MAKES 1 GALLON
It was a hellishly hot day in Los Angeles when I stopped into CITY restaurant to visit my friends who own it, the wonderful and eccentric chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. Everything about them and their restaurant is unique and appealing, including the iced tea they served to revive me.
We recreated the recipe the next week at China Moon, and it’s a house favorite that has a steady, addicted following. It is spicy and herbal in the most compelling way, with a last-minute hit of sweetness that comes as a big surprise. Lots of verbiage for a glass of iced tea? Try it and see.
3 medium lemons
1 gallon cold water
4 ounces peeled fresh ginger, sliced paper thin
¾ cup honey
Mint sprigs, for garnish
1. Scrub the lemons thoroughly under warm running water with a light liquid soap and an abrasive scrubber until squeaky clean. Slice in half crosswise.
On a daily basis at China Moon, we also offer jasmine iced tea and peach iced tea, the first being a green and the latter being a black tea blend. One of our waiters, Chinese-Vietnamese performance artist Paul Kwan, also makes a blend of baby chrysanthemums, lichee, black, and peach teas that is delicious hot as well as iced. On a traditional note, we’ll also make an iced tea with baby chrysanthemums, at least in partial homage to some of my favorite southern Chinese poets who cooled themselves off in centuries past with this brew.
All of our iced-tea making follows the same rules: Start with a stainless steel pot and highly fragrant (“fresh”) tea leaves, about ⅓ cup per gallon of cold water. Bring the cold water (ideally purified) to a rolling boil, then turn off the heat (moving the pot to a cold burner if your stove is electric), add the tea, and cover the pot. Let the mixture steep undisturbed for a full half hour. Strain through an impeccably clean sieve into an impeccably clean glass container.
The resulting tea will be strong and clear. Iced, it should be just right in strength. Stirring a bit of honey into the just-strained hot tea can be intriguing, especially if you experiment with herbal honeys such as lavender and thyme, but we generally prefer ours unsweetened for the sake of the tea flavor itself.
2. Add the water and ginger slices to a heavy non-aluminum pot. Holding each lemon half over the pot, extract as much juice and pulp as possible by vigorously twisting with a fork. Drop the pulped lemon halves into the pot. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, then immediately remove from the heat, cover, and let steep undisturbed for 30 minutes.
3. Strain the tea through a fine-mesh strainer, and while it is still hot, stir in the honey. Let cool to room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator.
4. Serve over ice and garnish with mint sprigs, or top with boiling water for a hot drink.
