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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, June 26, 2002

Iced flavors suited to a tea

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Tropical island tea with slices of fresh pineapple and kiwi is a tangy alternative to plain iced tea. Iced tea is believed to have been served at the 1904 World's Fair.

Gannett News Service

In the South, it's "sweet-tea" — pronounced almost as though it was one word, except for a quick stutter in the middle. And if you order iced tea in a restaurant, sweet-tea — a Lipton-style brewed tea sweetened with a simple syrup of sugar and water, served ice-cold but often without ice cubes — is what you're going to get unless you specify otherwise.

In California and the Pacific Northwest, it's herbal tea, brewed from camomile or hibiscus or some other gentler herb, chilled and sugarless.

In Japan, it's green tea in cans in a variety of flavors and blends, from ginseng to "energy" mixes.

In Thailand, it's native red-leaf tea brewed strong and combined with sweetened condensed milk and ice cubes in a blend achingly sweet and yet slightly bitter.

Here in Hawai'i, it's plantation iced tea, made from a blend of fruit juices (sometimes pineapple, sometimes lilikoi, often a blend) mixed with brewed tea and served with ice, in a tall glass, with a fruit garnish.

All the world, it seems, has a version of iced tea.

For thousands of years, people have been drinking tea, growing tea, reading tea and sharing life around the steaming teapot — and, for the past 100 years or so, around an icy pitcher, too.

There are various versions of how tea was discovered. One legend says that when Chinese Emperor Shen Nung was boiling water, the wind blew some leaves from burning branches into the pot, creating a sweet fragrance that tempted the emperor to sip the drink.

Tea-making has simplified since then, but the inventive things people do with tea have gotten more complex — and more fun.

Next to water, tea is the most widely consumed drink in the world.

And tea isn't just for quenching thirst. It also is believed by some to be a remedy for various illnesses.

The first acknowledged time that iced tea was served was by an American at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

Richard Blechynden, a tea plantation owner, planned to give away free samples of hot tea to fair visitors, but when a heat wave struck, no one was interested. To save his investment of time and travel, he dumped a load of ice into the brewed tea and served the first "iced tea," and was, they say, the hit of the fair.

Even as tea has gained in popularity in the past few years, the weather has not been kind to tea-growing regions, according to Byron Goo of Tea Chest Hawaii at Pioneer Plaza on Fort Street Mall, resulting in what he calls "mediocre pluckings."

However, cold and fog is just what tea plants crave, and Japan's major tea-growing region, Shizuoka, got a lot of that this year. Goo reports that the crop of shin cha green tea from that region — the first to be picked each season, and highly anticipated — is as good as it gets this year. The only place you can get this grassy, sweet tea outside Japan is at Tea Chest Hawaii.

Goo cautions that the preparation of high-grade tea is a tricky matter; techniques and brewing times vary according to the type of tea.

Tea Chest Hawaii is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, and you can consult one of their tea tenders for specifics on how to brew a particular leaf.

Meanwhile, iced tea can be created by many means:

The old-fashioned way

Use loose tea, not bags, and brew as you would for hot tea. Then chill the tea and serve with ice and a slice of lemon.

To properly brew tea: Bring fresh, cold water to a full, rolling bowl. Pour a little of the boiling water into the teapot and slosh it around until the teapot is heated through, then empty. Measure tea into pot; 1 teaspoon per cup and "one for the pot." Be sure to use the right amount.

If working with a large-leaf tea like guapian from China, use a rounded tablespoon. If working with a smaller leaf such as dragon well or jasmine pearl, use a rounded teaspoon.

Pour water in and steep.

Make sure your water is the perfect temperature: Boiling is OK for black teas, but not for green. If you use boiling water on a green tea leaf, which is unfermented, it brings out the tannins and polyphenols that cause a bitter flavor. The perfect temperature for green tea is when the water has stopped boiling and the steam is swirling slowly from the pot.

Follow the brewing time: A green tea should be steeped for two and one-half minutes. Black teas should steep exactly three minutes.

'Sun' tea

This method of making tea without boiling can produce a light, refreshing tea, and one that's not too bitter.

You need a large glass jar with a cover — those super-size institutional mayonnaise jars are good, but you can also buy a commercial sun tea jar. Fill with water, dangle one or two tea bags in the top, catching the string with the jar top so they don't sink to the bottom and are easy to fish out. Leave the jar outside in the sun for a full day. Chill and serve.

Concentrates

You can use canned or frozen iced-tea concentrates to create tea coolers without adding heat to the kitchen by having to brew the tea first.

Any canned iced tea can be blended with water or sparkling water and fruit juices, then chilled.

Frozen iced-tea concentrates enable several new methods of making fast iced-tea coolers.

Here are just a few examples:

Tropical Island Tea

  • 1 can tropical-flavored nectar (such as guava or pineapple coconut)
  • 4 cups water
  • 2 cups sparkling water
  • 3/4 cup lemon-flavored sweetened iced tea concentrate
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 6 pineapple or kiwi slices

For nectar cubes: Pour nectar into one ice cube tray. Freeze until cubes are set.

For tea mixture: Place water, sparkling water, tea and honey in large pitcher. Stir until combined. Serve over nectar cubes. Garnish with pineapple or kiwi slices.

Serves six.

Fiesta Tea Spritzer

  • 4 cups sparkling water
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup lemon-flavored sweetened iced tea concentrate
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 cups crushed ice
  • 6 lemon and lime slices

Place sparkling water, water, tea and honey in large pitcher. Stir until combined.

Moisten rims of margarita glasses with lemon juice. Put enough sugar on small plate to coat rims. Dip rims into sugar.

Fill glasses with ice. Top with tea mixture. Garnish with lemon and lime slices.

Serves six.

Iced Chai

  • 5 cups water
  • 1 cup green tea
  • 1 cup honey-flavored green tea and sweetened iced tea concentrate (Nestea markets this combo)
  • 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 2 cups ice cubes
  • 6 fresh mint leaves (optional)

Place water, teas, sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon and cardamom in large pitcher. Stir until combined. Serve over ice. Garnish with mint.

Serves six.

Shake, Raspberry & Roll

  • 3 cups ice cubes
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 2 large scoops vanilla ice cream
  • 1 cup raspberry-flavor sweetened iced tea concentrate

Place ice, milk, ice cream and tea in blender; cover. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses.

Serves four.

Green Tea Sparkler

  • 3 cups water
  • 3 cups ginger ale
  • 3/4 cup green tea and honey-flavored sweetened iced tea concentrate (Nestea)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
  • 2 cups ice cubes
  • 6 fresh mint leaves (optional)

Place water, ginger ale, Nestea and honey in large pitcher. Stir until combined.

Serve over ice. Garnish with mint.

Serves six.

The El Paso Times' Victor Martinez and The Advertiser's Wanda Adams contributed to this report.