Real Horchata - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked white rice
3 sticks cinnamon
8 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/2 small lemon

Preparation

Wash white rice and place in a plastic bowl. Add cinnamon sticks and ONLY 1 1/2 cups of the water. Cover bowl and place in refrigerator for about 2 hours.
In a blender, blend the rice/water/cinnamon mix for about 1 minute
On top of a pitcher, strain the rice mixture thru a fine mesh sieve. While the sieve is still on top of the mixture, pour the rest of the the 7 cups of water. Keep in mind that you will not be able to filter out all of the rice thru the sieve, so there will be some remenants of the rice mix at the bottom of the pitcher. This is Ok, just give it a quick swirl before drinking.
Add the 1 cup sugar or more if you would like it sweeter.
Slice the lemon into round circles and add to pitcher.
Swirl drink with spoon before serving or drinking. Serve cold.