These Are a Few of My Favorite Iced Teas

In addition to publishing Tea Guy Speaks, I'm a regular contributor to The English Tea Store blog. Here's an article I recently wrote for them. Click the link to read the full article.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Iced Teas
By William I. Lengeman III

Summer is almost here, which for most of us is the cue to break out the pitchers and tall glasses. Here in the United States, where we supposedly drink about 80 percent of our tea iced instead of hot, those pitchers are an integral part of warm weather living, and they’re sure to get a workout.

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A paean to the many charms of sweet tea. As a northerner I don't get it, but hey, everyone likes what they like.



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Iced Tea's Last Hurrah

Well, it's not as dramatic as all that. But fall is upon us and for many that means that the prime iced tea drinking days are past. Here's a wrap-up, of sorts, for the iced tea drinking season.

The tasters at Cook's Illustrated held a brew-off of various teas specially formulated for iced tea. The results are here. Tazo Iced Black Tea took the top spot and Lipton Cold Brew fell into last place.

CHOW's Grinder put together a brief piece on ice-brewing green tea. In the spirit of scientific inquiry, I gave this a try (using a Rishi green tea, if memory serves) and was not disappointed. But I still prefer hot green tea to cold.

For the lowdown on what an Iced Tea Bar is all about, check this article from the Mobile Press-Enterprise.

Speaking of iced tea, there's that variation commonly known in the South as sweet tea, which has received more than its fair share of press attention these days.

Slate's Jeffrey Klineman weighed in with his thoughts on sweet tea here, while Time Out New York rounded up a few places in the Big Apple where you can find it. Here's a piece on sweet tea that appeared in China Daily, of all places.

From the Greensboro News & Record, here's an article, complete with recipes, called The Triad's Best Sweet Iced Tea. Last, but not least, is this article from the Atlanta paper that reminds us that not everyone's a fan of sweet tea.

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Iced Tea Interlude

It's the time of year when articles about iced tea seem to be popping up with some regularity. Here's one from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that offers a variety of tips along with several recipes, including one for White Iced Tea.

If Blueberry Lemon Iced Tea is more your speed, try this recipe that recently appeared in the Seattle paper.

For history buffs who are also iced tea fanciers, here's an in-depth look at the history of the drink from the people at Luzianne.

This one's not actually about iced tea, but I thought I'd throw it in just for the fun of it. It's a primer, from the Royal Society of Chemistry, on how to make a Perfect Cup of Tea. Not surprisingly it's geared toward tea-drinking in the British style.

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Tea Ices

Time to cool down, tea people.

The Los Angeles Times recently dug up a 2004 article from their archives. The topic - appropriately enough, given the season - is tea ices. Staff writer Donna Deane has put together a selection of "recipes for beautifully aromatic ices and granitas using Lapsang souchong, Earl Gray, jasmine, plum oolong, genmai cha and other teas."

I was able to access the article with no problem, but the Los Angeles Times may require that you register or pay for content after a certain period of time. Here's the link.

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Sweet Tea & Iced Tea Recipe Contest

National Iced Tea Month (June) is almost upon us, so get your pitchers and ice cube trays ready.

Sweetened tea may not be to everyone's liking, but in the South it's as much of an institution as it is a drink. Here's a sweet tea article from the Associated Press, by way of the Cincinnati Post. It comes complete with recipes for Southern Sweet Tea, Iced Apple Tea, and Southern Blackberry Iced Tea.

If you'd like to do the iced tea thing without caffeine, try this recipe for Rooibos Sun Tea, from Camden's Courier-Post.

If your own iced tea recipe is particularly noteworthy, Bigelow wants to know about it. They're sponsoring an Iced Tea Recipe Contest in honor of Iced Tea Month. Your entry must make use of at least two types of Bigelow tea. More info here.

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Iced Tea Time

That's right. It's iced tea time. A few months ago the Tea and Coffee Trade Journal got the jump on iced tea season with A Primer on Premium Iced Tea, by David DeCandia, tea buyer for The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Though the article is geared toward an industry audience, it makes for interesting reading nonetheless.

Over the years, we've written assorted and sundry things about iced tea. If you're looking for more information, click the Iced Tea category link at the bottom of this post.

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Nutritional Iced Tea For Women

(from a press release)

First Iced Tea For Women

Two San Francisco Bay Area brands - The Republic of Tea and LUNA - collaborate to create the first line of organic bottled Nutritional Iced Tea For Women.

Nutritional Iced Tea For Women is brewed from the finest organic tea, has just 50 calories per 12-ounce bottle, is made with 70 percent organic ingredients and is all natural (no preservatives). It includes many of the essential nutrients women need everyday for overall health and wellness including folate, calcium and vitamin D, together with the reported values of tea itself.

Nutritional Iced Teas for Women includes the finest organic black, green, white, red and decaf black teas, expertly blended with vitamins, minerals and a touch of organic evaporated cane juice and comes in five original ready-to-drink flavors: Ginger Currant Black Tea, Lemon Blueberry Decaf Black Tea, Kiwi Strawberry Green Tea, Mandarin Orange White Tea and naturally-caffeine-free Cherry Vanilla Red Tea. Available March 5, 2007, Nutritional Iced Tea For Women has a suggested retail price of $2.99 per 12 fluid-ounce bottle.

The ideal complement to Nutritional Iced Tea For Women is a line of LUNA Tea Cakes, also made with The Republic of Tea’s collection of premium teas and herbs. They are available in three delicious varieties: Vanilla Macadamia for mood balance, Orange Blossom for healthy skin and Berry Pomegranate for longevity.

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Iced Tea's Last Hurrah

It might be premature to put iced tea drinking to bed for 2006. But autumn is nearly here and, where I currently hang my hat (northeastern United States), that means that it won't be too long before temperatures drop below iced tea drinking levels - at least for me.

With that in mind, here are some iced tea related articles and resources I've run across lately.

Chicago's ABC 7 does kind of a general interest "iced tea is real popular these days" article, with some information about a recent Consumer Reports taste test.

From the appropriately named Brewton Standard, here's an article about iced tea, complete with several recipes.

Is bottled iced tea the greatest thing since sliced bread? You might think so after reading this article from New York's Journal News.

From The Nibble, here's Irresistible Iced Teas, an article which covers bottled teas from Adagio, Honest Tea, Inko's, Ito En and Republic of Tea.

Here's the Web site for Magnolia Spice Teas, which brings us the "delicious tradition of all natural, slow-brewed Southern style tea" in five flavors.

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Coca-Cola's Gold Peak Premium Iced Tea

The big guns are moving into the premium iced tea business. Or at least one of the big guns is. If you noticed the headline of this piece, then you probably deduced that the big gun in question is Coca-Cola.

Of course, bottled iced tea is nothing new for the soda giant, who have been selling their Nestea brand for quite some time. But their move into the premium end of things, with a brand called Gold Peak, is unexplored territory for the company.

Coke's press release claims that Gold Peak - which is available in sweetened, unsweetened, lemon, diet and green tea varieties - "revives the timeless flavor of classic, authentic iced tea." Whatever that means.

The product will be "offered nationwide in stylish 16.9-ounce single-serve glass bottles." Brandweek magazine reports that Gold Peak is targeted to "every day gourmets." Once again, I say - whatever that means.

For more about Gold Peak, check out the busy and slightly confusing Web site.

Image: Coca-Cola North America

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Iced Tea Month Ends

This is the last day of National Iced Tea Month - but you have my permission to continue celebrating, if you're so inclined. Here at TGS, we've done a few pieces about iced tea this month, but there's always room for one more.

From Green Tea: 50 Hot Drinks, Cool Quenchers, and Sweet and Savory Treats, by Mary Lou Heiss (by way of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette), comes this recipe for Lime and White Grape Iced Tea. Which doesn't sound so bad, if I do say so myself.

The Charlotte Observer has been taking a Tea Tour around the city this month, checking in on local eateries and sampling their iced tea. To wrap up the month they've announced three "Iced tea champs". Read all about 'em here.

The Evansville Courier & Press features a reminiscence about Southern-styled sweet tea. There's also a recipe, if you're keen to try a pitcher of your own.

The gang over at Lifehacker recently posted a piece on sun tea. There's not really much to it, but the comments section is quite lively and interesting to read. There's even a comment regarding "sun coffee" (who knew?).

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More Iced Tea Recipes

We've been flooded - if I dare say so - with so many iced tea recipes lately that one might reasonably conclude that it's National Iced Tea Month.

The Yogi Tea Web site has some recipes listed, among then a Rooibos Chai Float and an African Redbush Peach Smoothie.

Installment nine of the Charlotte Observer's Tea Tour looks at Great Wall of China. If you're not in that part of the world you can try this recipe for Southern-Style Sweet Iced Tea.

From the Food Network's Good Deal with Dave Lieberman, comes a recipe for the old reliable - Mint Iced Tea.

The Northwest Indiana Times recently ran an article on iced tea and tea in general. Among the recipes here are a Cold Brew Tea-Time Ice Cream Float, a Cold Brew Cranberry Mint Cooler and a Beat-The-Heat Tea Shake.

Also from the Carolinas, comes some advice from Greenville area restaurateurs. They don't offer any recipes, but there are some tips on how to make iced tea.

Then there's this brief report from the Monterey County Herald on POM Tea, whose flavors include pomegranate black tea, pomegranate lychee tea, pomegranate blackberry black tea and pomegranate peach passion white tea.

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Iced Tea Extravaganza

Unless you're in the Southern Hemisphere - or at the Arctic Circle - it's about time to start ingesting some iced tea. Here are a few options.

We've been following the Charlotte Observer's Tea Tour series throughout June, which just happens to be National Iced Tea Month. Editor Kathleen Purvis has been hitting the streets and finding the best places to sip the cold stuff around Charlotte.

In installment six, Purvis heads to P.F. Chang's for some unsweetened iced tea. This is not standard operating procedure in the South, by the way. For installment eight, Purvis drops in at Melba's Red Light Cafe, where you can have your tea sweet or not. I'm not sure how I missed installment seven, but I'm sure you can track it down at the Observer's site, if you really want to.

From the Recipes Recipe site, here's a recipe for Texas Iced Tea. Here's an article from Sacramento's CBS affiliate that includes recipes for Root Beer Float Iced Tea, Grandma's Garden Iced Tea and Hibiscus Iced Tea.

For even more on the ins and out of iced tea, check out this article from Newsday, which offers tips on making it and more.

Snopes.com has been debunking - and occasionally confirming - urban legends for quite some time now. They've concluded that the one about sun tea harboring potentially dangerous bacteria is true. Read all about it here.

Last on the list today are some bottled teas from Taste Nirvana. They make a Creamy Thai Tea, complete with cream and sugar, and a similar Creamy Green Tea.

tea, food, food and drink, iced tea, sweet tea, sun tea

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Iced Tea Tour

In honor of National Iced Tea Month, the Charlotte Observer is doing a virtual Tea Tour. The series runs through June and takes a look at some of the best places to get iced tea, presumably in the Charlotte area.

The first installment in the series ran Monday and took a look at an establishment called Bojangles. As drive-thru tea was featured, I'm going to guess that maybe this is a fast food type place or perhaps an old-style drive-in.

Installment two ran yesterday and takes a look at a place called Showmar's, who claim to sell in the neighborhood of 6,000 iced teas per day. Owner George Couchell offers his tips on brewing iced tea, but keep in mind that this is the South, where iced tea - by default - means sweet tea.

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National Iced Tea Month

That's right, tea lovers. June is indeed National Iced Tea Month. Yes, it took me three days into the month to acknowledge that fact. And no, I am not worthy to run a tea Web site. I will throw myself on my sword as soon as I'm finished with this piece.

I wasn't able to ascertain who's responsible for this observance, though I'll admit that I didn't actually wear myself out researching the matter. I'm gonna guess that it's either the Tea Association of the USA or one of the big time tea companies.

Please note that June is, among other things, Turkey Lover's Month, National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month, National Papaya Month, National Dairy Month and National Frozen Yogurt Month.

Here, from the vast TGS archives, are a few brief articles on iced tea. There's one on iced tea recipes, iced yerba mate and iced tea history.

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Iced Tea Recipes

After spending a bunch of years in the West I'm having a tough time readjusting to this humidity thing they've got going on here in the East. One thing that helps to ease the discomfort a bit is iced tea.

Lately I've been doing various combinations of mango, passion fruit and pineapple, using teas from Hawaii Tea Factory. I also did a mango/osmanthus, using osmanthus from Adagio. I wasn't completely blown away by this one as a hot tea, but mixing it with something else and chilling it seems to work well.

Courtesy of Emeril Live and the Food Network, here's a recipe for Cranberry Vodka Iced Tea. We've written about a bunch of tea-flavored vodkas here at TGS, most recently here.

From the Northwest Herald, comes a recipe for Passion Lemon Iced Tea.

Also in the chilled category are some bottled yerba mate drinks from Guayaki - EmpowerMint, Raspberry Revolution, and Traditional.

Image: Guayaki

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Tainted Iced Tea

There's just something about the words "fecal coliform bacteria" that makes me feel a bit queasy. Your results may vary.

Speaking of fecal coliform bacteria, a Dallas TV station recently ran around town, taking samples of iced tea from a bunch of restaurants. Of the ten restaurants sampled, fecal coliform bacteria turned up in iced tea from five.

So what's the deal? Should you give up iced tea when you're eating out? The article notes, "city officials speculate it could be from restaurants not properly dismantling, cleaning and sanitizing the beverage mechanisms", but goes on to point out "we don't know if any of the coliform bacteria is from the ice, the water, the cup, or the tea."

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Iced Yerba Mate

Iced tea season has arrived, at least for most of us, though the temperatures in this neck of the woods (Pennsylvania) plunged close to the freezing mark last night.

While you're trotting out your assorted variations on iced tea, why not give iced yerba mate a whirl? According to an article at the Goyerbamate.com Web site, this is called "Terere" and it can be prepared in a variety of ways.

For a little more information, try this brief Wikipedia article.

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Cannabis Ice Tea

Now here's an iced tea with quite a twist. It's C-Ice Swiss Cannabis Ice Tea. The ingredients for this one are "water, hemp bloom syrup (5 %), sugar, lemon juice, black tea extract (0.14 %) antioxidant, ascorbic acid, flavour, hemp bloom extract (0.0015 %)".

I'm not sure what else to say about this brew. I guess this is my cue to wax witty, but I seem to be coming up dry at the moment.

Anyway, according to the Strange Products Web site, where I first ran across this product, C-Ice is not available in the United States. No surprise there, I guess.

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