Iced Is Nice A Summer Favorite Is Becoming More Popular Year-Round: America Loves Its Iced Tea
In the winter, iced tea is a handy drink. In the summer, it’s sheer survival.
Above the Mason-Dixon line, there are places where people actually stop drinking iced tea when the seasons change. I once ordered it in Manhattan a week before Thanksgiving, and people at other tables stared at me like I’d suddenly started reciting in Sanskrit. I’ll admit, I stared right back at them - and felt just as puzzled.
No iced tea? In the whole restaurant? It was hard to swallow.
Friends quickly hissed at me: “It’s winter.” I hissed back: “So?” If I ordered a Coke, they’d serve it over ice, wouldn’t they?
But I played along. And I left the restaurant feeling a little more worldly, and a little less at home in the world.
That was only a few years ago, but judging from recent figures and a ramble through any supermarket, it looks like the rest of the world may be coming around.
Around 80 percent of all the tea consumed in the United States last year was iced, according to Nestea. And all those ready-to-drink teas crowding the shelves racked up $1.6 billion in sales.
There are regional preferences. Nestea found that among its bottled teas, unsweetened sells better in the Midwest and West, while lightly sweet and extra-sweet styles with lemon sell better in the South and Northeast (take that, Manhattan!).
Tea councils and marketing firms are falling all over themselves trying to figure out the iced tea explosion.
Is it perceptions of health? Fizzy sodas seem downright decadent compared to the smooth quiet of a glass of tea. But actually, many of the ready-to-drink teas are almost as high in calories and caffeine.
Consumer Reports magazine tested teas and found that 8 ounces of Snapple lemon-flavored tea have 110 calories and 21 to 26 milligrams of caffeine. The same size serving of Coca-Cola Classic has 97 calories and 31 milligrams of caffeine. And tea usually comes in larger bottles, so you’re likely to drink more at one sitting.
I’ll let the marketing gurus battle it out. Speaking from experience, I know that iced tea is just plain simple. No hassling over which of a half-dozen soda flavors to pick. No guilt - as long as I stick with those little pink packets instead of sugar.
And best of all, it’s cheap. A glass of iced tea is usually one of the cheapest choices on any menu, the glass is refilled regularly for free, and I never feel wasteful when I walk off and leave a half-full glass sitting at the table.
It’s even cheaper if you make it at home - about 3 cents a glass, according to the Tea Council of the U.S.A. (chew on that next time you buy one of those fancy bottled teas).
All things considered, if I had to go back to that restaurant in Manhattan and explain what they are missing, I could give them this simple proof for why it is natural to drink tea all year: In the winter, lemons are plentiful. And in the summer, there is mint.
Purists brew their tea carefully and shudder at the thought of sullying it with anything more than sugar and lemon. Revisionists whip it together from a jar of tea mix and don’t give it another thought.
However you drink it - untouched by even sugar, or buried under a pile of mint - delving into homemade tea is one of the easier cooking projects you can tackle. You need something to boil water in and something to mix the steeped tea and water in. Anything beyond that is just getting fancy.
As for etiquette, most of the pinkie-lifters have devoted their attention to hot tea, not iced. In both “Etiquette: Charlotte Ford’s Guide to Modern Manners” (Clarkson Potter, 1988) and “The New Etiquette,” by Marjabelle Young Stewart (St. Martin’s Press, 1987), the only notations on iced tea mostly concern the spoon. Guests should be given long-handled spoons to stir iced tea. The spoon is placed on the saucer, if one is provided. If not, leave the spoon in the glass and hold it against the side as you drink.
But as an experienced iced tea drinker, I think the lemon issue is too important to ignore. Lemon circles look pretty, but they are messy to handle. If you can’t squeeze it in your tea, what’s the point?
A lemon wedge is far more practical. Just remember to cup your hand over it when you squeeze so you don’t squirt your neighbor in the eye.
Chilled Mint Tea
From “Party Receipts,” by the Charleston Junior League (Algonquin Books).
2 cups water
3 family-size tea bags
10 fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup sugar
1 (6-ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate
1 (6-ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate
Bring water to boil in large, nonaluminum saucepan. Add tea bags and mint leaves, reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and remove tea bags and mint. Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
Using 1/2-gallon pitcher, prepare lemonade and orange juice concentrates, following package directions. Add sweetened mint tea. Refrigerate mixture overnight. Serve over ice.
Yield: About 1/2 gallon.
Iced Spearmint Tea with Strawberry Nectar
From “Herbs: A Country Garden Cookbook,” by Rosalind Creasy and Carole Saville (CollinsPublishers). Although not made with tea - herbal teas are technically called “tisanes” - this delicate drink is very refreshing. Its lovely pink would be at home on a party table.
Sugar Syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Zest of 1 orange, cut into strips (see note)
Tea:
4-1/2 cups water
1/4 cup dried spearmint, or 3/4 cup fresh spearmint leaves
1 cup sliced strawberries (about pint)
1 cup strained, freshly squeezed orange juice (about 2-1/2 oranges)
Fresh mint sprigs or strawberry slices for garnish (optional)
To make syrup, in medium saucepan, combine sugar, 1 cup water and orange zest. Bring to boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and let cool. Pour syrup through fine-mesh sieve placed over bowl, pressing down on orange zest with back of spoon to extract as much of the flavorful oils as possible. Discard zest and set syrup aside.
In medium saucepan, bring 4-1/2 cups water to boil, then remove from heat. Add mint to water (crumbling dried mint). Let steep 5 minutes. Strain through fine-mesh sieve placed over large bowl. Discard mint and let infusion cool.
Meanwhile, place strawberries in fine-mesh sieve over a bowl. With back of spoon, crush berries through sieve, leaving pulp and seeds behind. Scrape any puree clinging to bottom of sieve, then combine puree and cooled mint infusion in large pitcher.
Add orange juice and 1/2 cup sugar syrup to tea and stir vigorously. Taste and add more syrup if needed. (Store remaining syrup in refrigerator for another batch of tea.) Cover and refrigerate tea.
Serve over ice, garnished with mint and strawberries.
Yield: About 1-1/2 quarts.
Note: Although a special tool called a zester is available at kitchen supply stores, it’s actually easier to use a sharp vegetable peeler for this job. Being careful not to cut deeply enough to get the bitter white “pith,” cut off the orange peel in strips or in a spiral. Then cut zest into strips.
Tennessee Tea
From “Martha Stewart’s Menus for Entertaining” (Clarkson Potter). If you’re from Tennessee, don’t blame us for the name - blame Martha. But for an adultsonly take on tea, this has a sophisticated touch.
1 quart fresh orange juice
1 quart freshly brewed tea, cooled
3/4 cup golden rum (such as Mount Gay)
2 tablespoons honey
1 orange, sliced thinly crosswise and quartered, for garnish (optional)
In large pitcher (you may need 2 pitchers), stir together orange juice, tea, honey and rum. Serve over ice in tall glasses, garnished with orange slices.
Yield: 8 to 10 (8-ounce) servings.
Lemon and Mint Iced Tea
From “Cooking With Sunshine: Recipes From the Sunkist Kitchens” (Atheneum).
3 cups boiling water
6 small tea bags or 2 family-size bags
1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint or 1/4 teaspoon dried mint
3/4 cup sugar
3 cups cold water
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
Pour boiling water over tea bags and mint. Cover and steep 5 minutes; strain, discarding tea bags and mint. Combine tea and sugar in large pitcher. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add cold water and lemon juice. Cool. Serve over ice.
Yield: 7 (8-ounce) servings.
Spiced Citrus Iced Tea
Also from “Cooking With Sunshine: Recipes From the Sunkist Kitchens,” this is like a chilled version of Christmasy spiced tea.
2 lemons or oranges
5 tea bags
12 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
6 cups boiling water
Sugar, honey or orange-flavored liqueur to taste (optional)
With vegetable peeler, cut zest off lemons or oranges in continuous spiral, being careful not to cut into bitter white pith. (Scrape any white pith off peel with tip of knife.) Place peel in bowl with tea bags and spices. Cover with boiling water. Cover and steep 5 minutes.
Remove tea bags and strain tea into pitcher. Discard spices but return peel to tea. Refrigerate until chilled. To serve, remove peel and pour tea over ice. Sweeten with sugar, honey or liqueur if desired.
Yield: 6 (6-ounce) servings.
Charleston Tea Plantation Wedding Punch
From American Classic Tea of Charleston.
4 cups brewed tea, chilled
4 cups apple juice, chilled
2 cups unsweetened pineapple juice, chilled
2 bottles club soda
Orange slices, lemon slices, fresh mint for garnish (optional)
Combine tea with apple and pineapple juices; refrigerate. When ready to serve, place in large punch bowl and add club soda. Garnish with fruit slices and mint. Serve over ice.
Yield: 10 to 12 servings.
xxxx Tips to making delicious iced tea Here are some tips to make your iced tea sparkle: Tea doesn’t improve with age. Store tea leaves in the freezer and replace them after about nine months. After that, the quality drops dramatically. To brew the best tea, use fresh, cold water. Let the faucet run a few minutes to get really cold water, which has more oxygen. Bring the water to a rolling boil, then remove it from the heat immediately and pour it over the tea. Don’t let the water continue to boil; that takes the oxygen out of the water. Always pour hot water over tea - never put tea into hot water. Tea leaves need a burst of hot water to open and fully release their flavor. To prevent cloudy tea, let brewed tea come to room temperature before refrigerating it. To restore clarity, add a little boiling water. To naturally decaffeinate tea, brew it in cold water. Put tea bags in cold water and let them sit at room temperature six to eight hours or overnight. That cuts caffeine 50 percent to 75 percent. To make Sun Tea, place nine flow-through tea bags (or three family-size tea bags) in a onegallon glass container and fill with cold water; cap loosely. Place container outside in the sun three to four hours. (Always refrigerate tea within five hours of the time you start brewing it.) Remove tea bags, squeeze gently and add desired sweeteners or other ingredients. To make iced tea in the microwave: Place one tea bag in a 12-ounce microwave-safe glass, then pour one-half cup cold water over the tea bag. Microwave on high power one minute (tea should not boil). Be careful removing the glass from the microwave as it may be hot. Let stand 30 seconds, or to desired strength. Remove tea bag and fill glass with ice. From wire reports
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Kathleen Purvis Charlotte Observer