[wheeledgoat]

Summer's coming - just made my first batch of Iced Tea.

I put 12 tea bags in 8 cups of cold tap water, let the pitcher sit at room temp overnight (12 hrs).

Anybody else have a favorite recipe or first-hand experience?

Prefer hot / cold brewing of tea? Got any pointers for me?

[Austin]

Being in Texas Iced Tea is an all year thing. It's all most people drink when we go out. I try not to make it any more as nobody likes how I do it. Sweet Tea is popular and I don't like it. People complain if they have to add their own sugar, something about it not tasting the same, so I quit making it. I drink a lot of hot tea. Oolong and white, from time to time. I drink at least a little Yerba Matte every day. I need it. It helps keep me going.

[kau]

I bring pan of water to a boil then drop 4 bags in and then take off the burner. Then I put the sugar in the pitcher and pour the hot water over it while pouring in cold water. Makes a nice brew.

Being from Texas when I go out and order a tea I get an iced tea without fail. I went to San Fran recently and ordered tea and they brought me hot tea.

[Austin]

Yeah we love our iced tea down here. I've never once has some ask if I wanted it hot or cold. If you order tea down here you get iced.

[wheeledgoat]

I'm with ya on steering away from "Sweet Tea" - it's definitely a southern thang. I put 8 tbsp of sugar in the entire 1/2 gallon batch I made and that's about where I like it. That and half a lemon. Yum.

I might try brewing hot next time, though - like kau does. I feel like this cold brewed batch was a bit mild. I'm assuming it's the same principle between coffee & tea... you get more bitterness when you brew hot?

[Austin]

Something like that. A lot of people do it down here because otherwise it's never going to cool. You can't take anything cold outside in the summer. Hot instantly.

[Bill]

When I was a kid I put so much sugar in Tea once I no longer liked it. Chalk it up to being a latch key kid. I also ate syrup sandwiches. Not the point. Everytime I taste tea it takes me back to that time I drank it and it was like a paste. Never again.

[wheeledgoat]

Heh. I have memories of making, God help me, sugar water when I was a kid. Yep, it approached syrup by the time I was done adding sugar & mixing. I remember drinking a good bit of it. I also remember easing mayonnaise straight up when I was a kid. I think back now & just shudder. I try to remember these things, though, as my kids grow up. Who knows what I'm going to catch them doing. Who knows what I'm not going to catch them doing. It's amazing the human race thrives.

[Austin]

I still eat straight mayo. My wife is disgusted by the amount of mayo I go through. My kid is on a tick tac craze now. All she wants to eat is tic tacs. I hate arguing with a 2 year old.

[bigmike787]

I like my tea made with the power of the sun. Stick about 8 teabags in a gallon sized glass container and screw on the top. Let it sit out in the sun for a few hours and bam, you have your tea. I'm a born and bred Texan, so I like my tea sweet. I also drink hot tea from time to time, but I drink a lot more coffee than tea.