74/90, sweet tea 2

I'm on recipe number two in the quest for the perfect iced tea. This time, I went for a more traditional Southern sweet tea method but stuck with the same tea bags (Republic of Tea's Ginger Peach, one of my all-time favorites).

I saw the tea syrup method posted across the blogosphere, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It's a lot like the concentration that I used last time, but with more water and more tea bags. One of the big tips that I noticed was to add the water to the cold water, before it starts boiling (and before you add the teabags, obviously).

So, I dumped in a cup of sugar, my hand shaking and scattering granules across the counter from just thinking about all of that sugar in the tea. I would never have guessed that's how much is used. I tried to do the teaspoon per glass guestimate, but I didn't know how many glasses were in a gallon, which is how much tea you end up with.

The recipe I used–I'd link it, but it was a mix across several sites–didn't give a real measurement for the water to use with the tea syrup. I decided to just fill the kettle and go from there. With the sugar-water whistling, I tossed in the teabags and left the kettle cooling for a solid hour.

After squeezing out the teabags, I poured the "tea syrup" into our big pitcher and added more cold water, then stuck it in the back of the fridge, which seems to work better than icecubes.

A few hours later, I was brave enough to try it. Our pitcher is rather large, ruining many attempts at instant iced tea, lemonade, you name it. I'd filled it almost to the top, since I have no idea what a gallon looks like, and I was afraid it would be weak.

I took a sip and was surprised to find that sweet, syrupy texture with, surprisingly on my first go, a good balance of tea and sugar. I still think it's almost too sweet. I get a tea aftertaste, but don't like the feeling that's left in my mouth.

So, the verdict is that this is a solid method. I'll cut back the sugar a bit and keep letting it steep for an hour.

I've also discovered that my iced to really needs lemon or peach. The tea I used was a ginger and peach, but I want the real peach flavor or the bit of tartness from lemons. As I sipped my tea, I felt like something was missing. So next time: using straight black tea and adding fresh lemon–to the glasses, not the overall pitcher.