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coming from aus & being an age that has only drunk their tea hot & black.
I find myself unable to make an effective drink,
Could sone kind yank please give a struggling assie a recipie or three.
Colour me embarresed, I can make a whiskey to match most bought but cant make flavoured cold tea.

Newts

My limited time in the States revealed two types, both as equally disgusting as the other. Unsweetened and ridiculously over sweetened.

I don't know anyone who drinks tea around here really. Well, once in a while, but we're mainly into coffee in various forms. My wife drinks tea once in a while.

newts wrote:coming from aus & being an age that has only drunk their tea hot & black.
I find myself unable to make an effective drink,
Could sone kind yank please give a struggling assie a recipie or three.
Colour me embarresed, I can make a whiskey to match most bought but cant make flavoured cold tea.

Newts

Take a gallon jug fill with water 1 to 2 cups sugar enough tea bags for that amount and set in sun till color get dark as you want. Dont drink tea myself but in summer this is way family members make sweet tea.Me I drink coffee year around

Hi, newts! Trying something new?

It's no great shakes: get yourself some Lipton Tea Bags, don't mess around with your perhaps beloved loose tea. Put the kettle on, bring water to a boil. Put two (the large size) bags in a half gallon, heat-tolerant pitcher. Take the boiling water off the heat, let it sit for one minute (that's important!!). Fill the pitcher (with tea bags) about 1/3 full with the hot, but now not boiling, water. Wait five minutes. Remove the tea bags...let them drip, but do not squeeze. Add sugar to taste (my mother says that once you cross the Red River, they take the sugar out of your tea and put it in your cornbread...but that's another story...), I prefer very lightly sweetened but you may not want any, you may want a lot.... Now fill the pitcher with cold/iced water, throw in any handy sprig of mint, or some lemon, or even orange...and you're good to go!!!

And, coops...don't say my iced tea is disgusting, and I won't say the same about your milky brew...

The Chemist wrote:And, coops...don't say my iced tea is disgusting, and I won't say the same about your milky brew...

I'll rephrase, I found the ice tea not to my taste. Oh, and how I love my flat whites - 1 X 30ml shot of espresso and about 180ml of 68Deg C milk

CoopsOz wrote:

The Chemist wrote:And, coops...don't say my iced tea is disgusting, and I won't say the same about your milky brew...

I'll rephrase, I found the ice tea not to my taste. Oh, and how I love my flat whites - 1 X 30ml shot of espresso and about 180ml of 68Deg C milk

Well, ya can't say fairer than that!!

Hmmm...15% espresso in milk? Is that a "latte"? I'm not a 'Starbucks' kinda guy...but it sounds suspiciously like the wonderful, but 'not for everyday' cafe au lait...preferably served at Cafe du Monde, with beignets, on a sunny Saturday morning...

tater wrote:

newts wrote:coming from aus & being an age that has only drunk their tea hot & black.
I find myself unable to make an effective drink,
Could sone kind yank please give a struggling assie a recipie or three.
Colour me embarresed, I can make a whiskey to match most bought but cant make flavoured cold tea.

Newts

Take a gallon jug fill with water 1 to 2 cups sugar enough tea bags for that amount and set in sun till color get dark as you want. Dont drink tea myself but in summer this is way family members make sweet tea.Me I drink coffee year around

husker has it right ,my wife makes hers the same way. i also drink coffee strong and black all day..cept at meals...sweet tea. ,and sweet tea should not be real sweet like a sugar wash...lol i have been served tea that one glass could rot your teeth ,and ruin yer sex life.

LThanks for the replies, if I cant get a good batch going I will try it out on the grand daughters boy friend. Any thing that ruins his sex life cant be a bad. thing.
Newts[/quote]

Well, being from the south, iced tea is a staple, besides pepsi and peanuts, but I use orange pekoe and cut black tea, about 3/4 cup sugar per 2 quarts. Luzianne is probably the best, but, generic tea works as well.
Cheers

newts wrote:LThanks for the replies, if I cant get a good batch going I will try it out on the grand daughters boy friend. Any thing that ruins his sex life cant be a bad. thing.
Newts

CafeFukinLatteWhatsNextCabSavPunkin

CafeFukinLatteWhatsNextCabSavPunkin

double decaf skinny soy moccacino

Ice tea on a sweltering hot day is a real treat. There are of course many recipes, but none nearly as good as the following modified sun tea.

Fill a gallon jug with hot tap water, insert two family size decaffinated tea bags, or eight individual tea bags, and let it set just until it reaches room temperature and remove the tea bags. Then put in the refrigerator. Do not add sugar, do not add anything. Around here Lipton is generally used which is a blend of Orange Peko and Peko. I have made it with an Earl Grey before and it was pretty good too. Decaffinated tea has the best flavor for ice tea, it comes across the palate cleaner and crisper.

Sun tea is even better but can take up to 8 hours to brew, depending on circumstances. The lower the heat you use, the less bitter the tea comes out, hence either hot tap water or the slow warming sun rays - stay away from the stove - besides it is hot summer time, you don't really want to be huddled over a hot stove do you?

Sugar makes the tea go "off" within a day, even in the refrigerator. Gives it a funky taste. Add sweetner to the glass as you drink it. Or don't sweeten it at all, which is the best way to drink it - and you can get lynched for saying that in these parts

This makes a light ice tea, not a dark strong one. The all time very best additive to this tea is a slice of lime. Not lemon, ever. Lime is the only way to go. If you can't get lime, a slice of sweet orange makes a distant second best. A sprig of mint looks nice but tastes bad so avoid it or only lay it across the top as a garnish to be picked off and thrown away.

This is best served in a large heavy clear glass tumbler, with as much ice as you can force into the glass. The iced tea should definitely be cold enough to make the glass sweat - colder the better, so keep the tea in the fridge and not on the counter.

I can't even drink the swill they sell in the restaurants.

I buy a south american tea called yerba mate at a specialty grocery in Austin. It makes my favorite tea of all time. I make it up with a little honey to sweeten up and sometimes add mint.
I think its traditionally consumed hot, but I like the iced tea best. American Iced tea is another favorite, not too sweet.

Tea got tannins. Seep below 170f. Tannins will leach out and get bitter if too hot just like barley malt.

That's why sun tea is so good.

CoopsOz wrote:My limited time in the States revealed two types, both as equally disgusting as the other. Unsweetened and ridiculously over sweetened.

What a fascinating thread

blanik

ice cold sweet tea 365. aint gotta wory much bout ice meltin in winter


blank id tread litely sitin down with a southern family for sunday dinner an tellin em there ma tea is disgustin. they mite be mendin a door. ha ha

so im tole

Tea, like beer, is one of those drinks I just can't acquire a taste for... I've managed to choke down a lot of beer over the years but still don't care for the taste... As for tea, even though I know it's supposed to be good for me, hot, cold, iced, green, you name it, I can't finish a serving... Maybe I need hypnotherapy...

I guess everyone has their own preferences on how tea should be made. My preference ifs a cross between the British style and the American style.
I like my tea brewed. I mean stick it on the stove and boil it until it has an oily film on top, maybe 5 minutes. Then pour in a pitcher on top of the sugar which melts it nicely. Fill the pan with the bags still in it and rinse out the remaining tea flavor until the pitcher is full. Then squeeze out what is left in the bags. When I get done there is not enough flavor left in the bags to even color additional water. I drink it about room temperature. My mother and both sisters and all my nieces and nephews are the same in their tea preference. It is kind of a family thing.
And I insist on Lipton. I have tried most other teas and they are simply too weak. The black teas from India such as Darjeeling come close and I do like that made with ginger, milk and tea spice. Chia style if you know what I mean. Even then I prefer the Gujarati style of making it. So you see we are all different.
You should see the reaction I get when I order my sweet tea at a restaurant without Ice. They say "it is warm" I reply "Great"