Iced Tea and Company

When I was growing up, sun tea was fashionable. Big glass or plastic jugs with tea bags in them sat on a quite a few porches in the neighborhood; often, it was steeped for a full day in the sunlight. 

That wasn't my favorite tea: I favored Lipton premixed and sweetened iced tea. Now that I'm older, I don't particularly like sweetened tea, unless it's chai, fruit flavored or herbal tea. Most of them have too much sugar.

I've found a few I like iced:

• Luzianne decaffeinated tea bags: two per tea pot.

Tazo Tea, nearly all flavors. (It's available in several places; it's also brewed by the cup at Starbucks). The sampler is a cheap way to try most of them.

I especially like Tazo Zen tea (unsweetened) as well as the Chai and Passion teas (with a little bit of stevia added). A decaf substitute for the Zen tea involves two decaffeinated green tea bags and one herbal mint tea bag. 

FYI: A tea seller told me you should not brew green tea in boiling hot water (it should be about 170 degrees). If you don't want to use a thermometer, you can put one ice cube in the cup you're brewing it in or two or three to a teapot before steeping the green tea.

Premixed teas I like include Oregon Chai Concentrate and Tazo Chai Spiced Black Tea Concentrate. (It says you get four servings per 32-oz. package; I find it's more like six to eight, depending on how strong I want the tea to be.

For me, Oregon Chai has a slight edge over Tazo Chai, mostly due to the fact that the manufacturer gives you the choice of regular, decaf, slightly sweet and sugar free versions.

These all are great teas to have in your cupboard in case of unexpected company.