Liv's Tea thread.
 

Because Liv makes gallons of tea and we like to hear about it.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

She doesn't know baking soda! She doesn't know! :madrant:

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

OH YES I DO.

I made mint iced tea the other day and it was incredible. So, so refreshing.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

Mint tea? Why not just put pineapple in it? :madrant:

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

Apple mint is a nice Turkish tea. I mostly only drink tea in winter. Trader Joes has a nice mint mix.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

Soo what is the best brand of storeboughten tea, your Livness? I've been using Luizanne but it's kind of bitter (even with baking soda)

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

wait, what? baking soda? :brooding:

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

I'm afraid I have no expertise in that matter, curses. All my teas are loose (from Teavana, mainly) except for my recent mint excursion which was a random impulse buy at the farmer's market.

Luizanne is supposed to be the southern classic, isn't it? Maybe its bitterness is the reason Yb's bro uses half a pound of sugar in his tea.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

Yes! It's the secret! It's just a teeny tiny amount diluted in lots of tea so you can't taste it or anything, but it magically counteracts the bitterness of a long steep.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

interesting, thanks I will try it, it must freshen breath too :giggles:

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

I think Liv is secretly My Mom. She thinks baking soda is good for everything too.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

Only the (many) things it's actually good at. :snooty:

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

Lipton

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

I am a huge fan of sun tea, which I drink gallons of in the summer. Since I gave up sodas, and it really hasn't been hot enough to make sun tea yet, I have been playing around with cold brewing. I really like it. It is pretty strong, yet lower in acid with no real bitterness. It actually is slightly sweet on its own, like a really good roasted coffee. Which is great because I loathe sugared sweet tea.

I bought one of these guys on clearance at World Market and it is my new favorite thing.

http://cpwm.imageg.net/graphics/prod...75v300x300.jpg

It looks great on my counter and I am starting to think of it as my new favorite appliance in the kitchen. I have only been filling it up a little less than half way (5 Quarts!) and letting it brew overnight. Then I remove my diffuser in the morning and drink it all day. I have a feeling though, that once Contra is home for the summer we will drink a whole container easy. Since cold brew has less caffeine, it doesn't make me overly crazy jerky. Which will also be good for C's hypertension.

Once summer gets in full swing I doubt my night kitchen will be cool enough for this to work as well though. So most likely it will be moved to the porch for sun tea then.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

Is there another kind of non-sugared sweet tea?

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

I've used honey on occasion.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

I am confused at using sweetner in cold tea in general, being a hot tea in the winter, beer in the summer kind of girl.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

I was being redundantly over-specific. Some flavored teas are too sweet for me too. I was referring to the southern sweet tea with a pound of sugar in it variety. Contra loves it and if I ever accidentally get his glass by mistake I get a case of the heebity-jeebs.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

:rush:She was totally unaware of it until recently and now she's gone all 'old money' on us. :brooding:

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

I'm an ice-tea fan and I like black teas...'English Breakfast' and the like. I grew up on Red Rose Tea (an orange pekoe) complete with a tiny ceramic animal in each box.

These days, I go with PG Tips for regular brewing. 5 bags in a half gallon pitcher, fill with water, set in the sun. Viola! You've a large fiddle and a pitcher of sun tea. I try not to sweeten, as I'm not supposed to use sugar and substitutes are vile. I like it strong so I can dilute it with lots of ice.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

I don't make much real iced tea anymore, but I keep a running supply of rooibos refrigerator tea going all summer long. It's really good iced, and you don't get the bitterness. (Zinger teas are good, too, but those are way too far off tea, so I know I'll be banned if I mention them non-parenthetically.)

I mostly use the bottles from this stuff, as they're the right size and the mouths are a good size and shape for tea bags. (It's p. good limeade, also, but way too expensive unless you're buying it for the bottles.) I have a bunch of bottles, and wash them out and refill them as they're used so that we have a perpetual supply. I've found that works much better for us than having one big thing of it.

This also works with actual tea, but srsly, try the rooibos too.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

I have a blueberry-vanilla tea that's delicious with just a bit of sugar. Sometimes I'll drink it hot, put it in the fridge overnight, and drink the chilled remains the next day. Nom.

Another favorite iced tea is chai, brewed hot and simple syrup added. Chill overnight. Add milk to the bottom of your cup, pour the cold chai on top.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

This just in: Hardee's/Carl Jr makes some gooood unsweet tea. You may now return to your tea snobbery.

:P

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

The above was a reference to this but no one got it. The pot will roll over into next week's prize.

Re: Liv's Tea thread.
 

The ones in Boone have tea that tastes like it was made using boiled dishwater.