Guardians of the Galaxy is finally out and to celebrate I’ve whipped up my first mocktail. It doesn’t require a lot of mixing, but it will require some specialty ingredients. It’s a cold-brewed iced green tea infused with whole dried hops.
I’ve wanted to incorporate hops into a non-alcoholic drink for a while, since there’s some evidence that hops have relaxation properties. Also the flavour range on hops is incredible. Hops can add flavours from floral (crystal hops), to citrus (centennial), piney (simcoe), and even cannabis (Zeus).
The drink takes its name from Rocket, a racoon-like creature and the heavy weapons specialist in the film and his friend and bodyguard Groot, a walking/talking tree. In honour of Rocket’s lose of guns, I used gunpowder green tea (I’m not sure which kind specifically, but it’s at least gunpowder style) and for the Flora colossus himself hop flowers.
Source: MoviePilot.com
This is an interesting mocktail with a complex flavour that’s simple to make and cures that hop craving without having crack open a beer. The final flavour is light and slightly citrusy without bitterness.
In the picture above it’s only been brewing for about 15 minutes, so the colour isn’t very dark yet. The finished picture is under the recipe.
Ingredients
1.5 Tablespoons gunpowder green tea
6-8 dried hop flowers
Combine in pitcher and fill with cool water. Allow to brew for 2.5 hours. Strain and pour into glass with ice. Serve with lemon (optional).
What type of dinosaur was the most relaxed?
The Tea-Rex
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