment and a lid
• Freeze until firm

Serving the sorbet

I like to serve my Earl Grey tea sorbet in pretty mismatched tea cups and saucers. Your guests will be so impressed to have this as a pretty dessert on a warm afternoon. So maybe we don’t have the right weather just yet, but I couldn’t resist using this recipe to celebrate National Tea Day.

Hurrah for tea!

Karon x

Here are some other delicious sorbets you might like to try;

Blackcurrant Sorbet

Tutti Fruity Sorbet

Clementine Sorbet

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