Organic Black Iced

I was invited to a BBQ/play rehearsal last night (my husband is doing photography and an additional art piece for the performances) and I thought an iced tea would be nice to bring (along with some cookies!). I was doing some perusing of fancy iced tea recipes and came across this one:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/blackberry-bourbon-iced-tea-recipe/index.html

I just so happened to have blackberry syrup in my freezer (a failed jam attempt! Don’t worry, I got it right on my second try), loads of mint in the garden, and some bourbon stocked in the bar. It was fate ;)

It was also delicious! The Harney tea is just wonderful and only needed a few tablespoons of blackberry syrup to make it perfectly sweet (and the most lovely color). All the fancy in the world can’t mask bad tea in my opinion!.

If you make it, prepare it a day ahead and add the bourbon to the mix — all of the flavors blend and it’s not the least bit boozy or strong. I think it would be less complex but wonderfully delicious sans alcohol as well.

I saw some tasting notes on this and then found out that one of my tea proselytes had purchased it and really loved it. I hightailed it to Barnes and Noble to acquire a tin. And it is ORGANIC!

The first batch was only decent but that was all because I FAILED TO READ THE LABEL! I prepared it as if I was making an SBT blend. This is supposed to steep for fifteen minutes! Making it the right way made a huge difference, especially since I was resteeping. I did not make a full gallon per bag, but rather about three quarts. It is lightly sweetened.

As with all my iced teas, this tastes best to me after it has been in the fridge for at least a day. This is what iced black tea should be. It is stout but not bitter, smooth, clear, and clean. It goes great with a banana sandwich, and what more can you ask of a black tea in summertime?

Made this one last night but it was too late in the evening to try it, so I had to wait until today. I brewed as per recommendations, tea bag in 2 cups boiling water for 15 minutes, dilute with 6 cups water. I added a few TBSP of white sugar.

So today has been a rush, rush, rush. I wasn’t supposed to be going out of town, but then I got a phone call and have to run out of town for a few hours. I wanted to get my supper prepared, making BBQ veggie skewers tonight, so I ran out to the farmers market and the grocery store, got fresh veggies, chopped everything up, made a home-made marinade, then stuck it in the fridge to marinate while I’m gone. I will BBQ when I get back. But then as I was going to soak my bamboo skewers, I didn’t have any. Two splintered ones in the bag, I vaguely remember a long time ago thinking I had to buy more but obviously forgot about it. What now?!? So I ran up to the corner store to get some, except that the hail clouds are rolling so it was like a nascar race to get there and back.

Whew! Made it. So now I am most likely not going out of town because of the weather. Just sitting and watching and waiting. So I am having a mug of this. After the first sip, everything just slowed down. The tea is bold but not astringent or overpowering. There is a peppery spice to it. It is just on the verge of being malty. It is not too thick, but also not too thin. I added a bit too much sweetener for my liking but it is still delicious. I feel like this is one of those great iced teas that you have had on a rare occasion but can never seem to reproduce at home. Going to savour my tin of this one.

Edit: Made a resteep. It tastes very similar, but it is not as strong or bold as the first steep. You can tell it is a resteep. Still good enough to drink though.

I picked this up at Chapters last night, and decided to brew it up to see how I like it so I could get more today.

This iced tea is perfection, seriously.

I brewed per the recommendations, with the tea bag in 2 cups boiling water for 15 minutes, diluted with 6 cups water. I even squoze (squeezed? Ugh, english.) out the tea bag. Now, I added a “smidgen” of baking soda to mitigate any bitterness, but I don’t think I needed it.

It’s a sweet, honey, sweet potato, delicious, strong black tea. I added a little sugar syrup, and after I get back for the day I’m making lemonade syrup to go in it. I hope I can find a couple more tins! This will be perfect to bring to potlucks, where people tend to have overly sweetened drinks or water. I can have a pump of sugar syrup for people to add to taste, and voila!

Trying to switch from a local store brand tea that is REALLLLLYYY bad for you. Thought I would try this. I am very glad I did. Excellent!!

I got this as a freebie in my order a good while ago. I decided I’d finally give it a go.

The instructions say to steep it for 15 minutes. I definitely made a face when I saw that, but I went along with it. 2 cups of boiling water, 15 minutes, raw sugar, 6 cups of cold water. The result is pretty much just your standard iced tea. The instructions say to serve it over ice, but you don’t necessarily have to. It is a bit smoother and more savory than your average Lipton or whatever. Would probably benefit from a slice of lemon. Eh.

Unrelated: Just so y’all know, Joy’s Teaspoon is going out of business and all their teas are on sale. I feel kinda bad for never placing an order until now, but…

A good solid black for making iced tea. The usual Harney quality black but nothing otherwise notable. A dependable hearty tea that blended well with a little cream, sugar and ice.

Used the sample sachet Harney sent with 8 cups of water.