Iceberg Water

Though I don't drink alcohol anymore, I've taken to regularly watching The Thirsty Traveler, which airs on the Fine Living Network. Each episode finds host Kevin Brauch traveling to a new locale to bring viewers the lowdown on a different type of alcoholic beverage.

An episode I saw not so long ago covered Iceberg Vodka. Now, there's more to this one than just a clever name, as the vodka is actually made from genuine iceberg water. Which got me to thinking that it might be interesting to brew up a fine cup of tea using the same.

As it turns out, Canada's Original Iceberg Water Corporation, in St. Johns, Newfoundland, the company that makes Iceberg Vodka, also offers the water in 500 ml and one liter sizes. According to their Web site, which features some very cooling graphics, they are currently out of iceberg water. No, this is not a global warming thing, but apparently a demand outstripping production thing and they hope to have the H2O back in stock by October.

So unless I go harvest some iceberg water on my own or happen to find a bottle of it elsewhere in the meantime, my experiment is going to have to wait.

If you're up around Newfoundland any time soon and you want to try some tea (or coffee) brewed with iceberg water, you might want to make a visit to Butler's By the Sea. The bed and breakfast claims to offer "coffee and tea made out of iceberg water (when in season)." Iceberg harvesting season, according to the Iceberg Water site, is May through July.

While we're on the subject of water and tea, this is as good a time as any to make mention of From Bud to Brew: Water's Role in the Growth of Tea, an excellent article by Monique Balas, as featured in the August issue of Fresh Cup Magazine. For whatever reason, I don't seem to be able to get a functional link directly to the article, so just go to the magazine's site and look around. It's there.