Hot weather in the summer calls for a cool summery drink. My favorite (non alcoholic) drink is half lemonade and half iced tea, or better known after the man who made this drink famous, the Arnold Palmer. What makes this drink so refreshing is the mixture of the equally tart and equally sweet lemonade with the briskness of tea.

To start off my summer, I decided to make my own version of the Arnold Palmer but with twists on both the lemonade and the tea. For the tea, I decided to brew the black tea with a couple of dried rose buds and cardamon – hence the name Rosie. Rose buds have found their way into a lot teas giving simple teas a more vibrant flavor. Cardamon provides a balancing spicy and woody flavor.I found dried rose buds at an Asian store, and cardamom is always available at any Indian store. But these days, you can find these type of ingredients in the international section of many supermarkets. For the lemonade, I gave more sweetness and fruitiness by adding blackberries to the mixture.

Ingredients:

Tea:

• 4 cups water
• 8 tsp black tea (orange pekoe is good)
• 6 cardamon pods, smashed
• 6-8 dried rose buds
• 3 tsp cinnamon bark

Lemonade:

• 2 cups of lemon juice (about 12 lemons)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 pint of blackberries

Bring the water and the tea to boil and let the tea brew for 2-3 minutes depending on how strong you want the tea. You can always add water to dilute. Strain the tea leaves and ice or refrigerate.

Roll the lemons to get more juices. Juice the lemons and strain out the pulp. Blitz the pulp with 1 cup of water in a blender. Strain again and add back to the lemon juice.

For the syrup, in a pot, heat the sugar, water and blackberries together. Once the mixture boils, turn down the heat and allow the berries to macerate for about 5 minutes. Allow to cool and then add to the syrup to the lemon juice.

Combine the tea and lemonade as desired. I tend to add a bit more lemonade than iced tea, while Siddharth likes a purely half and half combination. Extra sweetener can be added after mixing if desired. Drink up and enjoy the heat!