Grilling out in the summertime is pretty much mandatory around here. I got that handled this week with the Vietnamese Grilled Lemongrass Pork Chops I just made, but now I need a cool, refreshing beverage to go with them. Being in the south, I’m big on sweet iced tea, and I’ve found a Vietnamese version to go with those pork chops. This Vietnamese Lime Iced Tea (Tra Chanh Hanoi) is made with green tea and limes and sweetened with honey. It’s not the sweet tea I’m used to, but I’m betting it’s delicious. Let’s find out!
Vietnamese Lime Iced Tea (Tra Chanh Hanoi) is a refreshing drink that is well-loved by young people in Hanoi, Vietnam. You need just a handful of ingredients to make this popular Vietnamese drink.
The Ingredients
This lime iced tea recipe might have a lot of flavors, but it doesn’t have a lot of ingredients. Two of those are water and ice, something everyone has in their refrigerator and freezer, so that leaves three items to shop for. Well, just one for me. I had honey and green tea in my pantry, so all I needed were a few limes.
The Process
This is iced tea, and it’s not difficult to make. The important thing here is to properly brew the green tea. It’s picky and can turn bitter very quickly–I’ve learned this the hard way. Unlike black tea, you only need to brew green tea for 1-3 minutes. I like mine brewed for 3 minutes, and that’s what I chose for this recipe.
The other key to brewing a tasty green tea is the water. Don’t boil it! I like to microwave the water for 1 minute per cup. It gets steaming hot without boiling and results in a better cuppa. You might need to adjust that depending on how powerful your microwave is.
Once I had the tea sorted out, I got to juicing the limes. It took me 2 1/2 to get enough juice for this recipe, leaving me enough for a garnish.
Finally, I popped the honey-sweetened green tea into the refrigerator to cool. The recipe doesn’t specify that, but I like my tea as cold as possible so it doesn’t melt the ice cubes.
This recipe was so quick! Here’s how my time was spent:
- 10 minutes to prep
- 10 minutes to cool
- 20 minutes total
