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1
In a saucepan bring 2 cups water to a boil with the sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved, add tea bags, and let steep, covered for 15 minutes.
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2
Discard tea bags.
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3
With an ice pick or a skewer, test the three eyes of the coconut to find the weakest one and pierce it to make a hole.
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4
Drain the liquid and reserve it.
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5
Bake the coconut in a preheated 400F.
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6
oven for 15 minutes, break it with a hammer, and remove the flesh from the shell, levering it out carefully with the point of a strong knife.
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7
Cut the coconut meat into small pieces and in a blender grind it in small batches, transferring it as it is ground to a bowl.
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8
Return the ground coconut to the blender.
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9
Strain the reserved coconut liquid through a fine sieve into a large measure and add enough water to measure 2 cups liquid.
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10
In a saucepan bring the liquid to a boil, add it to the ground coconut, and blend the mixture for 1 minute.
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11
Let the coconut mixture cool, strain it through a large sieve lined with a double thickness of cheesecloth into a bowl, pressing hard on the solids, and squeeze the coconut in the cheesecloth to extract as much of the milk as possible.
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12
Stir the tea into the coconut milk with the food coloring, if using, and chill the mixture, covered until it is cold.
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13
Freeze the mixture in an ice cream freezer according the manufacturer's instructions and store the sorbet in freezer containers.
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14
The sorbet may be made 5 days in advance and kept frozen, covered.
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15
let sorbet stand in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or microwave it at 30% power for 1 minute to soften slightly before serving.
