My Recent Brew

Fancy teas are great. Tea culture is rich in history, diverse in product, and simply put, it's all quite amazing. Tea has literally shaped our world in many ways, mostly through caffeine and commerce. The lore goes that during a World's Fair in the USA, a Brit set up a tea stand. The temperatures in the US got so hot that somehow or another the idea to have the tea over ice came about and iced tea was born. Refreshingly cool, easily made, and if you're in the south it's very sweet. Personally, I'm more of a Yankee variety when it comes to iced tea. I grew up on a cup of sugar per gallon but my personal tastes cut that down to 1/4th. Iced tea is generally made with tea bags comprised mostly of the byproduct of real tea production. These bags have tea dust. The hoighty toighty tea connoseurs would probably snub a bag of Lipton's, PG Tips, Tetley, or Rose, but they have their places as quick, cheap, and accessible teas. When you're making tea by the gallon it makes little sense to spend top dollar tea. So, here in the USA where temps are well into the 30+ C temps (90+ F), iced tea really hits that spot.