primitives discuss iced tea

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x88285

Oh my.

This is a long, long, long summer of desolation and barren-ness, what with Mrs. Alfred Packer, the "hippywife" primitive, being absent from the cooking and baking forum.

elleng  (1000+ posts)        Wed Jul-20-11 12:33 AM
Original message
 
Iced Coffee and Tea: (Not) Taking the Heat

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/dining/cold-brewing-c...

Believe it or not, that's the best post in the cooking and baking forum all week long.

GoCubsGo  (1000+ posts)      Sat Jul-23-11 01:38 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. Very interesting! Thank you for posting that!

I usually just brew extra coffee at breakfast and refrigerate it for late. Or, I use instant if I don't drink any for breakfast. Starbuck's instant coffee is quite good. When I make ice tea, I just brew it extra strong and pour it over lots of ice. Works just fine that way.

cbayer   (1000+ posts)      Sat Jul-23-11 06:12 PM
Response to Original message
 
2. I used to buy Cool Brew in New Orleans. It is a concentrated cold brew coffee that is really delicious. You can mix it with water, but I always liked to just have it with cold mild.

Can't find it on the west coats though.

kestrel91316  (1000+ posts)        Sat Jul-23-11 06:45 PM
Response to Original message
 
3. I make my summer iced tea by the quart in canning jars.

2 black teabags. Or green, or chai, or herb, or whatever you like. Regular sized tea bags.

1 quart canning jar.

Boiling water. Pour water over bags in jar, but only fill the jar halfway. Steep however long you want, then squeeze out and remove bags.

Fill jar the rest of the way with ice cubes, stirring as they melt. They will cool the tea off and dilute it to just the right strength.

Pour over more ice into tall glass and do whatever you like with it - lemon, sugar, milk, etc.

If you get those white plastic caps for canning jars you can just cap the jar and keep the rest of the tea in the fridge. I go through a quart or more a day just by myself in the summer when it's really hot.

cbayer   (1000+ posts)      Sat Jul-23-11 06:49 PM
Response to Reply #3
 
4. I make it by the gallon in an old pickle jar from the local bar.

I usually put regular bags in and let it brew in the sun for a day, but I recently found these cold brew tea bags that work really well if you are in a hurry.

And I finally discovered that it goes bad much faster if I add the sugar to the whole thing rather than just a glass at a time.

kestrel91316  (1000+ posts)        Sat Jul-23-11 08:18 PM
Response to Reply #4
 
5. It goes bad because it's sun-brewed and not made with BOILED water, I bet. I quit making sun tea after a few batches that developed that water mold taste. Never happens with my brewed tea, sugar or not.

cbayer   (1000+ posts)      Sat Jul-23-11 08:20 PM
Response to Reply #5
 
6. That could be it, because the change happened when I started using the cold brew tea.

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Sun Jul-24-11 01:29 PM
Response to Reply #5
 
7. That's what soured me on sun tea, too and now I just brew it super strong and keep it in a clean glass jar in the fridge and top it off with ice water to make it drinkable.

An interesting choice of wordage there, by the defrocked warped primitive.

She keeps dirty glass jars in the refrigerator, too?

Anyway.

franksolich when desiring iced tea, just drags out the jar of Nestle iced-tea in the cupboard, mixes some with water, and dumps in ice cubes.  As easy as one-two-three.

[Ballygrl]

I buy the big can of Lipton and make a gallon at a time, I prefer the Diet Snapple ice tea packets you put in bottled water.

I'm a Republican, how come I don't buy the hoity toity iced coffee drinks and the Starbucks instant coffee? I buy the Folgers instant when it's on sale and I have a coupon. I guess I didn't get the "How To Behave Like A Republican" memo.

[Delmar]

I pull into the drive-thru at McDonalds and get the big glass of sweet tea.  It's not much more than a buck and when you're finished you only need to pitch the styrofoam glass into the trash for an easy cleanup.

[BEG]

[thundley4]

I pull into the drive-thru at McDonalds and get the big glass of sweet tea.  It's not much more than a buck and when you're finished you only need to pitch the styrofoam glass into the trash for an easy cleanup ditch to destroy the environment.

FIFY to piss off lefties.

[Delmar]

FIFY to piss off lefties.

I was trying to get the same point across with subtlety.  But I forgot, DUmmies are stupid.  You know them better than me.  I defer.

[GOBUCKS]

FIFY to piss off lefties.

I usually try to toss my trash into a "wetland", because to me it's still just a swamp.

One of the first things I noticed when we moved here to red state hell was that almost none of the rural roads
have a shoulder where you can pull off the road. Up north, all the county roads were built with a shoulder.
I had to ask people how in hell they got rid of their old furniture, without a shoulder by the road. I discovered
that down here you have to use the interstate highways to dispose of bulky trash.

I'm lucky to have a storm sewer grate in front of my house, so at least I do have a place to get rid of used motor oil
and excess paint.

(Are they pissed off yet?)

[NHSparky]

I'm partial to sun tea (gallon jug of water, 12 regular tea bags, 2-3 hours in the sun), but Scoobie has discovered MIO.  I think it's decent only because I'm a heathen and don't like sugar or sweet tea, but she loves it.

[Mr Mannn]

I don't like sweet tea either.
I brew my own tea 32 ounces at a time. I steep 3 bags if regular tea and two bags of peppermint tea for 15-30 minutes so its REAL strong. Then I pour it still hot into a 32 oz glass of crushed ice. Right away about half the ice melts diluting it, and by the time I raise the cup to my lips its ice cold.

Yeah. I'm gonna make some now.

[BEG]

I'm partial to sun tea (gallon jug of water, 12 regular tea bags, 2-3 hours in the sun), but Scoobie has discovered MIO.  I think it's decent only because I'm a heathen and don't like sugar or sweet tea, but she loves it.

I don't like sweet tea, it's just WRONG.  It's like salt on watermelon.  You should try Lipton cold brew tea bags.  You brew it for only a few minutes. I make enough for a day because it only takes a few minutes. It is really good.

[debk]

I don't like sweet tea, it's just WRONG.  It's like salt on watermelon.  You should try Lipton cold brew tea bags.  You brew it for only a few minutes. I make enough for a day because it only takes a few minutes. It is really good.

I use the Lipton herbal teas. The lemon, orange and raspberry are really good. I don't make sweet tea either. I may add about half a pack of Splenda to a glass, if I add anything at all. If I add fruit to it, I don't add any.

[NHSparky]

I don't like sweet tea, it's just WRONG.  It's like salt on watermelon.  You should try Lipton cold brew tea bags.  You brew it for only a few minutes. I make enough for a day because it only takes a few minutes. It is really good.

Oh, I've had the cold brew bags.  Good luck finding them around here, though.  Hell, I say the words, "sun tea" and I'm looked at like I'm from another planet.  We have three grocery stores here in town and NONE of them carry either the cold brew or the family size teabags.

Then again, I get the same look when I mention fish tacos.

[BEG]

Oh, I've had the cold brew bags.  Good luck finding them around here, though.  Hell, I say the words, "sun tea" and I'm looked at like I'm from another planet.  We have three grocery stores here in town and NONE of them carry either the cold brew or the family size teabags.

Then again, I get the same look when I mention fish tacos.

Ha 

[GOBUCKS]

Tea without sugar is a Euroweenie beverage, but to each his own.
What do I know? I'd much rather have a cold Rolling Rock...

And when I was a kid, I was the only one in the family that didn't put salt on watermelon.

[BEG]

Tea without sugar is a Euroweenie beverage, but to each his own.
What do I know? I'd much rather have a cold Rolling Rock...

And when I was a kid, I was the only one in the family that didn't put salt on watermelon.

You are wrong, want to wrestle? 

[Traveshamockery]

I make my iced tea from a recipe from Southern Living except without a lot of sugar.  I still put in 1/4 cup of cane sugar, though.  The cane sugar makes a huge difference. 

3 family-sized Luzianne tea bags added to 4 cups of boiling water and steep for 10 minutes.  Add sugar (up to two cups - that's toooooo much sugar for me) and let it dissolve in the pot with the hot water.  Then you add enough cool water to make a 2 gallon pitcher. 

When my son and his girlfriend (now fiancee'  ) were here for a month, I made it twice a day because they drank so much of it. 

I am going to look into that MIO stuff - looks interesting! 

[GOBUCKS]

You are wrong, want to wrestle? 

Yes. I remember when Andy Kaufman declared himself the "World's Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion". He offered a big prize to any woman who could pin him. He'd get all these really angry muscular-looking chicks, but he outweighed them by nearly 100 pounds, and would toss them around like rag dolls. It looked like a lot of fun.

[BEG]

Yes. I remember when Andy Kaufman declared himself the "World's Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion". He offered a big prize to any woman who could pin him. He'd get all these really angry muscular-looking chicks, but he outweighed them by nearly 100 pounds, and would toss them around like rag dolls. It looked like a lot of fun.

Woo hoo, just you wait. 

[Chris_]

I don't like sweet tea, it's just WRONG.  

[miskie]

I'm a total Keurig junkie. One can buy K-cups for pretty much anything, including a ton of different iced teas.

[whiffleball]

Ice tea without sugar!  Sacrilege to this Southerner.

I prefer American Classic Tea grown on the only tea plantation in America in the Low Country of SC.   Bigelow owns it now, but the tea is the same as it has always been.  If I don't have AC I use Luzianne or Lipton.  But, always with sugar, always.

This summer I've become addicted to fresh squeezed lemonade, though. 
I use two bags of lemons for each gallon and raw sugar to taste.  It's a pain to juice all those lemons, but the payoff is worth it.

[Traveshamockery]

Ice tea without sugar!  Sacrilege to this Southerner.

I prefer American Classic Tea grown on the only tea plantation in America in the Low Country of SC.   Bigelow owns it now, but the tea is the same as it has always been.  If I don't have AC I use Luzianne or Lipton.  But, always with sugar, always.

This summer I've become addicted to fresh squeezed lemonade, though. 
I use two bags of lemons for each gallon and raw sugar to taste.  It's a pain to juice all those lemons, but the payoff is worth it.

I do love fresh-squeezed lemonade!  I've never seen American Classic Tea but I will look for it. 

[Karin]

Lots of strong opinions on the iced tea!  Kinda like a chili thread.  Here's my strong opinion:  I don't touch the stuff, it makes me way over-caffeinated and I can't stand that feeling. 

[Mike B the Cajun]

Jeez...   

No sugar in iced tea????   

No salt on watermelon????   

What kind of barbarians are  ya'll???   

[whiffleball]

I do love fresh-squeezed lemonade!  I've never seen American Classic Tea but I will look for it. 

Here ya go:  http://www.bigelowtea.com/plantation.aspx