Tuesday TeaDay, 6/03/08

[Chip]

Again, thanx to Victoria for doing TeaDay while I was away.

I have missed TeaDay...it is so much fun to just share a simple pleasure with tea friends. Vegas was great, but it is good to be back here as well. I missed sharing and reading your posts.

Welcome every tea drinker to TeaDay, come and share what is in your cup with us and we will share what is in our cups with you. Be sure to stop by often if you can...and if you need to, you can always reflect back on your TeaDay.

While in Vegas, we were able to sample many specialty brand RTD (ready to drink) iced teas on every imaginable type of tea. Have you tried any that you feel are worthy. What have you tried lately? Give us your critique on the RTD iced tea products that you have tried.

I am looking forward as usual to seeing everyone on TeaDay...so, bottoms up, refill....repeat often.

[Trey Winston]

I usually drink chilled tea, not iced, if the summer days get too hot. That usually happens later in the summer, though. White tea is very well suited to being chilled, I think.

Just started my second pot of hot SN today.

[olivierco]

What is sold as ice tea in France doesn't taste much as tea.

This morning keemun.

[omegapd]

I make my own. My Mr. Coffee Iced Tea maker has been the best 20 bucks I ever spent...
Other than a Snapple years ago, I don't think I've ever tried any of those RTD teas.

Keemun this morning for me too. One of Adagio's versions. After sampling 3 or 4 different ones, I can say that Keemun isn't for me.

EW

[ThinkingOutLoud]

Every time I try a bottled iced tea from a refrigerated case, I kick myself for doing so. They are *never* any good, at least not to this Southern girl who was weaned on iced tea. My most recent attempt was Honest Tea's Honey Green Tea. I really wanted to like this tea. I really like this company. But I just couldn't like it. I couldn't. I just couldn't. Alas.

No tea yet this morning. The house is asleep and I am desperate to keep them that way, especially with in-laws visiting. Yikes.

[Jack_teachat]

My student union sells a bunch of Chinese green teas all of which I have sampled and they all seem to taste fairly pleasant. Over 80% of our international students come from China and this tea literally flys out of the chiller Next time I'm in there I'll take a closer a look at who makes them.

Kirameki Shincha this morning, I have been working on a better second steep with this tea and I seem to have cracked it! Slightly hotter water (170 degrees for 1 min) has given me a beautifully sweet and flavoursome brew

Have a great day everyone!

[Beidao]

I make my own. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes by just forgetting the tea until it's cold. I've found that some teas - especially green - that were to bitter to drink while hot, becomes totally drinkable and much less bitter when they've gone cold. So if my Sencha becomes overbrewed, I just let it sit.

Today I'm on my third cup of tea. Started with Russian, moved on to Nilgiri, now Keemun. It's a Black Day.

Keemun is not my favourite black tea, but every time me drinks, me likes.

[henley]

Every time I try a bottled iced tea from a refrigerated case, I kick myself for doing so. They are *never* any good, at least not to this Southern girl who was weaned on iced tea.

I know what you mean. After getting burned enough, I finally quit trying them. They all had a 'packaged' taste. Chip, you'll have to let us know if any of the new ones out there are any good.

Organic Monks Blend w/bfast this morning. Think I'll go back for a second steep. Hope everyone has a great day & a little sunshine along the way!

[Aphroditea]

Here in Austin we have a local iced tea bottler - the company is called Sweet Leaf. I think there are a couple things that set them apart from major nation-wide distributors like Arizona or whatever.

One, SL uses WHOLE leaves (Yunnan Gold is common for the blacks). Two, if it is a sweetened tea they either use honey or cane sugar, ass opposed to corn syrup. Also, they use organic tea as well as the other ingredients the tea might have, like fruit or honey. The ingredient lists are simple with no chemicals.

My favorite right now is the Green Mint and Honey, but they just released a Green Pomegranite which I hear is fabulous so I have go to find where that is being sold!

It is more expensive than the crap you usually see in grocery stores and SL even says on their website that they chose flavor over cost - but it isn't SO expensive to be prohibitive and it is totally worth it!

In general I do make my own iced teas at home with my Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker which is always the best (no bottled tea is going to taste like REALLY fresh brewed) - but if I am out and want some iced tea I grab Sweet Leaf.

If you have a health food store near you, it is possible they carry this brand. I know you can get it at any Whole Foods.

[Buzz Fledderjohn]

For iced teas, it's Ito En hands down. Occasionally I'll have an Inko's but they are slightly sweetened.

Enjoying a cup of Golden Monkey this morning.

[Victoria]

I prefer to make my own. I don't like sweetened Iced Tea and usually they either have sugar or a sugar substitute so that rules most of the stuff out. Sometimes I drink that Teajava from Trader Joe's. I remember ordering Iced tea in Amsterdam and they brought this Lipton in a bottle and it was carbonated??? Yikes.

Adagio Spring Darjeeling this morning. I'm becoming very fond of this one.

Have a nice day everyone!

[Jack_teachat]

Yay my scales arrived at last! Got myself a My Weigh 400-z for just under $15 plus $10 shipping to the UK from an ebay seller! Will have fun playing with it later once I've done some more revision for my final exam tommorow

[TimeforTea]

During the drive over to the dentist yesterday, I enjoyed a delicious large glass of iced peppermint tea.

I'd prefer to make my own iced tea. I am ready for summer with adagio tins of white peach, white blueberry, foxtrot, and casa-blanca twist. I have an iced tea maker from years ago to make iced tea pitcher-sized. However, it's just as easy to make it by the glass without it.

I have tried the diet snapple white peach tea in a bottle--it's actually tasty. Then again, I haven't drank it since switching to real tea so I don't know if I would still like it.

This morning, I used the gaiwan and my favorite tea from Scruff's package: Anxi Mao Xie from Jing Tea. I can't imagine not having a hot cup of tea in the morning, no matter how hot it is outside.

WELCOME BACK CHIP & MARY! WE MISSED YOU!

[Katrina]

Usually I make my own. I got the Bodum Ceylon Ice Tea Jug a couple of years ago and LOVE it. I can brew as strong as I want and remove the infuser when it's done, then just top off with cold water. Fast, easy. Sometimes I put a small cube of raw sugar in when the tea is steeping to sweeten a bit (so I don't have to try to dissolve sugar in a cold liquid...which never works.)

I've tried so many RTD teas and am usually very sad. Let me reiterated that there is NO RTD that can come close to home brewed. But, I think Ito En is reasonably good. I've had Harney & Son's. The first time I loved it. The second time I think I oversold it in my head and was a little disappointed. I'll have to try it again. I also tried the Froid Creamy Chai and thought it was really good.

I'm with Thinking Out Loud about Honest Tea. Great story, great concept, but I just don't really like the taste.

No tea so far. Definitely a green tea day. Maybe a mint green. We'll see.

[augie]

I make my own. My Mr. Coffee Iced Tea maker has been the best 20 bucks I ever spent...
EW

I got one in 1998. Loved it. Put it away for the summer. 1/2 way through the next summer I looked in back (after using it for weeks). LOADED with MOLD! I couldn't clean it w/out taking the hex head screws out and disassembling the entire thing. So I started brewing it old skool! Hope they've changed their design since then.

I am finishing some iced Saguaro Cactus blossom tea my husband brought back from his trip to Scottsdale AZ. Interesting stuff.