It's strange how much effort you can direct toward not doing something. Working, washing dishes, doing taxes, folding laundry, writing: all can be avoided if you really try.
And at the end of the process, after all that effort, you're left with...nothing.
Maybe I'm not being fair to my fellow man, however. It could be that I, not all humankind, am the expert procrastinator. I can only guess about other people; I know for a fact, however, that I'm really talented at not getting things done.
If this strikes a chord, though, then I have a drink for you. Even if it's above 90° for an entire weekend in May (or just feels like it), you will have the energy to make this iced tea. Yes, you can also work on not making it, but then you won't have a crisp, cool glass to toss back as you think about all the things you won't get done today.
(I do realize I'm posting this on the last evening of a long weekend- which means it's less likely you actually will have the time to devote to crafting delicious drinks by the time you read this- but I was rather busy doing nothing but drinking iced tea all day.)
Lazy Iced Tea
Pour 4 cups water into a large glass pitcher or jar. Tie 6 tea bags together with kitchen twine, and place into pitcher. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or at least 8 hours. Remove tea bags, pressing to extract liquid, and stir in half a lemon, thinly sliced. Mix 4-6 tablespoons honey with 1/4 cup boiling water, and stir into tea.
Pour 4 cups water into a large glass pitcher or jar. Tie 6 tea bags together with kitchen twine, and place into pitcher. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or at least 8 hours. Remove tea bags, pressing to extract liquid, and stir in half a lemon, thinly sliced. Mix 4-6 tablespoons honey with 1/4 cup boiling water, and stir into tea.
Refrigerating the tea overnight means you don't even need to bother with ice, which often ends up diluting the brew. It's already ice-cold and perfectly steeped, never bitter. And before you gasp at the bags, relax. I'd rather people use them and at least make homemade iced tea as opposed to buying an overpriced, oversweetened bottle of factory-made swill.
For this batch, I used the British standby PG Tips, which the company was gracious enough to send to me for sampling. Even though I'll still never stray from loose tea, I was surprised how clean and bold a flavor the bags produced. And drinking something originally known as Pre-Gest-Tee (for its alleged digestion-aiding properties) is fun- even shiftless chimps agree.
Laziness transcending species: definitely something for future study. I'll get to it.
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6 comments:
You should try PG tips gold if you can find it where you are. Its very strong and yummy. Its my favourite. Never thought of making iced tea with it though, that might be a great idea now that summer is around the corner.
*kisses* HH
Indeed! I was just thinking about how glad I am that you taught me about cold-brew iced tea as I enjoyed a jarfull this morning. Lately I've been enjoying a blend of black tea with a fruity herbal, with a spot of ginger for good measure. I will definitely be trying the pre-melt/dilute honey in boiling water idea.
PG is great---I bet it would stand alone w/only lemon & no sweetner
i rarely bother with sweetener- it obscures the underlying tea. but sometimes, that ice-cold honey-lemon combination is just what i need.
and in case i didn't explain it well, mixing hot water with the honey allows it to dissolve instantly into the cold liquid. otherwise, getting that honey off the spoon is harder than taking the balls off a crab.
Ahh PG Tips! Now that I've been converted to the ways of loose tea, I save my PG Tips for cold brew and sun tea. Will have to try the honey trick!
Hey, welcome back! Great post--we are devoted fans of cold brew tea at our house, and keep a huge glass vat of it in the fridge from Easter through Thanksgiving (when we have to move it out to make room for the turkey). I like the PG, but I confess (shhh) that the Lipton cold brew (the bags specially made for this kind of brewing) are entirely drinkable, too, and are perfect when you just can't wait for slower forms of iced tea.
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