Costa Rican Tea Recipe
Costa Rican tea: black tea simmered with tapa de dulce, the unrefined cane sugar of agua dulce, cinnamon and lime. About 55 calories a cup.
- Total
- 15 min
- Serves
- 4
- Calories (est.)
- 55
Costa Rican tea is black tea sweetened with tapa de dulce, the unrefined cane sugar that Costa Ricans dissolve in hot water to make agua dulce, with cinnamon and lime. Simmer four cups of water with a cinnamon stick, dissolve two ounces of tapa de dulce in it, steep two tea bags for four minutes and add lime juice. A cup has about 55 calories.
Costa Rican tea and agua dulce
The hot sweet drink of Costa Rica is agua dulce: tapa de dulce dissolved in hot water, particularly common in the cooler highlands, as Wikipedia's article on Costa Rican cuisine describes it. Tapa de dulce is the Costa Rican name for panela, unrefined whole cane sugar made by boiling down sugar cane juice. The recipe on this page is agua dulce with black tea, cinnamon and lime added.
Recipe
Costa Rican Tea
Black tea with tapa de dulce, the unrefined cane sugar that Costa Ricans dissolve in hot water for agua dulce, a cinnamon stick and lime juice. Four cups.
- Prep
- 2 min
- Cook
- 10 min
- Total
- 15 min
- Serves
- 4
- Cuisine
- Costa Rican
Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 ounces tapa de dulce, chopped
- 2 black tea bags
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
Instructions
- Bring the water and the cinnamon stick to a boil in a saucepan.
- Add the tapa de dulce, lower the heat and stir until it has dissolved, about 3 minutes.
- Take the pan off the heat, add the tea bags and steep for 4 minutes.
- Take out the tea bags and the cinnamon stick and stir in the lime juice.
- Serve hot, or let it cool and pour it over ice.
Nutrition
- Calories:
- 55
Calculated from the ingredient quantities above using the USDA FoodData Central database, then divided by the number of servings. It is an estimate and will vary with the exact products you use.
Does Costa Rican tea help with weight loss?
No tea causes weight loss on its own. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases states the rule plainly: to lose weight, a person has to burn more calories than they take in through food and drink.
What can be said about this drink is what it contains.
| Per cup | Calories |
|---|---|
| As in the card, 2 ounces of tapa de dulce | about 55 |
| With 1 ounce | about 25 |
| Without any | close to none |
Nearly all of the calories come from the cane sugar. Tapa de dulce is unrefined, and it is still sugar. The banana smoothie on this site is treated the same way: its calories are listed, and nothing is promised.
Tapa de dulce and what replaces it
Tapa de dulce is sold as a solid block or cone, under that name or as panela or piloncillo. Chop or grate it before it goes into the pan; a whole block takes a long time to dissolve.
Dark brown sugar replaces it: 1/4 cup, packed, for the 2 ounces. It is refined sugar with molasses added back and comes close.
Iced, with milk, or without the tea
- Iced: let the tea cool, pour it over ice and add a wedge of lime.
- With milk: use 3 cups of water and stir in 1 cup of hot milk after the tea bags come out. Leave out the lime, which curdles milk.
- Without caffeine: use decaffeinated tea bags, or leave the tea out altogether. Tapa de dulce in hot water alone is agua dulce.
Other drinks on this site are the immunity shots, made with ginger and citrus, and, for a cold drink with caffeine, the espresso tonic.
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Let others know how it turned out.
