Jasmine Tea Ice
8 minutes. Serves 4 to 6.
The lovely aromatics of the jasmine tea come through loud and clear and the silky, slightly slushy texture is just the thing to finish a late alfresco dinner or to cleanse the palate between courses.
4 cups water
4 teaspoons jasmine tea
3 tablespoons sugar
1 Heat the water to simmering. Pour the hot water over the tea and sugar. Steep for three minutes. Strain.
2 Cool to room temperature.
3 Pour the tea mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. (Alternately, pour the tea into a wide shallow dish, place in a freezer and allow it to freeze around the edges, one to two hours. Remove the dish from the freezer and scrape the ice with a fork from the outside edges to the center. Repeat this process every half hour, at least 3 times, until the entire mixture has turned into small, sequinlike ice flakes.)
4 Spoon into tea cups to serve.
Make Ahead You can make the tea ice ahead of time and keep it overnight in the freezer. If you do this, remove the ice from the freezer about 30 minutes before serving. Let it stand at room temperature until it softens enough to fluff with a fork, or use a blender or food processor to quickly break it up into smaller crystals.