Recipe - Pineapple Sage Iced Tea

I feel like I've been on a cold drink kick lately with my recipes. I'm betting it's the summertime heat that's getting to me. I mean, I'm pretty thirsty in general but when the sun bears down on you, you kind of have to fight back somehow since thirst increases. As I've mentioned before, Duc has been growing an herb garden in his apartment and the pineapple sage has been prolific. I had done a smoothie with it before as well as putting it in butter to make a sage butter for dishes. This time, it was a chance to go back to the basic recipe that most people claim to use pineapple sage for - tea. I did an iced tea due to the heat but you can have this hot too! It has nice citrus notes and a natural sweetness.

Step 1: Ingredients (yields 2-3 cups)

• 1 cup fresh pineapple sage leaves, tightly packed
• 3 cups hot water
• 1-2 lemons, juice only
• 2 tbsps honey

Step 2: Prepping ingredients
I boiled water in a kettle first while washing the leaves and placing them in a 2-quart saucepan. When the water is just below boiling hot, take it off the heat and pour over the leaves.


Step 3: Steeping
Steep the leaves for 20 minutes. Then add in lemon juice and honey.


Step 4: Finishing
When the tea has cooled enough, chill in the fridge. When ready to enjoy, pour over ice. If you'd like to amp up the citrus notes in the tea, you can make pineapple juice ice cubes to use.


Photography by Minerva Thai.