ICED TEA TIP: Create A New Iced Tea Recipe With These Fun Additions!
Although some of the best iced tea comes simply from well-brewed, high-quality tea leaves, it’s often fun to jazz up your iced tea with other additions for something new and exciting. Here are a few ideas (many of which can be applied to simple syrup, as well):
- Herbs: A number of different herbs can enhance the flavor and aroma of iced tea. In general, anything that has a minty or citrusy character works nicely with tea, including (but not limited to) mint, thyme, lemon grass, lemon verbena, etc.
- Fruit: Various fruits can add complimentary flavor and visual interest to your iced tea. Berries and citrus work particularly well, but it’s best to add these after the tea’s been chilled (especially citrus, the peels of which can impart a bitter quality).
- Fruit Juice: Mixing your iced tea with fruit juice (or lemonade) is a fun way to adapt iced tea, or make it more appealing to those who might not like the taste of tea (who are those people, anyway?). Works really well with kids!
August 17 2009 | Iced Tea | No Comments »
Thai Tea (also known as Thai Iced Tea) is a popular iced drink hailing from Thailand, commonly found in Thai restaurants across the US. The deep amber color of the tea and its milk-tinted upper layer make this beverage really stand out on your table, and the combination of strongly-brewed tea, dairy and sugar make it a perfect complement to hot weather and spicy food.
The best time to sweeten iced tea is while it’s still hot (if you used the conventional “hot-brewed” method). This allows the sugar or honey to dissolve completely. But if you cold-brew your iced tea, or your iced tea drinkers prefer different levels of sweetness (or none at all), then your best bet is to offer simple syrup, which is basically sugar that’s already been disolved in water.
The 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair offered an opportunity for merchants from around the world to show off their wares. Little did tea merchant Richard Blechynden know it would also mark the beginning of America’s love affair with iced tea! In the midst of a sweltering St. Louis summer, Blechynden’s efforts to promote Indian black tea at the fair were proving unsuccessful. Hot tea was the last thing on the minds of those attending the fair. So, the enterprising merchant and his staff set out to develop an apparatus in which their brewed Indian tea would flow through iced lead pipes, creating a chilled beverage that was very well-received by fairgoers. Not only was Blechynden successful in promoting Indian tea at the fair, he also uncovered America’s seemingly endless thirst for iced tea – a thirst that has yet to be quenched to this day!
Get ready iced tea lovers, because June is National Iced Tea Month! To get you ready for this special event, we thought it’d be worthwhile to share a quick overview on how to brew iced tea. If you’re not already familiar, making iced tea at home is a total breeze! Just steep your tea normally, but use half the amount of water. If you want to drink it immediately, pour the double-strength infusion directly over a glass full of ice. Or, to refrigerate it, dilute the infusion with an equal amount of room temperature water. This allows the tea to cool gradually, which helps avoid clouding caused by chilling most teas too rapidly. One quart of iced tea generally requires about 1/2 ounce tea. To sweeten, add sugar or honey while the tea is still hot, allowing the sugar to dissolve completely.