Smoky Mary on a Sunday morning

Lahloo Pantry manager Holly had a secret: she makes an amazing Bloody Mary. But when we found out, we decided we had to use her expertise! And this is how Holly transformed the classical cocktail into an alcohol-free, rejuvenating drink packed with antioxidants. We’ve used Lahloo Smoky, the whiskey of the tea world, in this exciting recipe. Feeling a bit, ahem, tired on a Sunday morning? Follow Holly’s advice on how to make this delicious Smoky Mary!

The secret is out!

Ingredients: 

• 3tbsp Lahloo Smoky tea (infused)
• Juice of 1 lime
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 240ml tomato juice
• 2 pinches celery salt
• Tobasco to taste (Holly recommends two shakes)
• Worcester sauce to taste (again, Holly recommends two shakes)
• celery stalk
• lemon and lime to garnish

Mix all the ingredients, garnish with lemon, lime and celery stalk and serve with ice!

Green tea and peach ice lollies

No matter how old you are, ice lollies are always exciting! Here’s the proof: since we decided we’d have to try and make our own ice lollies, the whole Lahloo team has been buzzing about it. Tea ice lollies! Think about it. Aren’t you excited now? If you love cold infused tea as much as we do, you’ll love this recipe. It couldn’t be simpler: just three ingredients, and the triumph of making something that is vibrant, healthy, refreshing, colourful and fun!

We’ve used our South Korean Nokcha as the base for these lollies. It makes a fantastic cold infusion, refreshing and invigorating. But adding just a dash of peach puree to our cold infused Nokcha (also great with Japanese Sencha) will amaze you! It’s nothing  like those peached iced “teas” that you can find everywhere during the summer, with no tea flavour whatsoever and all packed with sugar. The cold drink is unbelievable good, but freeze it and you’ll become rapidly addicted. Here’s how to make it!

Ingredients: 

• 500ml water
• 2tsp LahlooNokcha
• a small tin of peaches in light syrup

Infuse 2 tsp Lahloo Nokcha in half a litre of cold water for 3 hours. Strain and leave aside. Blend the peach segments (without the syrup) until smooth. Pour the peach puree into the ice lolly mould and top up with the cold Nokcha (we use 1 part peach puree per 2 parts of tea). If you do it carefully, you’ll get an ombre effect that looks quite pretty! Carefully place the sticks and freeze for at least three hours until solid.

Our tip: if you don’t have a mould, use an ice cube tray and toothpicks as sticks!

Ice cubes with fruit and herbs

Ice cubes! They’re certainly a summer party essential, though they rarely are the focus of a conversation -unless you’ve forgotten them and it’s too late to get hold of any!  An easy way of making your drinks a bit more exciting is adding an unexpected element to your ice cubes: herbs, flowers or spices. The idea is not merely to embellish the ice, but to enhance the flavours. Whatever you add to your ice cubes should complement your drink! We’ve been playing around with some ideas and here are our favourites.

A fresh mint ice cube in your cold infused Sencha!

• Raspberry ice cubes: they will look striking in iced matcha or sencha.
• Strawberry ice cubes: we love them in cold infused Rosebud.
• Lemon zest ice cubes:  These look and taste fresh, try them in matcha or your preferred green tea.
• Pomegranate ice cubes: lovely with Sencha.
• Strawberry and basil ice cubes: they give a great twist to your glass of water.
• Fresh mint ice cubes: they’re fabulous in a glass of melon or watermelon juice. Also great in your cold infused Sencha.
• Lavender ice cubes: amazing with Earl Grey or White Peony.
• Pink rosebud ice cubes: will look and taste delightful in a herbal lemonade made with cold infused Lemon Verbena.

Have you tried any other variations? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Take your pick! These ice cubes are also great in a glass of water

Snow Jewel granita

With such an evocative name, it seems natural that Snow Jewel is perfect chilled over ice.  This Chinese Baihao Yinzhen, or White Hair Silver Needle, is rare and special, with the pure and clean flavours of peaches, lychees and ripe pears. The downy, silvery buds are plucked in spring just before they open, and they’re only lightly oxidised. This Snow Jewel granita will give you a moment of calm, making you feel refreshed and giving you a boost of antioxidants.

Cold infuse some Snow Jewel overnight (we use 4tsp per litre of water) and strain in the morning. Freeze the drink in a container for around eight hours. Take it out of the freezer and scrape the tea with a fork until fluffy. Serve immediately!