Iced tea

[Kneescrubber]

One of Susan's (my gf) best friends was born and raised in Toronto. We were talking after an Al-Anon meeting last night and she expressed dismay over our love of iced tea. She said very few Canadians drink the stuff.    Is this true? I just can't imagine not having a jug of iced tea in the fridge at all times during the summer.

[bungie4]

One of Susan's (my gf) best friends was born and raised in Toronto. We were talking after an Al-Anon meeting last night and she expressed dismay over our love of iced tea. She said very few Canadians drink the stuff.    Is this true? I just can't imagine not having a jug of iced tea in the fridge at all times during the summer.

It's true, but there is a reason. The only iced tea you can get up here is that Nestea sweet shit that tastes nothing like 'Iced Tea'. I love the iced tea in the states though, the further south you go, the sweeter it gets. Alabama iced tea is what we call Maple Syrup.

[motrhead]

 Our family drinks it, and my wife's family from Ontario is big on brewing their own...some do, some don't, just like hot tea. As a rule I don't drink soda pop, so if I buy a cold non-alcoholic beverage it's iced tea or fruit juice.
 I'll take the sugary commercial stuff or the real stuff, either works for me.

[The Shepherd]

Both of my parents and their families came here from Britain so I've always drank what you'd call "hot tea".

Iced tea has me imagining a bunch of teabags floating in a big pitcher of ice water.......I dunno about that.  

[DrMikey]

It's extremely hard to find good iced tea north of Indianapolis, IMHO.  We in the north never learned how to do it right.  

What did southerners drink before refrigeration?

[barb]

home made all the way. it's all about the lemon and orange slices you float in it

[Mesachie]

One of Susan's (my gf) best friends was born and raised in Toronto. We were talking after an Al-Anon meeting last night and she expressed dismay over our love of iced tea. She said very few Canadians drink the stuff.    Is this true? I just can't imagine not having a jug of iced tea in the fridge at all times during the summer.

My wife is from Texas and makes it from scratch. Probably wouldn't have tried it otherwise. When we visit her family
in the summer that's pretty much all we drink. Washes down the barbecue and fried catfish nicely  
 

[Kootenanny]

Hmmm.  My wife just makes up a strong batch of some kind of herbal tea (sometimes a blend of several teas) and puts it over ice in the fridge.  No sweetener.  So, she's been doing it wrong?

[birdrunner]

Hmmm.  My wife just makes up a strong batch of some kind of herbal tea (sometimes a blend of several teas) and puts it over ice in the fridge.  No sweetener.  So, she's been doing it wrong?

Ditto,

Current favorite is a Green Mint tea,     very refreshing.

[Hardware]

My understanding is that true homemade southern iced tea is basically diabetes in a glass...

[phaze5]

i just buy brisk i can't wait for the sun to do it's job, they do have shortages though which pisses me off because the guy says it doesn't sell well as soda, so why do you not have any???????


i started getting it at another store, the kid sees me and runs to the aisle and pulls all the cases and hid them , iwas pissed, and grabbed a liter to tide me over and then said what you don't want the cases, isadi yea if you had them, he shows me where he hid them i just started laughing and said his job was on the line now ,

[motomem]

Ice Tea - true gift from God.
If the doctor told me to quit drinking it or die. I'd find another doctor.
My method - Heat Water - pour it over 4 quart size bags in a gallon pitcher. Let set till it cools.
Fish out the bags - fill with cool water and refrigerate. For some reason I prefer it when it has been in the fridge a day or so.
So I always keep 3 gallons of tea in the fridge.

Best if you avoid using metal while it is warm.

I use to drink it the southern way with lots of sugar. Once you acquire the taste for unsweet you won't care for the sweet.
Drink unsweet ice tea in the place of soft drinks, juices and bottled pretend tea and I guarantee you will drop weight.
 

[Croak]

My understanding is that true homemade southern iced tea is basically diabetes in a glass...

As a Southerner now living up here, I can tell you all about sweat tea.  It's actually a complex subject.

Preparation is important.  Some will say that if you don't boil sugar in the brew water, but add it later, you're doing it wrong.  Some will say if you don't let the bags steep for a long time, you're doing it wrong. Some will say you never ice the brewed product, ice only goes in the glass you serve it in.  Some will say if you don't serve it in a Mason jar, you're doing it wrong. 

Standard recipe is 8-10 standard tea bags and 1 cup sugar for a 2 quarts of product.  I personally like 10 bags and about 3/4 cup sugar, but I don't cut it with a lot of ice, and generally serve the tea cold. 

I'm also a boil the sugar guy, and a ~10 minute steep then bag squeezer (I like it strong with a longer aftertaste, a quick 2 minute steep give you that Lipton canned tea sort of briskness).  Super-concentrate goes in the serving container, topped off with cold water to fill.  I stir then refrigerate the container ASAP (tea sours quick in the south, sweet or otherwise), and prefer a sealed glass jug (no flavor absorption from other crap in the 'fridge).  What's in the fridge is basically an iced tea concentrate, you can drink it straight, but you really need to cut it with some ice. 

"Sun Tea" is a variation on the theme, get a seal-able transparent container (glass is best), fill with water, sugar, and tea bags, then set in the sun for a few hours.  You'll know it's ready by color.  Tends to be a milder brew than boiling (less bite, less aftertaste), doesn't take any energy (so cheaper), and it's easy.

Lemon is optional, I personally don't use it often, and I never add it to the brew.  

[vfrrider]

Its a Southern thang. If you're not from the south, you would not understand.

Larry
VFRrider

[Kneescrubber]

I'll admit when I was a kid I loved it with sugar. Same with coffee. But I quit that nonsense years ago. Straight up with lemon and/or mint for me.

"Sun Tea" is a variation on the theme, get a seal-able transparent container (glass is best), fill with water, sugar, and tea bags, then set in the sun for a few hours.  You'll know it's ready by color.  Tends to be a milder brew than boiling (less bite, less aftertaste)

Yup, set it outside when I come home for lunch and it's just about perfect when I get home at the end of the day.  

[Kneescrubber]

So what do you drink with your meals.  

[motomem]

Its a Southern thang. If you're not from the south, you would not understand.

Larry
VFRrider

I think it must be a southern thang.
From visiting up north and finding on rare occasion ice tea in restaurants I think many northerners don't know what ice tea is.
It's like if your first experience with spinach is in the school cafeteria you may go through life thinking spinach is nasty. Sure it's nasty poured from a can.

[Phenix_Rider]

  HAHA that's one thing Arizona was really great for.  SUN TEA!  Set that jar out midday and it's done in about two hours  
Really, it was a bit more than that, but you could definitely set it out in the morning and have a good strong tea by dinner.  (or whatever you weird southerners call the evening meal)

It just doesn't get hot enough back east here to make good sun tea.  I make my own at home, and just get unsweetened when I eat out.  Most times, all you can get in restaurants is unsweet or nasty sweetened, flavored, raspberry, crap.

[miles]

Its a Southern thang. If you're not from the south, you would not understand.

Must be true.  I'm not from the South, and I sure as F*ck don't understand the whole "Swate Tay" thing at all.

[Formerly Known as Bigfoot]

My understanding is that true homemade southern iced tea is basically diabetes in a glass...

Yep.  If you weren't a Diabetic before drinking my grandmother's sweet tea you were once you were done.  She fried all kinds of food in the deep south, made sweet tea and always had homemade Pecan Pie and Pund Cake around.  Was always skinny as hell.

[vfrrider]

Here's the family formula.

A. Bring about a quart of water to almost a boil (i.e. listen for the sound of vapor).
B. Pour the very hot water into a quart glass tea pot with 2 family size Lipton teabags. Let steep for 3 minutes.
C. In a 1 gallon pitcher, add ice cubes unto 3/4 full. Now add 1 cup cane sugar (also called raw sugar).
D. Pour brewed tea over ice and stir. Add water back to tea pot and stir tea bags again.
E. Pour that into pitcher.

Should fill about 6-8 tall glasses. My wife insists that you place ice in glasses also.

I personally onlyuse about 1/2 a cup of sugar for jsut barel;y sweet.

On a hot day, this disappears daily.

Having lived up north also, I have always had trouble up there drinking hot tea.

Larry
VFRrider