Ice Tea

[Rhodie Ranch]

Or you go to twist off the top and the entire top quarter of the bottle starts to twist on itself!!

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I just got back from the store too. I found watermelon mint and cherry/strawberry tea. I haven’t tried either, but supposedly, you just drop the bag in a bottle of water.

Funny, I wound up with some watermelon mint (teabags) on Tuesday. Must be a new trendy flavor

I reuse soda bottles and refill them from my berkey.

I just still have LOTS and LOTS of Camelbacks from when I was still wandering. I found them quite sturdy, and, unlike many models not inclined to leak at the straw end. You might want to look into a few.

If you do, there are a few things to keep in mind

1. Camelbacks ARE fine to put in the dishwasher, but the STRAWS are not*, or more accurately if you are going to put the straws in the dishwasher, you have to make sure that they are placed somewhere where they CAN'T fall down and hit the heating element, because they WILL melt. If it's just the tip, you can snip it off with kitchen scissors and some muscle power (in fact you'll probably want to snip a bit off anyway, since the straws are pretty close to the depth of the actual container, and, if you put it in as is, it will become flush with the bottom and you won't be able to actually DRINK anything), but if it's the side, you'll need to get a new straw (replacements are sold online)

2. Remove the rubber nipple from the top BEFORE you wash it, or dishwasher water will get suck in it. (the nipple is dishwasher safe as well, but as it's so small, hand rinsing it is probably safer.)

3. If you are using it for anything OTHER than water (or at least, anything containing sugar or any other sweetener**) you're going to have to eventually replace the tops every now and then, as getting every particle of sweetener out of the system that runs from the straw to the nipple is more or less impossible).

The water bottles they sell these days are so flimsy, you can’t even open one without spilling water all over the place. Maybe I’m just a moose in a china closet.

No, they intentionally have made them flimsier in order to switch over to a more eco-friendly plastic. It's one of those half-hearted things they do when they are trying to get around the fact that there really IS no eco friendly way of transporting liquid (glass is too heavy and fragile, metal is too expensive and takes too many resources to recycle (since you have to coat it on the inside so it doesn't oxidize), Hard plastic is full of things that can leach out into the beverage and cause harm, laminated paper is again hard to recycle, and going back to the old day standards and having everyone bring their own containers to be filled at a central distribution point (like they used to do for things like whisky in pioneer days, bring your own jugs and get them filled) would raise SERIOUS hygiene issues. And those who say the real answer is to stop the concept of having perpetual access to something to drink at all times risk the wrath of anyone concerned about dehydration.)


*They DO make Camelbacks with straw free solid covers, but those can be hard to drink from if you are in motion, as the openings are more or less cup top size (plus, who want to have to screw and unscrew the top every time you want to take a drink?)

**It turns out that, while stevia monk fruit and such are NOT similar enough to sugar to cause sugar levels to rise in the human body, they ARE similar enough to allow mold to grow.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Or you go to twist off the top and the entire top quarter of the bottle starts to twist on itself!!

Particularly a problem with those few waters I knew that went for POUCHES with twist off tops. There's nothing firm to twist AGAINST.

 

[flowerbug]

I just got back from the store too. I found watermelon mint and cherry/strawberry tea. I haven’t tried either, but supposedly, you just drop the bag in a bottle of water. I reuse soda bottles and refill them from my berkey. The water bottles they sell these days are so flimsy, you can’t even open one without spilling water all over the place. Maybe I’m just a moose in a china closet.

i keep the firmer bottles for reusing, the flimsy ones go into the recycling. i don't really use them very often so in between times i have to dry them out and keep them on my shelves in the closet. i've put my initials on them so we remember to not throw them out in the recycling.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

FINALLY remembered to look up the brand that still sells Iced Earl Grey. It's Seven Teas,

https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/product/seven-teas-organic-spot-o-honey-earl-gray-b07bbqfzld

Fair warning, if you like your iced tea sweet, this stuff is NOT for you. All the flavors have virtually NO sweetener (even I who have gotten semi-used to drinking minimally sweetened tea, need to pour a packet of stevia in each bottle before I drink it.)

 

[Dahlia]

With Summer upon us, virtually everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, I thought I would check on an appropriate beverage for the Summer Days and would appreciate your ideas on this.

1. Do you make Sun Tea?
2. Does your Ice Tea start out Hot Brewed?
3. If you enjoy ready-to-drink Ice Tea, which do you choose:

A. ready-to-drink Lipton​

B. ready-to-drink Pure Leaf​

C. ready-to-drink Snapple​

D. ready-to-drink Gold Peak​

E. Other?​

4. In your household, do you call it:

A. Ice Tea​

B. Iced Tea?​

​

I thought to use the Poll format but couldn't figure out how to ask multiple questions ...

Steve

I drink ginger tea every night after dinner. I use fresh ginger root slices, boiling water and nothing else! It's my favorite!

 

[Dirtmechanic]

I drink ginger tea every night after dinner. I use fresh ginger root slices, boiling water and nothing else! It's my favorite!

Sounds like the start of a good BBQ marinade! There is only one tea for me, iced of course, Red Diamond brand. The old orange-pekoe I believe. It is a simple pleasure.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I'm actually having a bit of a tea dilemma at the moment. Over the last week I have seen the available supply of boxes of 2022 WuLiangShan 1000 Years Old (a VERY fragrant black tea I am very fond of) drop from 15 to 2. Normally this would be the sign for me to purchase while I still can. But, on the other hand, 2 boxes of that tea is still $170, and a part of me is saying the best thing is to just forget about it (actually, a part of me is saying that the best thing is to never even GO to that tea site again, so I'll never even be tempted, followed by not going to any other site either, and ultimately restricting myself to nothing but tap water as part of my program to eliminate all pleasure from my life).

I still have A box of the stuff here (though since the boxes that are at the store are from the re-stock and therefore the next picking, which could change the flavor.

I'm also wondering if I am approaching the stuff idiotically. At the moment, I tend to pick one or two of the oolongs blindly when I buy them, and buy a box or two of them, then, the next month or so, buy another one blindly. But I'm beginning to wonder if it makes more sense to hold my money and wait for the annual sampler to come out. Those coast a lot more upfront (though, if I actually sat down and figured out what I was spending on the boxes long term, it would probably end up cheaper) but it would give me a taste of ALL the oolong available that year, so I could KNOW which ones were worth getting more of. My dad points out that doing that would mean buying tea KNOWING that there would be some I wouldn't like (since the odds of me liking everything is more or less zero.) But which is worse, buying a lot where you KNOW there will be SOME items you won't like, or buying in a manner where you may not like ANYTHING. Hard call.

​

 

[Dirtmechanic]

I was looking for a particular story about tea and found this link:

Famous stories about tea in China

Tea is a wonderful drink enjoyed by Chinese people. Read some wonderful stories about tea in China, starting with its origin.

www.mslmaster.com

The story I was looking for had a tea tasting where people really were grooving on all the tea details, boxes and ceremony. With each even more ornate tea box being pronounced better than the one prior, it was no surprise when the last and most incredibly ornate teabox was brought forth and pronounced the best tea of the best teas. When asked which tea it might be, the monk said it was the peasant's tea.

 

[digitS']

And here, I have found a new use for the dried cranberries that I bought to see if the passionfruit leaf could be made more pleasant with that addition.

They sweeten the anise hyssop and lemon verbena tea that I'm fond of. The bag of cranberries is the same color as the raisins beside it. After beginning the steeping for the morning, I'm wondering if I put the raisins in by mistake. Will I know ?

Breakfast oatmeal and cantaloupe is nearly finished and I will be moving on from the oolong but will probably wait to be drinking the herbal brew from the thermos while sitting out watching the sprinklers do their job in the big veggie garden. I'm easily distracted by butterflies and birds so question my level of research there .

Yes, the herbal concoction is good cold but I'm reluctant to make it at adequate strength for adding ice cubes. Only the one, new lemon verbena. The 4 anise hyssop plants are attempting to flower and I do have to stay on top of the pruning and drying - much to the disappointment of the bees. Plenty of cranberries ... & raisins.

Steve