This homemade black apple tea mix is a great gift to give the tea lover in your life. Apple tea is a favorite in our family. We find nothing is more perfect to sip on cold afternoons.
There is only one problem with this apple tea. The dried apples and cloves infuse the tea with so much flavor, once you try a cup, you might find you don’t want to give it away!
I do have a helpful hint for making this recipe. The recipe calls for drying 1 apple. That is all you need to make for the tea. However, my advice to you is to make several apples. Cuz what is going to happen is you will smell those apples as they dry. Your mouth will start to water. You won’t be able to resist sampling one, which will lead to two. Plus, you can’t keep a smell to yourself. No, the smell will permeate the home. Your family is going to ask what you are making. They will ask for their own sample, and soon your dried apple will be gone. So do yourself a favor. The food processor is already getting dirty with one apple. May as well slice 3 or 4. The oven already has to be on for 90 minutes, so may as well have 4 trays of apples drying. Really, what’s not to love about making both snack and a gift in one fell swoop?!?
Here’s how to make Black Apple Tea for a Homemade Holiday gift:
Black Apple Tea Recipe
1 sweet organic apple (I used honeycrisp, but you could use gala or fuji)
2 T lemon juice
2 t turbinado sugar
1/2 C loose leaf black tea
15 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks, broken (to break cinnamon sticks, place on towel and fold towel over. hit with heavy object several times)
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Slice the apples as thin as possible. (I used the food processor) Soak the slices in a bowl of ice, water and the 2 T lemon juice for 5 minutes.
Drain slices and lay in one layer on a cookie sheet lined with either silpat or parchment paper. Bake in the preheated oven for 90 minutes.
Once dried and cooled, chop the apples finely. Mix the dried apples with the remaining ingredients. Store in an airtight container.
**To brew the tea, brew 1 tablespoon in one cup of hot water for 2 minutes.**
Stored properly, the tea will last 6 months. However, I doubt anyone can keep it around that long!
To package my tea, I used a Martinelli’s apple juice bottle. I loved that is was already apple shaped. I then added a green “leaf” that I cut out of a kleenex box that was green. On the backside of the leaf, I wrote the instructions for brewing the tea. This is the result:
Do you have any tea lovers in your life that would like Black Apple Tea Mix?
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This looks amazing! Thanks for the great recipe.
Thank you Tiffany! I linked it to your spice linky – that was good timing! ) Andrea
You don’t say where to use the turbinado sugar, but I do see it sprinkled on the apple slices. So, the apple slices are sweetened?
Also, do you think this would be good with green tea? I have plenty of loose green tea, but my black tea is in bags and I think it would be too powdery for this recipe if I cut open the bags.
Dineen, You are exactly right. The apples in the Black Apple Tea Mix are sprinkled with sugar before you dry them. I think it could be good with green tea – if you have a milder variety. Some green tea has that kinda smoky flavor (do you know what I mean?) that probably wouldn’t work well, but a mild green tea could be really good. Andrea
Hi, I just found this recipe and plan on making it as gifts in the fall. Thanks!
Hi Liz, I’m glad you found my recipe! I’ve had lots of great compliments when I’ve given them as gifts. I hope you enjoy. Andrea
i find this recipe lacking instructions really. i am trying it but i just do not see how a person can get the same cup of tea repeatedly with the y way these are packed in the jar. Cloves are VERY strong. there are 15 in this one batch. what happens of a person scoops up 5 in one deal? i think I will adjust this somehow so that it;s actually usable and not just some potpourri decoration. maybe of the cloves were not whole and much less and sprinkled on the apple slices while they are still wet i would get a more even amount in each steeped cup?
I had 5 apples, but I was eyeballing the pares I bought last night and since I had 2 racks left in my dehydrator, I thought why not? :O)
I used the lemon juice in a large bowl and tumbled everything I sliced over and over till I was sure every piece had lemon juice on it, then I pulled them up poured the excess out and put them back in the large bowl . I used sprinkled ground clove instead of the whole, I used Jaggery powder from the india store instead of the turbinado and i used a little sprinkle of Saigon Cinnamon on the slices (although I do think the sticks broken will still be a good idea) The Saigon cinnamon is something Cost Co carries now and it’s awesome! has a spicy kick to it I have never found in any other Cinnamon.
I am writing again to tell you thanks for the great idea, my house smells so awesome right now, you would not believe it , it’s crazy. It’s 10 degrees outside and you can still small this down the block. :O) I think Cookies are in Order! LOL Date, Raisin, Oatmeal .
So Mike, I can’t decide. You did like the recipe, or you didn’t? I think your idea to use your pears was genius! And I will definitely look for the Saigon cinnamon at Costco. We are huge cinnamon fans in our house. Thank you for trying the recipe and all your input! Andrea
Most definitely a big like from my house. while I was putting this together I thought. man These apples and pears really came out well! I mean, seemed a shame to cut them all up. so I thought well i will just try this out to see if it is as good as it smells, I made a cup of hot water and set it up to steep some green tea, and I plopped a dried pear spear in and it instantly started smelling good again. I think a jar pf these might just have to stay here in the kitchen. LOL They are great with the loose leaf but wow! You can just plop one in with a quick tea bag and have one of these fancy cups of tea anytime.
Hi I just came across your recipe and it sounds delicious! I was wondering if it would turn out the same if i were to have the cinnamon and cloves powered onto the apples? and when you meant finely chop the apples is it so its tiny enough that when you mix it in the water you wont be drinking in chunks? Because i’m thinking if it were all the be powderized it would be easier when it came down to mixing it in with the hot water. Also, do the loose leafs melt within the hot water or should that too be powderized with the rest of the ingredients?
I’m planning on sending this in a care package, and quick and easy would be perfect. Please get back to me with your opinions on how to make this a convenient way to scoop, mix and enjoy. 🙂
Hi Rudi, The black apple tea mix doesn’t stir into the water. It’s the kind of tea you use with a tea ball, like you would a tea bag. Hope that helps, Andrea
Hi, wanted to try this. BUT after only 20min my apple slices burnt in the oven!!! Are u sure its 90min? And is it 200 C or F? And fanforced oven? Ta
Hi Dana, Sorry to hear your apples burned! I’m sure it is 90 minutes and it is 200 degrees and it is F. I just have an electric oven. Hope that helps, Andrea
what kind of black tea did you use: assam, english breakfast, irish?
Hi Margot, You can use whatever black tea you like best for homemade black apple tea mix. Andrea
How many of the little apple bottles full of tea mix does this make? I’m wondering if I want to give a few away as gifts how many batches I’ll have to make.
Hi Alicia, The apple tea recipe made up one bottle. Andrea
Hi Andrea, Greetings from Love for Tea! I am so happy to check out your article today. I am also very curious to try baking apples and use them for blending. I’ve been waiting to buy a dehydrator but I must try baking them. Wanted to ask you, how you get the surity of drying the apples 100%..like 0.1% moisture can also rot the apples once packaged. Anyways, I am a tea blogger. Please check out my blog. Love from one tea lover to another. Good day! 🙂
Hi Ruhani, Always happy to connect with another tea lover! You really can’t guarantee you get the apples 100% dry in the oven. The tea should be consumed sooner than later. Andrea
LOVE this idea! One question– do they just need to be stored at room temperature is an airtight container to last up to 6 months?
Hi Victoria, If you thoroughly dry your apples, you can store this at room temp. If you are in doubt if your apples got dry enough, you can store in the fridge for “extra” protection. Hope that helps! Andrea