Week 162: The Red Drink! (and Boomers)
- elenalilamartin
- Feb 15
- 3 min read
Week 162: February 8th-14th, 2026
This week I made hibiscus tea, or what I have been calling a "red drink." There are quite a few health benefits of hibiscus, as it has been used for many years in traditional medicine, but my main motivation was that I just wanted a fun beverage. I saw a few posts online about hibiscus tea and decided I wanted to make some myself. I remembered how much I enjoy "jamaica," or "hibiscus" in Spanish, drinks at Mexican restaurants. Even though my go-to is horchata, I have been known to get a jamaica drink from time to time. I looked up a few recipes online, watched a few more videos, and came up with my own version.
The recipe can be changed to your taste preferences. I combined and edited a few I found online and came up with the following necessary ingredients and items:
Hibiscus Tea or "Red Drink" as I like to call it:
water (5-8 cups depending on how big your pot is)
10 small dried cloves
1 large sliced orange
1 large cinnamon stick (or 2 small ones)
3/4 cup-ish of dried hibiscus leaves
optional: 1 tbsp of ground cinnamon
1 medium sauce pan or small pot for boiling
1 pitcher with a lid for storing in the fridge
optional but recommended: thin mesh strainer
Step 1:
Add the water and 10 cloves to the sauce pan and bring it to a boil on the stove.
Step 2:
Add the cinnamon stick(s) (and the 1 tbsp ground cinnamon, if you chose to include that), the 1 large sliced orange, and the 3/4 cups-ish of dried hibiscus leaves to the boiling water.
Step 3:
Stir all of the ingredients in the boiling water and turn the temperature down to a low-medium to let the mixture simmer and steep for about 10 minutes.
Step 4:
Turn off the stove and remove the pot from heat to set it aside for as long as you wish.
Step 5:
If you want to drink it hot, pour into a cup and enjoy! You can use a slotted spoon or strainer to remove the hibiscus leaves, orange bits, cloves and cinnamon stick. This is not necessary as you can actually get a deeper flavor the longer you let the mixture steep.
Step 6:
Transfer the mixture (either strained or not) to a pitcher and store in the fridge. This is good for 3-4 days!
To get the dried hibiscus leaves, my boyfriend and I went to Foodland Mercado on our way home from his parents' house. I think you should be able to find dried hibiscus leaves in most Mexican supermarkets.
After making the tea, I actually had to go across the street to Home Goods and buy a pitcher because I realized I didn't have one with a lid. I got a great one for only $14 (and it is top-rack dishwasher safe!).
After filling my newly purchased pitcher, I left the red drink in the fridge overnight with all the solids for more flavor and just strained it as I poured myself a glass.
I realized actually forgot the ground cinnamon and still really enjoyed how it turned out. Apparently you can add whatever sweetener you like, but I think it is pretty good without it. Supposedly this tea can also make you smell good from the inside out, which isn't hard to believe as its pretty fragrant.
Bonus: for Valentine's Day, my boyfriend planned a fun day at Boomers in Vista. We did the go-karts first, and even though a really slow tween cut me off in my speed racing, I had a great time. We also played 18 holes of mini golf. I think I prefer the Wii Sports Golf version (or now I guess, the Nintendo Switch version).
Though we didn't play any arcade games (I am a loyal Dave and Busters cardholder, so it felt wrong to do any arcade games at Boomers...), I loved some of the prize options. Most notably, the Spam plushie was speaking to me.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the hibiscus tea if you do choose to make some. Let me know how it turns out!
See you next week.
Comments