This is the first in our series of Summer Dessert Recipes. Although we did get ahead of ourselves with the Colorful Jello Easter Egg Recipe.

When we gave you a walk-through of the springs flower edition 2022. We realized that we did not include the hibiscus. This was not due to any intentional slight to the hibiscus. When we took the pics for this year’s flowers, the hibiscus did not have any blooms on them. We had already picked the hibiscus flowers to make home-brewed hibiscus/Jamaica tea.

This post does contain affiliate links. When you buy through a link on these pages to a seller product, we get a commission on those sales, at no additional cost to the buyer

We love our hibiscus plants and we take good care of them and they take good care of us. We love hibiscus/Jamaica tea. Hibiscus tea has been a family favorite for years and we drink it often.

The Jamaica tea is made by steeping the flowers of the hibiscus plants. What kind of hibiscus does not seem to matter but each variation will have it’s own slightly different and distinct flavor.

To make home-brewed Jamaica tea:

2 cups of hibiscus flowers, dried or fresh

2 quarts of cold water

sugar for sweetness

Here we will technically be making a Jamaica tea concentrate.

The fresher the flowers the better the taste. We keep dried Jamaica on hand but the freshly picked flowers are best.

If you are using fresh flowers be sure to wash them well before you start the boiling. You do not want any garden friends to get into the mix.

You will need to use a boiler or pot on the stove top. Put the water into the pot, use cold water as your starter.

Add the hibiscus flowers to the cold water.

Bring to a boil and steep on low for about 10 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let the hot water cool. This will help concentrate the liquid. The flowers will become saturated with the hot water, this will be how the tea is concentrated.

When the flowers are as saturated as they will get, they get soggy and usually sink to the bottom of the pot.

With a strainer or cheesecloth, strain the flowers out of the liquid. This deep red liquid is now your Jamaica concentrate. Do not drink it straight, it would be very strong and almost undrinkable.

Note: Jamaica will stain almost everything. Keep that in mind when you choose the kitchen tools and containers you will be using.

You can discard the leftover flowers. We put ours into the mulch bucket for the garden.

Put the Jamaica concentrate into a glass jar and seal it tight. It is best to use a glass jar as plastic will not only stain but does change the taste of the Jamaica a bit.

Of course, if you use fresh flowers or dried flowers will also change the taste a bit.

In our experience, the dried flowers give the tea more of a twang. Where fresh flowers are less tangy and sweeter.

You can keep your Jamaica in the fridge for a good while if you can keep it around that long. We use ours pretty fast.

To use the Jamaica concentrate:

For a cold, refreshing drink:

We like our Jamaica tea fairly strong. We normally mix our concentrate half water to half Jamaica concentrate. You can make it stronger or weaker to your taste but that is a general recipe.

Add your sugar to your personal taste You can do without any sweetener but that will make for a very tart drink.

Stir well to mix the concentrate and dissolve the sugar.

If we are making a single glass of Jamaica tea we mix half Jamaica and half water. Add a couple of tablespoons of sugar and stir. This works for both hot and cold Jamaica tea.

If we are making a large batch of cold tea, we again mix it half and half. Sugar is again to your liking but we usually start with a cup and go more or less to everyone’s general liking.

Now you are ready to enjoy your nice, cool tea. You can use ice or just use cold water. Adding a splash of lime or lemon will add a nice twist. You can also add mint springs to give it a cooler nip.

If you want a really frosty drink, put your Jamaica in a freezer-safe mug and put it in the freezer for ten minutes. This will also make a mean Jamaica slushy.

If you want a soothing, warm cup of Jamaica tea:

Add half Jamaica concentrate to half a cup of hot water. Depending on how strong you like your tea.

Add sugar to taste, approx 2 tablespoons.

Stir and enjoy.  For a bit of extra spice, add a cinnamon stick or splash of lemon.

Our family drinks Jamaica tea both hot and cold and we enjoy both.

Now if you want Jamaica tea but do not want to make it yourself, that is ok. As usual, we like to offer alternatives to regular store-bought items, in the way of DIY.   But for those who do not want to buy regular store-bought or DIY, we offer a third option.

You can still get a great cup of tea, be environmentally minded, and help support an American company, with Tea Drops.

If you have kept up with our talks, you know we love Tea Drops. We have done a talk on the company and its benefits.

If you do not know Tea Drops, this is a good time to get to know them. Tea Drops is a woman-owned, American company that makes environmentally friendly teas of all kinds.

There is no teabag so no waste. The tea drops are made of fresh, organic, tea, spices, herbs, and sweeteners.

Each drop is nothing but natural ingredients, pressed into a cute shape.

To dink your tea drop, it is as simple as dropping the tea drop into a cup. We add sweetened creamer to our tea.

Yes, Scooby-Doo is still a household favorite.

Add hot water and stir.

As tea drops are natural ingredients and there is no teabag, there will be some stuff left in the bottom of the cup. That is ok and normal.

The stuff in the bottom is the herbs and spices used to make the tea. You can go ahead and drink this also it is good for you.

The herbs and spices give you anti-oxidants and other things good for your health.

If you are squeamish about stuff in the bottom of your cup, just wash it out.

Tea Drops offers not only Hibiscus tea but many other flavors, like Vanilla White Tea, Blueberry Acai, Rose Earl Grey, Ginger Citrus, and more. Tea Drops also has Boba, Matcha, special limited edition micro-batches, Iced Tea Kits, and cool environmentally friendly accessories.

So you can make your own Jamaica tea or get it from Tea Drops. Either way, we think you will love Jamaica tea as much as we do.

And it is safe for adults and kids. Let the kids start drinking a good, healthy tea and skip the soft drinks and energy drinks that are not good for them.

On a hot summer day, after a long workday or at a meal, Jamaica tea offers a healthy, flavorful alternative to plain water or chemically soft drinks.

Try out making your own Home Brewed Jamaica tea, try Tea Drops, or better yet do both. 

We love Tea Drops and have several different teas from them on hand for that late-night warm drink.

We also keep Home-Brewed Jamaica Tea on hand for any time of the day or night.

The kids like the Boba teas as well. Some of us adults have not yet come to terms with Boba but as open-minded folks, we have tried it.

Try it out and see what you think for yourself. We doubt you will be disappointed with Home-Brewed Jamaica Tea or Tea Drops.

Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.