Lebanese Iced Tea: Roses Aren't Just for Smellling Anymore!

I think if I had to credit one person with really inspiring me to experiment with my cooking it would be my friend Vanessa.  She used to make us these amazingly exotic dishes when we were all in college - pretty great alternative to the dorm cafeteria!  One really super simple and easy thing she taught me to make way back when is lebanese tea, and I've been loving it ever since.

You just brew up some regular tea (you can even use lipton or PG tips but its better to use fresh earl gray black tea leaves).  If you used six cups of tea, squeeze in the juice from one lemon and add sugar to taste.  I don't use very much sugar and just supplement with splenda at the end if its too bitter, but if you're into sweet tea you might want to use as much as a cup of sugar.  Boil the water, sugar, and lemon until everything is dissolved. 


Then comes the fun part: Add in two tablespoons of either rose water or orange blossom water, which I think is so cool!  I didn't even realize you could cook with flowers like that until I met Vanessa, but-- from wikipedia -- "Orange flower water, or orange blossom water, is a clear, perfumed distillation of fresh bitter-orange blossoms . . . This essential water has traditionally been used in many French and Mediterranean dessert dishes, such as the gibassier and pompe a l'huile, but has more recently found its way into Western cuisine."  Also, "rose water is a by-product of the production of rose oil for use in perfume.  Rose water has a very distinctive flavour and is used heavily in Iranian cuisine—especially in sweets."  So cool!  I love adding the flowery water to the tea - It smells awesome and I feel like I'm a 14th century apothecary creating some kind of magic syrum or something.  Okay, so I'm a little weird -- I admit it! 

After everything is dissolved, pour it into a pitcher and let it sit in your refrigerator over night.  The next day, add pine nuts to the tea and its ready to drink!  Best accompanied by a game of backgammon so you actually feel like you are in the middle east :)