OT Sweet Tea

I don't think it's possible. Cold tea always tastes less sweet than hot tea with the same amount of sugar.

In hot weather, hot tea will actually cool you down more effectively. Something to do with triggering the temperature regulation system. And it tastes a lot better. (I like the Turkish way of doing it, where you keep a samovar going for hours and dilute it as needed - Turks drink weak tea all day long in summer).

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When I was training racehorses, in the summertime [105 degrees in Sacramento, CA, or high humidity/heat index in Chicago] I would make a pot of coffee at noon time to drink. You're right Jack, it was to keep me cool.

G> > After some years of work I have finally got DH off of those instant

Hi NightMist I don't know anything about making a concentrate, but..... I'll tell ya the way my mom makes iced tea, and it's delish!

She uses 12 tea bags (black tea) per gallon of water. Throws the tea bags and a gallon of cold water on the stove. She brings it just to a boil, then takes it off the heat and lets it "steep" in the hot water for about 5 mins. Then, she takes the tea bags out, adds her sugar while the tea is still hot, and then puts in a jug and refrigerates it. You can make it as sweet as you like, and it's really good over ice with a lemon wedge. You can also make "tea" ice cubes, before you add sugar. That way, the ice doesn't water the tea down. And, as a special treat, if you have any spearmint growing in the garden, bruise some fresh picked leaves and put them in the ice cube trays, then add the tea and freeze. As they melt, they release a delectable minty taste into the tea..... so you don't need much sugar. It's a wonderful summer treat.

Patti in Seattle

I realize this is probably heretical, but I make my sweet tea with the sugar substitute stuff. Not only do I skip all the sugar calories, bugs are not attracted to it when I take it outside. My "recipe" uses an electric iced tea maker, and for 2 quarts I use 5 tea bags, and sprinkle 8 to 12 of the little pink packets of sweetner over the ice in the pitcher.

Thanks for the recipe, Patti. I've been trying to replicate my Mum's iced tea recipe. Unfortunately, it never tastes the same as when she makes it. I can't wait to give this a try!

- dlm. in Central MA

So MAry, I guess we won't call you a traditionalist when it comes to iced tea?

Every morning I toss 4 tea bags in a gallon glass jar and set it out on the patio. Makes a good iced tea. None of us in the house here drink sweetened tea so that makes things easy. I guess my kids were drinking sugarless iced tea when all the other kids were drinking a lot of sugared colas. Not a bad thing.

My dad doesn't drink coffee only tea. He tosses some loose leaves in the bottom of a cup and pours boiling water over. That's how I grew up drinking tea. He was in india during the war. I don't know if that is where he picked that way up or not. Anyone else drink tea like that? Taria

Mary wrote:

Anyone that remembers the Food News out of LA and Jackie Olden might remember her saying you can't cook a memory. Trying to recreate the whole feeling of food can sometimes be a tough thing.

My grandparents were Czech and did sauerkraut. Mom never much cooked that with dumplings like g'ma did. Once in awhile I get everyone together at dad's house and cook up a mess of the stuff. My brother walked in last time and said walking in reminded him of g'ma's house. Oh boy, success. Keep messing with the tea and you just might hit on the memory : ) Taria

-dlm. > Thanks for the recipe, Patti. I've been trying to replicate my Mum's

That would depend on how much water he eventually adds to the concentrate. If he doubles the amount of water to make 2 quarts of tea, well that's about the usual sweetness for the south east US. If the concentrate gets used to make a gallon of tea, then it's not very sweet at all. Mostly it comes down to personal taste. You could just do what I do--one pitcher is labeled for me and another pitcher is labeled for DH. I just can't drink the tea he mixes because it is too sweet at a cup of sugar to 2 quarts of tea. My own preference is for half a cup sugar to 2 quarts tea, or no sugar added to green tea with citrus. Debra in VA See my quilts at

My tricks are: Always start with cold water. Never let it actually boil. Debra in VA See my quilts at

I gotta tell you, that Nestea in the half gallon size or Red Diamond in the Gallon size is pretty good tea. Sweet enough even for me.

Cindy > and I LOVE that black tea from Starbucks, although I won't order it if DD isn't working. I'm not telling how many pumps of syrup she puts into my glass.

My ma could make Lipton's instant tea taste great. I never could so always made mine from scratch. Until I tried the Red Diamond brand. Pretty good tea.

Cindy

I am a little reluctant to mention the obvious. You will never be able to duplicate your mother's version of sweet iced tea unless you have water that is very similar to hers. The water system where we grew up smelled like it contained ½ chlorine bleach and some boiled shrimp. Polly

You are right there Polly. That would make a huge difference.

My mom was helping critique some sweet bread once when we were trying to duplicate grandma's bread. Mom happened to mention that they used bacon grease sometimes and that was the best. Well, there are some memories I guess I have to pass on at that rate and that was in my pre-fat nazi days.

Was the boiled shrimp flavor water the reas> I am a little reluctant to mention the obvious. You will never be able to

Well, no, Taria, I guess not. DH likes his tea slightly stiffer than syrup and he grew up on the Tennessee border. I don't know what they boil in their water and I'm not asking. Polly

I'm from Texas and we drink gallons of tea! I use a 6 cup teapot, fill it with briskly boiling water and put in 1 Lipton Family Size teabag (if you want STRONG tea also add 1 small Twinnings English Breakfast Tea teabag). I let it brew for about 8 minutes, then pour it into a pitcher. I add a scant

Gotta love those memories don'tyou Taria? they sure keep me going sometimes.

Just had to share: I was 'about 15' at the time....first job witnessing besides being everything else at the Ski Resort.. Did NOT have a short order or lunch cook--just the guy behind the bar. bar customer asked for ICE TEA----Bartender got me from making beds to make the tea. I got a glass, filled it with ice cubes, filled it with water and popped in the tea bag. Gave him his tea and went back to making beds. Bartender got me, asked me what I what trying to pull...told him I made ice tea and had to get the beds done before my dad came to pick me up. He proceeded to 'explode' in front of the customer. I apologized to the fellow and told him I didn't have a clue. The CUSTOMER showed me how to make ice tea.....apparently the Bartender didn't know how either. I have NEVER made ice tea since then, don't drink it either.

Butterfly (Back to work)

I think this is what I may end up doing. The way I do is to make tea, let it get cold, and put it in the fridge. I usually drink my iced tea black, I usually drink my hot tea black as well. He not only makes a concentrate, he tosses in a pinch of soda (for the tannin) and bemoans the lack of availability of a particular brand of tea locally. He says Luzianne (sp) makes the best iced tea. Plus he uses 6 teabags to two quarts and I use eight. He doesn't want to just add sugar to my black tea, because he says makeing it the way he does gives an entirely different result, and blast it he is right.

I hate taking up that amount of space in the fridge for tea, but I may end up doing just that. Either that or take to drinking smoothies instead of tea after coming in from gardening.

NightMist Virgina bluebells, english bluebells, or lily of the valley for a short, hard to mow, well shaded slope with several trees on it?

Howdy!

Most places in Texas don't serve "sweet tea", thankgod, esp. before asking, "You want sugared?" or marking the self-serve as "no sugar" or "sweet". Pre-sweetened Sweet Tea is more of a Southren' drink, or a yankee transplant. ;-D

There's usually a pitcher of tea on the counter, here, and a tall glass of ice-tea on the quilting table (w/ Sweet&Low which dissolves well in cold tea). The quilting buddies like a little more flavor so we add raspberry or peach tea bags to the brew (Luzianne), but never sweetener until it goes in the glass.

tea on the porch: R/Sandy: real sugar in tea: ick! might as well drink syrup ;-P