Tsaang-Gubat (Carmona retusa (Vahl) Masam)

Photo from the DOST Techno-Herbal Catalog

Coffee, TEA or errmm… never mind… This month’s edition of IMBB is brought to you by Clement of A La Cuisine! What a wonderful theme for one can drink tea, season with it, boil in it and even eat it.

Tea, strictly speaking, is the plant Camella sinensis which is native to China. The beverage known as tea, however, has evolved through the centuries to even include leaves of fruit trees, herbs and spices. There must be a myriad of tea concoctions out in the market which can be personalised according to individual tastes. I have my own personal favourites but what I will present now is the first “tea” that I knew of. Tsaang gubat or wild tea (Carmona retusa (Vahl) Masam) is not a tea plant but taken as tea it is. It is a plant with small white flowers which is commonly found in Southeast Asia. The Department of Science and Technology has a page on its Techno-Catalog section.

As a child, my playmates and I ate or pretended to cook with the ripened fruits which we picked off the multi-branched shrub. The small berry-like fruits had a sweetish tartness and a ‘bubbly’ texture. My grandmother had a constant supply of dried leaves which were brewed and taken in the mornings or afternoons or as a decoction for stomach aches.

For this month’s IMBB, I initially planned to bake a very moist tea cake but did not have the time to do so. Almost desperate for something to work on since I already posted a recipe for milk tea before, I thought of a literal iced tea, some tea popsies! Quite simple yet again, an experiment since I never had tsa with anything, only hot and plain. Brewing it is like any other tea. Boil some water, pour a bit into the brewing vessel to warm. Discard the water then put in a tablespoonful of dried leaves for each person (I like my tea strong). Wait for the boiling water to cool down a bit (approx 2 mins). Never pour boiling water on the tea leaves otherwise they will burn. Pour the water on the tea leaves then cover. Let stand for at around five minutes then strain into cups.

Tea-Citrus Popsicles made from tsaang gubat

Tea-Citrus Popsicles

250 ml double strength tea
1 medium citrus, juice (I used dalanghita, a kind of native orange)
1 ½ tablespoon brown sugar
1 clove

While the tea is still hot, combine the first three ingredients until the sugar dissolves. Add the clove and let stand until it cools. Place the mixture into popsicle molds. Freeze and shake every hour or so to break up the ice crystals.

Makes 4 medium popsicles.

The picture will be up shortly. Due to rains, we had a power interruption, my popsies are still freezing, hehe! - Now it’s up but with a few ice crystals. I’ll have to work on a smooth texture.

Thank you for hosting Clement! I’ll send you the tea cake sometime. :cake:

Update: Clement’s round-up - Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII