Agua de Jamaica – Mexico’s Refreshing Hibiscus Tea

Agua de Jamaica – Mexico’s Refreshing Hibiscus Tea

Agua de Jamaica – Mexico’s Refreshing Hibiscus TeaAgua de Jamaica – Magenta Hued, Tart, Tangy, Healthy

It’s a perfect spring day for sitting on the patio. A growing-greener-every-day choke cherry tree provides the shade. Blooming tulips and daffodils make up the view. And a glass of México’s popular cold hibiscus tea, Agua de Jamaica, quenches my thirst.

Agua de Jamaica – Mexico’s Refreshing Hibiscus TeaRefreshingly tart and tangy and incredibly healthy, Agua de Jamaica is a tea worth knowing about. In this case, Jamaica (pronounced Hah-My-Cah) refers to hibiscus flowers rather than to the country. Dried hibiscus flowers in Mexico, known as “flor de Jamaica,” give this gorgeous infusion its name.

I only discovered deep ruby Agua de Jamaica a few weeks ago myself while researching a beverage for my Cinco de Mayo cooking class. Then, within the same week I discovered Agua de Jamaica being served in a nearby Mexican restaurant.

The owner graciously offered to sell me a pound of the deeply colored, dried flor de Jamaica (hibiscus flowers calyxes) that he and his wife had brought back from Mexico. Yay. I could now perfect a recipe to enjoy Agua de Jamaica at home.

Tart-sweet and tangy

Due to its sweet-tart cranberry-like flavor, you’ll often find recipes for Agua de Jamaica (or Agua de Flor de Jamaica) calling for equal amounts of both sugar and dried flowers. I’ve chosen to sweeten Agua de Jamaica with a minimal amount of light, local honey. The honey complements the tartness rather than overpowers it. A stick of cinnamon and thinly sliced fresh ginger round out its flavor.

Apricot tulips alive and well

Difficult to believe that just a week ago we received almost a foot of gently falling spring snow. Everything so still and covered in white. As April is National Poetry Writing Month, here’s my story in verse 😉

Agua de Jamaica – Mexico’s Refreshing Hibiscus TeaEarly blooming apricot tulips
Covered in a foot of garden snow.
I won’t know
Till the sun shines forth
If their flowers continue to grow.

Last night I panicked
20 degrees and less
My tulips to protect.
Do I cover? Do I cut?
I can’t just let them rest.

Outside, radiant in the moonlight
Five tightly closed blossoms standing upright.
Walking through the crunchy snow
Agua de Jamaica – Mexico’s Refreshing Hibiscus TeaI cut and hoped that they would live
Placed in a vase on the counter’s ledge.

So cold they’d been
Before I brought them in.
Unsure what I would find when awake,
I did not rush to see their fate.

Five gorgeous tulips standing straight.
In a luscious apricot hue.
A picture of strength and fortitude,
Of life and beauty, too.

Agua de Jamaica – Hibiscus Tea

Adapted from a number of far sweeter recipes. I’ve reduced the amount of sugar considerably, replacing it with a light, local honey. A stick of cinnamon and slices of fresh ginger round out the flavor.

Makes 8 cups                                                               Printer-Friendly Recipe
Active time 5 minutes
Total Time: 65 minutes

Ingredients

8 cups water, dividedAgua de Jamaica – Mexico’s Refreshing Hibiscus Tea
1 cinnamon stick
5-7 very thin slices fresh ginger
2 tablespoons honey
½ cup flor de Jamaica (dried hibiscus flowers available on Amazon)
Thin slices of orange, lemon and/or limes (optional)

Preparation
  1. Agua de Jamaica – Mexico’s Refreshing Hibiscus TeaPlace 4 cups of water along with the cinnamon stick and fresh ginger in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover the pan and boil 2 minutes.
  2. Remove from the heat. Stir in the honey and hibiscus flowers. Let the tea steep at room temperature, covered, for 1 hour.
  3. Strain the tea into a half-gallon pitcher. Press on the flowers with a spoon to extract all the liquid. Discard the solids.Agua de Jamaica – Mexico’s Refreshing Hibiscus Tea
  4. Add the remaining 4 cups of cold water. (Or a combination of ice and water to equal 4 cups).
  5. When the tea is cool, add thin slices orange, lemon and/or lime. Or a squeeze of lemon, orange or lime juice. In Mexico, Agua de Jamaica is served over ice.
  6. Agua de Jamaica can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Printer-Friendly Recipe.

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