31 May 2010

Iced Tea for the Truly Lazy


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.

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.