The Iced Tea Topic

[heidih]

I made an enjoyable pitcher yesterday with a loose jasmine tea. The light floral taste and smell along with the almost natural hint of sweetness was refreshing after a vigorous gardening session.

[heidih]

It has been not only hot but also humid - unusual for Los Angeles. I took a stab at something along the lines of the Tazo passion tea mentioned earlier. It was refreshing, had enough spice to be interesting, and was a hit with the neighbors. For a pitcher I steeped a handful of jamaica (hibiscus) along with a roughly pounded mix of 1/4 canella stick, about 8 mixed color peppercorns, and a star anise for 10 minutes. This has been repeated and jars of the mix gifted.

[heidih]

It is over 80 degrees today and my tea supply was low. I brewed some English Breakfast and poured it over a handful of kumquats from my tree. The kumquats were cut almost in half. It smells nice. I am looking forward to it when chilled. 

 

Anyone else playing with iced tea yet?

[Jason Perlow]

As we live in Florida now, we drink it all the time. We typically buy the basic Publix or Luzianne decaf black tea for iced tea prep (big bags) and add fresh mint and other things. This week we tried lemon balm from our garden. Nice.

[John Delaney]

Yes, I had some loose leaf Earl Grey iced tea today. I also plan to have some Ceylon tea later on as well. In fact, I used some White Tea last month that worked out pretty well also.

[Katie Meadow]

It is over 80 degrees today and my tea supply was low. I brewed some English Breakfast and poured it over a handful of kumquats from my tree. The kumquats were cut almost in half. It smells nice. I am looking forward to it when chilled. 

 

Anyone else playing with iced tea yet?

No one plays with ice tea here in the south. Sweet tea is like a religion married to a survival technique. I'm in North Carolina this week, where sweet tea rules. It is often just sitting around in a giant pitcher at room temp, and some people add ice and it seems some don't. If you are lucky you get some mint in it. And I think it is usually Liptons. However we stayed at a B & B last night owned by a transplant from the south of France and her sweet tea was just perfect: at least half the sugar that is typical for the area. Delicious. She also made us local rabbit for dinner, and a pear almond tarte tatin. Knockout.

[sadistick]

Is there any special process to making iced tea, besides the cooling part?

I want to play around with it this summer (dont always have to enjoy a cocktail on a hot day!) and want to get a good ground basics first.

[Naftal]

Is there any special process to making iced tea, besides the cooling part?

I want to play around with it this summer (dont always have to enjoy a cocktail on a hot day!) and want to get a good ground basics first.

Hello- Since melting ice dilutes the tea, and thus effects the flavor, it is a good idea to begin with more tea than you usually use.I think the rule is to use twice the usual amount, but you can change that if it is too strong/weak.

Edited May 9, 2013 by Naftal (log)

[heidih]

I steeped a fistful of lemon verbena leaves from my little plant in hot water for 15 minutes. Smells fabulous and has a nice floral & lemony taste. It calls out to be served in pretty clear glasses for sipping.

[Plantes Vertes]

Is there any special process to making iced tea, besides the cooling part?

I want to play around with it this summer (dont always have to enjoy a cocktail on a hot day!) and want to get a good ground basics first.

I've read that it can be made by steeping in the sun, rather than using hot water, but I'm on the wrong continent either to try it out or to pontificate on the niceties of iced tea tradition.

Anyhow, I like to make peach iced tea with lemon grass.

ETA and also to make it super-strong and then add sparkling water.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[heidih]

It is almost 100 degrees less than 4 miles from the beach in Los Angeles today so........ in the fridge a pitcher of black and a pitcher of jamaica (hibiscus spiced with canella , nutmeg, star anise and black pepper).  On deck is barley tea.

 

Edited May 14, 2014 by heidih (log)

[Naftal]

It is almost 100 degrees less than 4 miles from the beach in Los Angeles today so........ in the fridge a pitcher of black and a pitcher of jamaica (hibiscus spiced with canella , nutmeg, star anise and black pepper).  On deck is barley tea.

 

photo (60).JPG

Hello- I am also a big fan of hibiscus tea. And, I was wondering if you saw this:

 

http://www.lafujimama.com/2010/09/homemade-mugicha-japanese-roasted-barley-tea/

[Wholemeal Crank]

When it's hot enough to put the A/C on, especially if I have work to do in the garden, I like to keep a couple of glass infuser cups in the refrigerator with a small quantity of sencha for a cool-brewed treat--I use an inexpensive supermarket sencha for this.  I've also been drinking a lot of various Taiwanese high-mountain oolongs, starting a little leaf in hot water for about five minutes, then diluting with cool water and steeping room temperature or in the refrigerator for a few hours.  Again, I use what's on sale from my online sources, because a basic version does just fine 'brewed' this way. 

[Naftal]

Hello- The teahouse I frequent serves a gunpowder-style tea as their standard iced green tea.

[TylerK]

I don't know if this takes it out of the realm of iced tea and into the realm of cocktails, but iced jasmine green tea with St.Germain (Elderflower liqueur) and a splash of lemon is very refreshing on a hot day.

[Smithy]

heidih, I've never heard of barley tea before now.  Barley beer, barley wine, yes: tea, no.  Can you describe it?

[Tammi Townsley]

I tried to make a citrus ice tea this week.  Just with regular black tea and fresh squeezed grapefruit/orange juice.

 

Need to find a decent green tea to do a honey version.

[heidih]

I tried to make a citrus ice tea this week.  Just with regular black tea and fresh squeezed grapefruit/orange juice.

 

 

 

Tammi - I like to get the citrus flavor from zest and infused with the tea so that the hot water draws out the oils. I find that way I am getting the tea flavor in front with a hit of floral citrus versus creating an Arnold Palmer style drink. 

Edited May 29, 2014 by heidih (log)

[heidih]

heidih, I've never heard of barley tea before now.  Barley beer, barley wine, yes: tea, no.  Can you describe it?

 

The package does a good job of describing it: "a blend of light and deep roasted barley that provides a fragrant aroma, flavorful taste, and toasty nuttiness" 

 

A mellow soft lightly toasty flavor. 

[Tammi Townsley]

Tammi - I like to get the citrus flavor from zest and infused with the tea so that the hot water draws out the oils. I find that way I am getting the tea flavor in front with a hit of floral citrus versus creating an Arnold Palmer style drink.

That's a good idea. I will definitely try that out.

Last summer I successful made a better version of the berry tea at Wendy's.

[homefrontgirl]

It is almost 100 degrees less than 4 miles from the beach in Los Angeles today so........ in the fridge a pitcher of black and a pitcher of jamaica (hibiscus spiced with canella , nutmeg, star anise and black pepper).  On deck is barley tea.

 

photo (60).JPG

So is there a recipe for your hibiscus spiced tea?  Sounds amazing!

 

I married a southern man and it's sweet tea all day long here.  He's even got our northern-born son drinking it!  I call it tea kool-aid.  I don't drink it myself, but I've perfected the making of it at home. 

 

I live in Colorado and we are home to Celestial Seasonings - herbal teas- and I usually make my unsweetened iced tea with a few black tea bags and a few herbal tea bags.  The fruity teas are my favorite.

[lindag]

Since I make tea for myself only, I've been using the pod method. It's easy and fast and I have it freshly made each time. I have a Keurig machine and I buy the ice tea pods from Amazon (the ones that are tea only with no lemon or sweetener. Although I don't care much for the pods for coffee I do use them occasionally for iced coffee, again, it's really better than one would think. For my coffee, I prefer it brewed in my Technivorm.

[heidih]

So is there a recipe for your hibiscus spiced tea?  Sounds amazing!

 

 

 

I posted my method here http://forums.egullet.org/topic/142886-the-iced-tea-topic-2012/page-2#entry1890743

[homefrontgirl]

I posted my method here http://forums.egullet.org/topic/142886-the-iced-tea-topic-2012/page-2#entry1890743

 

Thanks!  I'll give it a try soon.

[Naftal]

Hello- While Goldfish Tea in Royal Oak, MI will serve any tea iced, they keep a batch of gunpowder green made up for that purpose. I forget which black tea they use.