White tea. Adding the tea gives the flavor another depth and it is really good. White tea is very delicate so it doesn’t overpower the flavor of the fruit, in this case honeydew.

For an added intensity try this with Republic of Tea’s Honey Dew White Tea

Honeydew-Lime Iced Tea

• 6 cups cubed honeydew melon
• 2 cups water
• 1/3 cup sugar, more or less to taste
• 2 tea bags of white tea, or amount of white tea leaves to make 2 cups of strong tea
• 1/2 cup lime juice

1. Bring water and sugar just to a boil. stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat.
2. Add tea or tea bags and allow to steep for 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Let come to room temperature.
4. Check to make sure there are no stray seeds on melon. Blend the melon in a blender with the white tea until it is a liquid. Blend in the sugar and lime at low speed, just until sugar dissolves.
5. Pour over ice and serve with a lime wedge.

Makes about 6 servings depending on size

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Mmmmm...Tea Popsicles!

As I have gotten older I like different flavors. Since I am an ice junkie anyway a popsicle is just added pleasure. You can make them out of any tea or coffee, just like the ones you make for the kids. In fact, you can make tea popsicles with two or three different teas. Just freeze one layer, then another, and so on. Some great teas to try this with are the white tea and fruit blends. They are light, refreshing, and sweet.

Just make sweet tea and let it come to room temperature. Pour into popsicles molds and place in the freezer until frozen solid. You may want to make the tea a little sweeter than normal.

Hey, don’t let the kids have all the fun!

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How Much Is Enough?

Right now my coffee consumption is down. It tends to be in the summer. Marc likes iced coffee a lot but I never really developed a taste for it. So, I am on the ice water side of the year. I drink (and this is the straight up truth) about 2 1/2 gallons of ice water a day in the summer. I go through about 2 1/2 lbs of ice a day. Not just any ice either. It has to be specific ice with a specific texture, and right now only one store is carrying it.

Now you know why I have to work at home.

But I still like my coffee in the morning. I drink about two cups before I switch over to ice water. I enjoy a glass of sweet tea in the afternoon but I can’t drink gallons of it the way I can drink pots of coffee in the winter time. That’s probably a good thing since I definitely don’t need that much sugar.

I would probably drink more coffee if we used the air conditioner but the idea of a 120 degree drink on a 110 degree day when it is 104 degrees in the house is not so appealing, you know?

So. Coffee? How much? Be honest.

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There are a lot of ways to make iced tea, or sweet tea as we call it. In fact, by using some of the herbal and fruit blends you can make a healthier option for your kool aid kids.  The Acai berry tea that I reviewed yesterday is a good example, but there are thousands more.

Teavana

Keep in mind that with Teavana you can ask them to blend several teas for a totally individual experience.

• Blueberry bliss rooibos
• Rooibos Peach
• Caribbean Breeze fruit tea blend
• Tarocco Ruby Orange Herbal Tea
• Strawberry Kiwi
• Pacific Sunrise Rooibus

Adagio

• Afrikaans wild rooibus mint
• Mango Passion Iced Tea
• Any of the fruit flavored teas

Try mixing your tea with fruit juices for a variety of refreshing flavors! If possible let the tea come to room temperature before adding ice or refrigerating. Cooling it too fast can shock the tea and cause it to be bitter. I mean, seriously, if someone gave you a sauna and then dumped you in ice wouldn’t you be shocked? Have some compassion.

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I did not grow in up the south. We moved to Texas when I was about 10 or 11, but by the time I was 16 I recognized that sweet tea was an institution that was taken as seriously as football in this area.  Not everyone could make it right. My mom, for example, bless her Midwestern heart, bought presweetened instant tea with lemon.  God rest her soul.

No, tea was an art form, perfected by generations of women that talked like Paula Deen, and knew that sweet tea was the answer to everything life threw at their families.  Open any refrigerator door in the South in the early 1970s and there would be a pitcher (probably tupperware) of sweet tea looking back at you.  Center shelf.

We created out Farrah Fawcett hair styles with a blow dryer, round brush, hair spray, and a big glass of sweet tea.  We chatted around the dinner table in our avocado and orange kitchens over pitchers of sweet tea.  In fact, the day that Nixon resigned I watched with a glass of sweet tea in hand.  There was protocol, tradition, and several pounds of Domino sugar in that tea.

What wine is to the French and Italians, what vodka is to the Russians, and what beer is to the Germans, sweet tea is to any southerner worth their hushpuppies.

C’mon, you know it is true. Sunday afternoon? Wyatts cafeteria? Fried catfish? Sweet tea!

There is only one way to make sweet tea.  The sugar can’t be added last.  You have to bring the water and the sugar to a simmer until the sugar dissolves.  Then you steep your tea.  Then you let it cool at room temperature. Then, and only then can you refrigerate it.

There will be no silliness like adding sugar to all ready prepared unsweetened tea. Just pour that stuff on your roses.

Make yourself a big pitcher of sweet tea, pour it over ice, and drink it out of a mason jar.  That’s some real southern libations, y’all.

If you need more instructions than that…well, you are obviously from the north…but here they are How to Make Tea, Hot or Sweet. Scroll to the  bottom of the page.

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This is so good, as far as I am concerned anyway.  It makes a great drink to sip in the evening while you watch the sun go down from the porch.  Listen to the crickets, watch the stars come out…all of the goodness of living in the country.

Any good chai can be used in this but I really  like the Yogi India Spice tea. It is peppery and spicy which is a nice contrast to the cool, smoothness of the frappe.  Classic fire and ice!

Spicy Chai Frappe Recipe 

1 c. ice
1 c chai, chilled

1 c heavy cream

1-4 tbs sugarWhipped cream for top

Blend in blender until thick and smooth. Add whipped cream on top. Pour into a frosted glass and enjoy.

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Tea smoked meat? What?

O.k..maybe it is because I am in Texas, or maybe it is because I love smoked meat but I think that  smoked meat just has an amazing flavor. Tea has an amazing flavor…You can infuse the flavor of tea into meat by smoking it. Cool huh?

Yeah, just wait until I share about my coffee bbq rub….

If you have a smoker no problem. Everyone has them around here. If not you need a heat proof box to keep the smoke in until the process is completed. Place the tea in a fireproof container at the bottom of the box, on top of the embers. You will need to keep the heat at about 225F. Place a meat rack over the embers and allow the meat to smoke for several hours depending on the meat. If it isn’t done in the time suggested then you can finish it in the oven. Use about one tablespoon tea leaves for each pound of meat.

Internal temps should be checked:

• Steaks & Roasts – 145 °F
• Fish – 145 °F
• Pork – 160 °F
• Ground Beef – 160 °F
• Chicken Breasts – 165 °F
• Whole Poultry – 165 °F

Now. You need to match up tea flavors with meats. Here are some I think are awesome but I am sure you will come up with many on your own.

Poultry with Chai

Poultry with Earl Grey Lavender

Pork with Lapsang Souchong

Fish or Poultry with Oolong

Beef with Yunnan Gold

Beef or Pork with Gunpowder

Poultry or fish with a green tea/mandarin blend

Poultry with Plum flavored black tea

O.k..you get the idea. Use different flavored teas to get different flavored smoke.

Summer is coming and this is a great time to try this technique.  Let me know of any flavor combinations you come up with that you especially like!

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