this is my favorite thing as of late.
seriously.
it's perfect.
so, thanks to the splendid table's interview with Bill Waddington, this is how i've been making (and consuming) huge amounts of iced tea in the past weeks:
in the evening, get a clean bottle and a teabag of your favorite tea or tea ball with one tbsp. of loose tea (one bag/one tbsp per 3 cups. water). with the tea inside the bottle, fill with cold water and put in the fridge overnight.
in the morning remove the tea bag and you have the most amazing iced tea with zero work! and unlike tea that you brew hot and then cool, there is no chance of a bitter taste, especially for green teas, just a beautiful smooth drink.
if you like sweetened iced tea, just make a simple syrup of 1 part sugar to 1 part water which you simmer for a couple minutes until dissolved and add that to taste in the morning when the brewing is done.
i've been making apricot white and Portsmouth Tea Co.'s berry melon sencha. it's so easy that when i finish a bottle, which doesn't take me long, i rinse it out, pop in a new tea bag, and restock the fridge. even the frenchman, who in the past has not loved iced tea, is diggin' it.
That is just genius! I've always brewed it hot, waited for it to cool and then throw it in the fridge... Thanks for the tip!
PS - Do you like tea from Le Palais des Thés? I bought a package of loose leaf from them and now I feel like I should have bought the other 3 or 4 varieties I was choosing from. I was wondering, if you do, would you have time to purchase some for me? In exchange I could buy something here in Canada for you... (Yarn? Maple syrup? Ha!) Or, I would gladly pay for the tea and shipping. Is it expensive to ship to Canada? Their online ordering quotes 13.30 Euro for shipping and I can't justify spending that on shipping alone! If not, it's no problem. I can totally find tea here too. :)
http://www.palaisdesthes.com/en/
Posted by: Mary | July 17, 2009 at 12:31 AM
Oh my gosh, this looks delicious. I'm definitely going to give this a try!
Posted by: Abigail | July 25, 2009 at 03:04 AM
I've been hooked on lemonade this summer but this sounds lovely! :)
Posted by: Samantha | July 31, 2009 at 02:05 AM
-- Mary, i'm going to check into the shipping for you!
-- Hi Samantha! I adore lemonade too and i've made lemonade to make half&half with this iced tea - divine! let me know if you try it!
Posted by: Abigail | August 03, 2009 at 12:30 PM
Been drinking lots of iced tea over the last weekend and my friend was so busy brewing it hot, then trying to let it cool down enough so she could put in the fridge, and then we all had to wait for one more hour or two until it was ready for our drinking... at last ! Phew ☺ I never would have thought you could use cold water, me silly French girl ! I'm going right away into the kitchen and give it a try ☺
Posted by: valerie | June 30, 2010 at 11:06 PM
Valerie - not at all! i didn't know this trick until i was listening to a great radio program. now it's my favorite! let me know what you think!
Posted by: Abigail | July 03, 2010 at 05:20 AM
Abigail, I absolutely, positively and definitely love you ☺ This trick of yours (I don't care a bit whether you invented this or didn't, this is great !) I tried with : rose herb tea (rose is the emblem for the greater Paris medieval town I live in at the moment so you can find all sorts of things with rose in it) + dried rose petals, green tea + cherry petals (Mariage Frères' Sakura 2000), thé des moines (Palais des thés) and a delicious fruit and herb tea (tisane type Fontaine aux fruits, you know that ?). Each and every one made a unique yummy refreshing drink. Now I came to the point I want to buy tea to make iced tea (and yet God knows how much I like my morning hot traditional tea). Thanks a bunch for sharing ☺
Posted by: valerie | July 06, 2010 at 10:57 PM