Here at Royal Cup, we love a good cup of hot or iced tea. But, lately, we've been trying to be a little more creative in the kitchen and cook with tea. Here are some of the ways we've found to upgrade our cooking game with tea leaves.
How to Cook with Tea
1. Amp up your desserts
Ice cream, cookies, and pastry dough can all get a little more flavor with ground tea leaves. We love grinding up green tea leaves to give desserts an aromatic, earthy flavor.
2. Make a rub
Green tea, Darjeeling, and Earl Grey all pair well with savory foods. Grind your leaves along with salt, pepper, thyme, and paprika for an easy and delicious rub that goes with almost any meat, or cook your meat in a broth infused with tea leaves. Yum!
3. Bulk up smoothies
We have some great recipes for a mango green tea smoothie, a raspberry green tea smoothie, a kiwi, spinach and mint smoothie; and a spicy chai smoothie. To make your own version, simply take your favorite brewed tea (strained, no leaves) and freeze into ice cubes. Then, add your tea ice into your favorite smoothie mix and blend!
4. Infuse butter, olive oil, and salts
To make your own tea-infused salts, simply choose a salt (kosher salt, sea salt, fleur de sel, or Pink Himalayan) and your favorite tea. Use a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder to combine 1 teaspoon of loose tea for every ¼ cup of salt. Salt is super versatile, and the meal possibilities really are endless.
5. Substitute it for water or broth
Tea makes a delicious broth for soups -- try swapping out plain water for tea-infused broth. Here is a great recipe for green tea broth with udon noodles. Yum!
6. Use as a marinade or dressing
We love this classic marinade or dressing:
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup champagne vinegar
1 tablespoon finely-chopped shallot
2 teaspoons of your favorite loose leaf tea
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
What's your favorite way to cook with tea? Tweet us your pictures -- our handle is @RoyalCup.
