I love iced tea, but commercially sold stuff 1) has too much sugar for me, and who knows what kind of chemically crap, 2) has caffeine 3) is more expensive than making it at home, and 4) is heavy to lug up my stairs along with my cases of Diet Caffeine Free Coke (pretend I didn't just complain about chemically things, haha).
The biggest issues for me are the sugar and the caffeine. As previously stated, I think I might be a supertaster, which means I taste sweetness (in addition to bitterness) pretty strongly. I do like my tea to be sweet, but pre-packed versions are just TOO sweet. Also, I'm VERY sensitive to caffeine - more than one or two beverages and I start getting heart palpitations. Plus, it obviously interferes with sleep, and I'm a rough sleeper anyway. So, I make my own iced tea at home using different caffeine-free teas and honey. This is just one version, and I think it's my favorite
3 mint tea bags (I really like Trader Joe's Mint Melange)
2 lemon ginger tea bags (there are a bajillion versions, but I'm using Stash at the moment)
2-3 tbsp honey
2 liters water (or like, you know, however much fits in your pitcher)
1. Boil the water. Obvi.
2. Put about 2 tbsp of honey at the bottom of the pitcher. (Note - you can measure if you want, but measuring honey is a pain in the ass. Dipping the measuring spoon in vegetable oil first helps, but honestly, just eyeball it.)
3. Pour the boiling water into the pitcher and stir to combine with the honey.
4. Add the teabags and clip to the side of the pitcher with a chip clip or clothes pin (or a C-47, if you're trying to sneak it into your production budget). Let infuse for about 20 minutes.
5. Remove the teabags and discard. Add about another tbsp of honey, or however much you want, and stir to combine. Refrigerate until cool (will take a couple hours).
And that, my friends, is the super complicated haute thé recipe.
MEDIA PAIRING
My undergraduate professor, E. Patrick Johnson, discussing his book and one-man show, Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South, in which he presents oral histories he collected over an extensive series of interviews. He also explains the significance of sweet tea, both the beverage and the term, in the South. Clips of the show included.
I'll have to try this recipe. In the show (and in the book) I share my mother's sweet tea recipe, which calls for 10 lipton tea bags and 2.5 cups of sugar! OTT, but very good. Thanks for the shout out.
ReplyDeleteThis may be a bit weaker than that, so feel free to increase the teabags. I don't really do hard-and-fast recipes - just general guidelines that people can adjust how they want. I suppose this isn't true sweet tea, but it works for me!
ReplyDelete