Iced Tea

[awsmith4]

As a southerner I have been drinking sweet tea all my life. About 4 years ago I quit drinking anything with sugar in it due to problems with my blood sugar. Since then I have been not quite as found of tea though I do still like iced (unsweet) tea.

So here are my questions; what is your favorite brand of Iced Tea and are there any special tricks/ways you brew it?

WOO! I love tea!
2 large cold brew bags, 1 gallon water,3-4 to 1 cup sugar..

[Emjaysmash]

I dont have any technical way of going about it, but I LOVE Iced Tea. I really wanna try some real Southern Sweet Tea if I ever have the chance. Damn, I havent had any Iced Tea for a long time...I'll go find some now.

Souhern sweet tea is dibeetus in a pitcher. I do like iced tea and orange juice together.

[av8tor152d]

Sun tea, set it out in the morning with a couple oranges cut in half in the jar let it sit in the sun all day then grab a glass with some ice and enjoy !

[macpappy]

Four Lipton family size tea bags in a sun tea jar filled with water. Let it sit in the sun for three or four hours and your good to go. You don't need sugar.

For variety I will sometime toss in a couple of lemon tea bags when I start it.

[Genetic Defect]

best sweet tea I had was in Pearl, MS

[MikeyC]

I LOVE iced tea although being a northerner I've never experienced sweet tea. I don't brew my own I just use the powdered stuff at home but it's nice to get actual brewed tea in a restaurant.

My favorite ice tea drink is Arnold Palmer by Arizona Ice Tea. It's a mix of ice tea and lemonaide. YUM!! It's hard to find in supermarkets but the one near me gets it about once a week (usually gone a day after it arrives). Most golf courses seem to carry it at the snack stand in tall cans though.

[bigloo]

I think the question was to sugar free teas. I also love sweet tea but stay away from it now. Here are some suggestions.

Moroccan Tea:
1 bag mint (or peppermint) tea
1 bag green (or oolong) tea
Brew as instructed. When hot, add a little honey if you want. Sweeten with a mixture of Splenda and another sweetner of you choice (use splenda and one other, the combo of two sweetners makes for better taste).

Low-Sugar Sweet Tea
1 bag black tea
dash of honey (again, not needed but honey goes a long way compared o sugar).
splenda+other sweetner to taste (same reason as above).
Brew as imstructed, sweeten when hot. Put in fridge.


You can also add lemon slices during brewing to the above for lemon ice tea.

Finally, if you like arnold palmers, use the low-sugar sweet tee above with sugar free lemonaid. I make my own using the sweetner mix mentioned above, a dash of honey and lemon juice from gourmet markets like wholefoods. Sometime I do lime/lemon mix.

The key to this post is this:

A dash of honey gives the "mouth feel" a ton of sugar would take.
Mix your sweetners, but make sure 2/3 of it is ALWAYS splenda.

Sugar not only provides sweetness but mouthfeel (the syrup effect). You can get by this effect by adding flavors (like mint) BUT acidic tastes overpower mouth feel (thats why diet sprite is more like sprite then diet coke it to coke), message here is that adding lemon allows less sugar without noticeable difference. And no, this is not BS

http://www.beveragedaily.com/Product...et-soft-drinks

Give it a try, experiment. Hopefully you find a substitute to your liking. Also, I have yet to find any canned/bittled teas worth a ****. I like tea to taste like tea, not sugar water and raspberry.

[Mark C]

Sweet Tea all the way. If I'm buying, Arizona ain't bad, but only from a bottle, the can sucks.

At home when my wife is feeling generous she'll make me sweet tea. A boat load of sugar, handful of Lipton tea bags, microwaved until it's good and hot and then steeped awhile longer. Add a handful of fresh spearmint leaves and it's good to go!

[cbsmokin]

Originally Posted by Emjaysmash

I dont have any technical way of going about it, but I LOVE Iced Tea. I really wanna try some real Southern Sweet Tea if I ever have the chance. Damn, I havent had any Iced Tea for a long time...I'll go find some now.

Real Southern Sweet Tea is super easy to make. Put AT LEAST 2 cups of sugar in your jug of iced tea, done.
If you don't like how it tastes ... add more sugar. Seriously you don't have it right until you can feel your teeth melting as you drink it. Sometimes it is easiest to pour tea into the sugar container. But, to be truly authentic you have to drink it out of a mason jar while sweating profusely in 100% humidity and 96 degree heat.

[GKitty]

Originally Posted by cbsmokin

Real Southern Sweet Tea is super easy to make. Put AT LEAST 2 cups of sugar in your jug of iced tea, done.
If you don't like how it tastes ... add more sugar. Seriously you don't have it right until you can feel your teeth melting as you drink it. Sometimes it is easiest to pour tea into the sugar container. But, to be truly authentic you have to drink it out of a mason jar while sweating profusely in 100% humidity and 96 degree heat.

Damn... you're making me home sick.

[poker]

There is no such thing as iced tea in the south. It is just called sweet tea or tea. All tea in the south has ice in it.

[OHMatt]

Originally Posted by awsmith4

As a southerner I have been drinking sweet tea all my life. About 4 years ago I quit drinking anything with sugar in it due to problems with my blood sugar. Since then I have been not quite as found of tea though I do still like iced (unsweet) tea.

So here are my questions; what is your favorite brand of Iced Tea and are there any special tricks/ways you brew it?

Lemon goes a long way when you miss sugar.

I like to use Oolong tea from Taiwan for my iced tea. I fill up the filter basket of my coffee maker 1/3 to 1/2 full of whole leaf tea and then send 4 quarts of water through, 1 pot at a time. I let it cool to room temperature before refrigerating it overnight.

For faster tea I add the same amount of loose leaf to 2 quarts of just below boiling water and pour one qt into 2 (2 qt) pitchers full of ice. The stronger brew and rapid cooling brings out a lot more of the tannin flavors though, so I greatly prefer the former method..

[jquirit]

Originally Posted by poker

They're still selling that stuff? Damn, I remember drinking that stuff while growing up! My parents use to give me that along with the Hawaiian Sun fruit drinks instead of soda. Brings back memories. Thanks poker.

But back on subject, I haven't drank ice tea in a long, long time. If I am, it's usually at a restaraunt in an Arnold Palmer. Usually heavier on the tea than the lemonade, just a splash to give it a bit of sweet and bite.

[SSatVT]

I love me some sweet tea (that is sweetened iced tea to you Yankees).
I start by boiling 2 cups of water. Pour that boiling water over 3 Luzianne tea bags, let steep for 6 min. (no more, no less). While that is steeping, I put the rest of the just off a boil water in my tea pitcher, in that pitcher I add 1.5 cups of sugar. Once the 6 minutes are up add the tea to the simple syrup. Then I fill my pitcher up with water (~32 oz).

YUMMY. I think I am going to go pour a glass now.