Living in the Emirates, we have an ample variety (about 400!) and supply of Dates, the regional fruit. Culturally, dates have long played a vital role in the Middle East cuisine and rituals, surrounding hospitality. They’re prevalent during Ramadan when they’re usually given as gifts or eaten to break the fast.
Growing up around Asia, dates always seemed exotic and rare. But, after living in the Emirates for more than 12 years, we’ve gotten used to this unique, sweet fruit. And oddly enough, we’re slowly seeing dates (and camel milk) being incorporated in food, cookies, candies, and chocolates—but NOT tea! That’s where we come in. Always experimenting and satisfying our curious minds, using local ingredients. And why not? ☺
Health benefits? Dates are known to have:
- High antioxidants
- Rich in Vitamin A, which support good vision, Vitamin C, which strengthens the immune system and B-complexes that help fight infections
- They contain 20 different types of amino acids
We’ll be doing our Date Ginger Black Tea cold brew style. We’ve done 2 versions, the 1st on requires cooking the dates with water over some time, then strain and add the black loose-leaf tea. Taste-wise, it was quite sweeter and pulpy, even after several filtrations. However, this cold brew method is incredibly simple and yields a very balanced, elegant flavor. No bitterness. Just combine the loose-leaf tea, water, dates, and ginger and infuse overnight.
Ingredients: 
- 1-liter teapot/4 cups of water
- 2 tbsp of loose-leaf Black Tea of choice (we used Japanese Black Tea, which is milder in taste)
- 4 slices of fresh ginger
- 4 dates, sliced in small pieces
- 1 tbsp of honey (optional)
- Garnish with fresh mint & orange wedges
Serves: 4 cups or 1 liter
Instructions:
- Mix all the ingredients in a Pitcher, French press or Teapot.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight. We recommend tasting the tea on the 6th hour and adjust to your liking. We removed the loose-leaf Black Tea this time and continued steeping the dates and ginger.
- Once your preferred time has been reached, strain all the ingredients out of the pitcher and pour through a fine-mesh sieve. For this tea, we strained 2x to remove the fibrous pulp.
- Add a sweetener as an option to your liking. Serve and garnish with orange wedges, fresh ginger and or mint. We find that the ginger overall gives a nice contrast to the sweetness, as well as the orange wedges.
Notes:
For the pulp, do not discard. We recommend using the date pulp as jams, preserves or chutney. We’ve created a Date Blueberry and Chili chutney and paired it with Cheese, and it was divine! Happy to share that recipe if anyone is interested.
Source: Made originally by yv et té
If you do make this, let us see ☺ Tag your photo and share with #yvetteteas on Instagram.
Made by: Yvette A.
Posted on July 2017
