http://designholeonline.com/2009/iced-tea-from-great-lakes-tea-spice-and-mariage-freres/ Fall in love with where you live Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:44:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://designholeonline.com/2009/iced-tea-from-great-lakes-tea-spice-and-mariage-freres/comment-page-1/#comment-9406 Jennifer Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:16:36 +0000 http://designholeonline.com/?p=5550#comment-9406 Wow! Thanks for the great advice. You can keep making the tea in our house. I wouldn't want to compete with perfection. :-) Wow! Thanks for the great advice. You can keep making the tea in our house. I wouldn’t want to compete with perfection. :-)

]]> http://designholeonline.com/2009/iced-tea-from-great-lakes-tea-spice-and-mariage-freres/comment-page-1/#comment-9405 misterarthur Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:01:21 +0000 http://designholeonline.com/?p=5550#comment-9405 Thanks for the set up, Jennifer. I will agree that Mariage Freres and Great Lakes have great teas for sale. That said, I don't know about making the best tea, per se, but I do have some recommendations about iced tea. I like iced tea as a thirst quencher, not an accompaniment for crustless sandwiches First, make strong tea - stronger than usual. I like iced tea as a thirst quencher, not an accompaniment for crustless sandwiches. Remember, the tea is going to be diluted by melting ice, so you should compensate for the added liquid. Note: Don't compensate by leaving the tea to steep longer than usual. That may make it "stronger", but it will also give it a nasty stewed taste. Instead, put in more tea leaves than you usually would. Next, I prefer making tea with boiling water than making "sun tea". For the same reason mentioned above, I think leaving the tea leaves in the water long enough to make sun tea adds an unnecessary stewed flavor, which I don't like. Finally, I have a real affection for teas from Assam in general, and for iced tea in general. Darjeeling is too delicate for iced tea, I think, and I like the maltiness of Assam teas. (Don't ask me about iced green tea, or flavored teas, or herbal teas. I don't like 'em). As to the Assam teas, I go for straightforward, inexpensive CTC (crush, tear, and curl) tea. CTC teas are consumed primarily in the Indian market. Indians typically boil tea with milk, water, and some spices - so they prefer a tea whose taste can emerge through that process. (And Assam teas typically produce a beautiful rich, reddish color, which I like). So here's what I do. I buy big (2 lb) bags of CTC from Indian or Pakistani grocery stores. It's cheap, ($6.49 for two pounds) and produces very flavorful rich tea that takes sugar well, and stands up to dilution by melting ice. I make it using a cotton tea "sock" which I put on the neck of a pitcher. To that I add tea, pour boiling water over it, and let it steep about three minutes. Put a heaping teaspoon per cup, and a couple more for the pitcher. Let cool, (you don't have to let it cool all the way to room temperature, and pour into glasses with ice cubes in them. If you feel like adding some flavoring like mint, go ahead. I just toss in a teaspoon of sugar, stir, and enjoy. Thanks for the set up, Jennifer. I will agree that Mariage Freres and Great Lakes have great teas for sale. That said, I don’t know about making the best tea, per se, but I do have some recommendations about iced tea. I like iced tea as a thirst quencher, not an accompaniment for crustless sandwiches
First, make strong tea – stronger than usual. I like iced tea as a thirst quencher, not an accompaniment for crustless sandwiches. Remember, the tea is going to be diluted by melting ice, so you should compensate for the added liquid. Note: Don’t compensate by leaving the tea to steep longer than usual. That may make it “stronger”, but it will also give it a nasty stewed taste. Instead, put in more tea leaves than you usually would.
Next, I prefer making tea with boiling water than making “sun tea”. For the same reason mentioned above, I think leaving the tea leaves in the water long enough to make sun tea adds an unnecessary stewed flavor, which I don’t like.
Finally, I have a real affection for teas from Assam in general, and for iced tea in general. Darjeeling is too delicate for iced tea, I think, and I like the maltiness of Assam teas. (Don’t ask me about iced green tea, or flavored teas, or herbal teas. I don’t like ‘em).
As to the Assam teas, I go for straightforward, inexpensive CTC (crush, tear, and curl) tea. CTC teas are consumed primarily in the Indian market. Indians typically boil tea with milk, water, and some spices – so they prefer a tea whose taste can emerge through that process. (And Assam teas typically produce a beautiful rich, reddish color, which I like). So here’s what I do. I buy big (2 lb) bags of CTC from Indian or Pakistani grocery stores. It’s cheap, ($6.49 for two pounds) and produces very flavorful rich tea that takes sugar well, and stands up to dilution by melting ice.
I make it using a cotton tea “sock” which I put on the neck of a pitcher. To that I add tea, pour boiling water over it, and let it steep about three minutes. Put a heaping teaspoon per cup, and a couple more for the pitcher. Let cool, (you don’t have to let it cool all the way to room temperature, and pour into glasses with ice cubes in them. If you feel like adding some flavoring like mint, go ahead. I just toss in a teaspoon of sugar, stir, and enjoy.

]]>