How to Make Tra Dau Tay Rim (Simmered Strawberry Tea)
Sweets and drinksDrinksVietnamAbout 40 minutes of work, plus 12 hours macerating
Tra dau tay rim pours a deep red glass, with a strong strawberry flavor and a clean calamansi sourness that cuts the sweet finish. The fruit is simmered down with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend into a thick syrup jar, scooped out one glass at a time. The hard part is the heat, since simmering too far breaks the berries down and loses the fresh aroma.
Simmering is nothing like a cold soak. kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly in cold water, so a cold soak leaves it settled at the bottom of the jar, while a few minutes on the stove dissolves it completely and the syrup jar keeps longer.
This batch weighs about 1.1kg, at roughly 20 calories per 100g.
Method
Hull 500g strawberries, wash them in lightly salted water and rinse with clean water, drain, then cut each berry into 4 to 5 medium thick slices.
Put the strawberries in a heavy bottomed pot with 150g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 150ml water, and leave 15 minutes for the fruit to draw out its juice.
Set the pot over medium heat and stir gently until the blend has dissolved and the mixture comes to a light simmer.
Lower the heat and simmer 12 to 15 minutes until the liquid thickens and the slices turn translucent, skimming the foam as it goes.
Turn off the heat, let it cool 5 minutes, then stir in 10ml lime juice.
Pour into a glass jar rinsed with boiling water and dried completely, seal it, let it cool fully, then keep it in the fridge and use within 2 weeks.
Weigh 10g jasmine tea into a filter bag, steep it in 400ml water at 90 to 95 degrees C for 7 minutes, press the bag gently 2 to 3 times, then let the tea base cool completely.
Put 120ml jasmine tea base, 90ml simmered strawberry syrup and the strained juice of 2 calamansi into a shaker, add ice cubes and shake 5 to 10 seconds.
Pour into a glass, spoon a scoop of the simmered strawberries over the top and add mint leaves for looks.
Tips
Cut the strawberries a medium thickness, since slices that are too thin collapse into liquid by the end of the simmer.
Simmer over low heat and skim the foam, because high heat drives off the fresh strawberry aroma and leaves the syrup slightly bitter.
Stir in the lime juice after the heat is off, since adding it while the pot is still boiling loses the aroma and dulls the red color.
Black tea works in place of jasmine tea and gives a deeper flavor.
The tea base has to be fully cool before shaking, because a warm base melts the ice and thins the glass.
Scoop with a dry spoon each time, as a wet spoon turns the jar moldy early.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.