Grass Jelly Drink - Easy Homemade Tea Recipe

This grass jelly drink is perfect on a hot summer day. With only 4 ingredients, this sweet, icy tea is easy to make and enjoyed by all!

The star of this drink recipe is grass jelly. The black, mildly sweet jelly is cut into thin strips and added into a light and sweet pandan-infused black tea drink. Topped with some ice cubes, this grass jelly drink is definitely perfect for a hot day!

What is grass jelly?

Grass jelly is a plant based jelly that is very popular in countries like China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and others within the same region.

It is black in color and has a chewy texture, very similar to the texture of agar agar jelly.

Grass jelly is often sold in cans, tubes or even square containers. On its own, the grass jelly can be tasteless. Unlike other jellies, grass jelly is typically not eaten on its own. It is often cut into cubes or strips and added to drinks and other cold desserts.

This jelly can be easily purchased from Asian shops or markets. You can even make it own your own, but I find it a lot more convenient to purchase it ready made.

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How to Make Grass Jelly Drink

Ingredients

• Water
• Black tea (tea bag)
• Grass Jelly
• Sugar
• Pandan leaves

Making the pandan infused black tea

1. Fill half of the water into a pot.
2. Knot the pandan leaf and drop it into the pot.
3. Turn on the heat and let the water boil with the pandan leaf. Put on the lid.
4. As soon as the water boils, ,turn off the heat and add the tea bag.

1. Let the tea bag sit in the hot water for 1 to 2 minutes. Letting the tea bag steep in the hot water for more than 2 minutes will give a much stronger tea taste. Since this is a light tea drink, suffice if the tea bag is removed after approximately 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Discard the tea bag.
3. Add sugar into the hot black tea and stir to dissolve.
4. Discard the pandan leaf. Add the remaining water and place the pandan infused black tea into the refrigerator to chill.

Assembling the grass jelly drink

1. Remove the grass jelly from its packet (or can).
2. Slice it into thin strips.
3. Add some grass jelly strips into a drinking glass.
4. Add ice cubes (optional).
5. Pour in the chilled black pandan infused tea.
6. Serve.

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Notes

How does grass jelly taste?

• Grass jelly is black in color. You can purchase it in cans, blocks or tubes. Some are available sweetened and some are not. Always read the packaging to find out. The grass jellydrink recipe on this page uses sweetened grass jelly.
• Despite being called sweetened, the grass jelly is almost tasteless. It is typically added to desserts like shaved ice and cold drinks and pairs very well with these. It's chewy texture often adds the extra umph in these desserts and drinks in almost the same as boba pearls do in bubble teas.
• Grass jelly is also famous for its health benefits.

How to eat grass jelly?

• Unlike other jellies, most people do not consume grass jelly on its own. The jelly is quite tasteless and you will not enjoy eating it plain.
• It is best to cut the jelly into small cubes or thin strips and add it into cold drinks or milk. It gives the drinks a chewy effect in drinks, just like boba in bubble teas.

Can you replace brown sugar with white sugar?

• Yes you can. In fact, you can replace it with other sweeteners you like too.
• You can also adjust the amount of sugar you add into this grass jelly drink. This is a sweet drink and I would therefore not recommend totally avoiding sugar but you can definitely reduce it to your liking.

Can you omit the pandan leaf?

• Yes you can. The purpose of adding pandan leaf into this drink is for its fragrance. If you cannot find pandan leaves, you can simply omit it.

Can you cut the grass jelly into cubes rather than stripes?

• Yes you can. The way in which you cut the grass jelly for this tea recipe is up to you. Given that the jelly is quite tasteless on its own, I like to cut mine into thin strips. But you can always can cut them into cubes if you like.
• As a general guide, you can cut them into about 0.5 (half) cm cubes or even 1 cm cubes.

Can you adjust the amount of grass jelly in the tea?

• The amount of grass jelly you use in this recipe is entirely up to you. If you prefer lesser of the jelly, you can reduce it accordingly and if you like more, you can add more as you like.

How long does the grass jelly drink last?

• You can make this tea in advance and keep it in the fridge for at least 2 days. Serve the drink cold.

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Like this grass jelly drink recipe? Here are my other recipes you might want to check out:

• Pandan Jelly with Coconut (Agar Agar Pandan)
• Pandan Cake - Easiest Pandan Flavored Pound Cake
• Coconut Jelly with Palm Sugar (Coconut Milk Agar Agar)
• Coffee Jelly - An Easy Homemade Coffee Dessert
• Pandan Syrup - How to Make
• Lychee Jelly - An Easy Fruit Jelly Recipe
• Pandan Milk Tea - Easy Homemade Bubble Tea Recipe
• Pandan Milk - Flavorful and Easy

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Recipe (Printable)

Here is the full printable version of my grass jelly drink recipe.

And that's my super easy pandan grass jelly drink recipe for you!

Enjoy!