Ice Tea
Ice Tea A Cool Refreshing Drink
Ice tea is a tea served cold with ice. Any tea, green teas, black teas, herbal teas, oolong teas can become iced teas. The process is simple, brew a cup of tea as normal than allow it to cool to room temperature before refrigerating it to prevent the formation of condensate's, which may give the tea a cloudy appearance and chalky taste. Using filtered water may not cause the tea to go cloudy at all and the flavor is not affected. If you are not into chilling your own ice tea it can be purchased pre-bottled or canned, whichever you prefer.
Iced tea is available in sweetened and unsweetened format. Their are 2 ways to sweeten ice tea; when tea is cold use a simple sugar cane syrup or before cooling add granulated sugar, as granulated sugar doesn't completely dissolve in the cold tea. Packaged iced tea comes in various flavors, the most common variety being fruit flavors like lemon, peach, raspberry, lime and cherry.
Ice Teas from Around the World
Ice tea is available worldwide and each country has its own favorite variety of iced tea. The main manufacturers of bottled or canned iced tea are Nestea, Lipton, Snapple and AriZona Beverage. Lipton offers a number of non-carbonated iced teas under the "Ice Tea" brand and the carbonated variety under the brand "Ice Tea Sparkling".
In the United States ice tea comes in only 2 variations. With sugar and without sugar. Sweet ice tea is very popular drink in Southern States and is consumed all year round with most meals. When going to restaurants in the South make sure you specify what tea you want. If you just ask for tea the chances are you will be served ice tea. Outside the Southern States, iced tea is served unsweetened or "black", and most people have never even heard of sweet tea.
In Europe lemon and peach flavored iced teas are the most popular variants.
In Canada, iced tea refers to sweetened iced tea, usually flavored with lemon, while unsweetened ice tea is almost unheard of. Tea flavored with raspberry, peach or pomegranate or made with green teas are also becoming more common. Ice tea is more often than not served as an alternative to other soft drinks.
Thai iced tea has a creamy sweetness and a strong Asian tea flavor. Recipes can be quite varied, from the type of tea used (Jasmine, Genmai, etc.), the type of sweetener used (cane sugar, red bean), and the type of dairy used (cream, sweetened condensed milk). It has become popular in other countries, such as neighboring Laos, and in Thai restaurants in Western countries.
As you can see iced tea is a very popular beverage around the world which has a cool refreshing taste whether served sweetened or unsweetened. Ice tea can be made at home or purchased from the supermarket in various fruit flavors, the choice is yours.
