Top 3 Blood Orange Tea Recipes

Oranges, blood oranges, tangerines and mandarins are fruits that make cool season instantly warmer. But one of them, really stands out – blood orange. What makes blood oranges special are pigments - anthocyanins, that give a distinctive reddish color to its flesh. If you love blood oranges, you will love a blood orange tea too. Ready to experiemnt? We prepared three recipes to enjoy a delicious drinks with Blood Orange, or even oregular orange, as a base.

What does orange tea taste like?

Depending on what exactly your orange tea contains, the taste may be very close to the taste of fresh oranges. It blends well with rooibos and black tea, and gives a wonderful citrusy touch to some oolong teas. However, pure orange tea is very rare, even in tea bags. The part used for tea is peel, as the flesh and juice will dry out. Therefore, making a homemade orange tea with fresh oranges may the the only way to really enjoy this delicious fruit in a cup. Besides, orange peel, especially when used alone and steeped in boiling water is bitter, and that’s a taste rarely anyone enjoys.

What is blood orange tea good for?

What makes blood oranges special is the presence of anthocyanins, a purple pigment abundant in many berries such as acai, blueberries or black currants. Anthocyanins are potent antioxidants with many potential benefits, including boosting immune system, managing diabetes, anticancer effects, antimicrobial and antiobesity benefits and promoting cardiovascular health[1]. Oranges are naturally caffeine free, so any pure orange tea will be caffeine free too.

Blood oranges

What can I add to orange tea?

Top ingredients for adding to orange teas are lemon, ginger, honey, cinnamon and chocolate. You can make a wonderful soothing hot orange tea by adding black tea, or a great refreshing iced teas if you blend it with green tea. White tea and some orange peel and jasmine flowers are a very intriguing combination too.

Blood Orange Chocolate

A truly classical combination of oranges and chocolate tastes great with blood oranges too. To make a unique cup of Blood Orange Chocolate we used Blood Orange flavored rooibos tea. This tea has a red rooibos as a base and contains orange peel, hibiscus, rosehips, apple pieces, safflowers and rose petals. Red rooibos is a herbal tea from South Africa with no caffeine, and white chocolate is the only type of chocolate that is caffeine free.

You will need:

• 2-3 teaspoons of Blood Orange tea
• 40-50 grams of white chocolate
• 1 ¼ cup of milk

Instructions:

• Add milk and tea leaves to a small saucepan.
• Let is simmer over low fire until tea has release enough flavor. Do not let it boil.
• Strain and place the tea milk back into a saucepan.
• Add chocolate pieces and stir over low medium fire until melted.
• Pour into mug and serve.

Blood Orange Fruit Tea

This tea is a very simple, yet delicious tea you can make in no time. If you don’t mind caffeine, add a teaspoon of green tea leaves in the first step, but don’t use boiling water then.

You will need:

• 1-2 blood oranges
• 1 lime
• 1-2 cups of water
• 1 teaspoon of honey
• A few juniper berries
• A few fresh mint leaves

Instructions:

• Wash the blood oranges and lemon and cut them into thin slices.
• Put them into a bigger teapot with juniper berries and fresh mint leaves.
• Add boiling water and steep for 10 minutes.
• Strain and add honey.

This works as a great orange iced tea too. Let it cool and pour in a glass filled with ice cubes. Want to make it even more unique? Add some elderberry flowers too.

Blood Orange Chai Tea

Blood Oranges blend perfectly with spices too and make a wonderful chai tea. As they are naturally sweet, refrain from adding too much sugar until you tried it first. You can use regular sweet oranges instead of blood oranges and get the same tasty result.

You will need:

• 3-5 cardamon pods
• 3-5 whole cloves
• 1 blood orange or sweet orange
• 1-2 teaspoons of sugar
• 1 spoon of black tea leaves
• ½ inch of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
• 2 cups of cold water

Instructions:

• Add all ingredients except sugar, milk and orange to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.
• Reduce and let it simmer on a very low fire for about 20 minutes.
• Strain the tea and pout it back into a saucepan.
• Squeeze the juice of 1 blood orange and add to tea.
• Add sugar and slowly bring to a boil while stirring.
• In a shaker, shake about ½ to 1 cup of cold milk until frothy. Pour it into a saucepan and heat over medium fire. Don’t let it boil.
• Pour the tea into a mug and top up with hot frother milk. 

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It’s not intended to replace medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Every person is different and may react to different herbs and teas differently. Never use teas or herbs to treat serious medical conditions on your own. Always seek professional medical advice before choosing home remedies.

References:

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5613902/