The Chronicle

News from the Tea World

Welcome to Tearoom Chronicles' Monthly Newsletter. Each month we will post information about the industry, health related news, perhaps a recipe or two, tearoom news, and other tidbits from the tea world. Do you have a special interest that you'd like to see in our newsletter? Let us know!

September ~ 2008

Fall is right around the corner, but it’s still very hot in many parts of the World. We’re in the throes of summer picnics, family gatherings and class reunions. What is the most widely consumed beverage at any of these events? No, not sodas, nor a frothy cold beer. It’s ICED TEA and it makes up 70-80% of the tea consumption in the United States.

Iced tea is ubiquitous in the United States. It’s made fresh or available in bottles, cans and self-serve soda fountains. It was often reported to have been invented at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Lewis by merchant and tea plantation owner Richard Blechynden. However, an article written in the September 28, 1890 issue of the Nevada Noticer newspaper reported that 880 gallons of iced tea were served at the Missouri State Ex-Confederate Veterans Reunion. That was 14 years before the 1904 World’s Fair. As noted below, it appeared in cookbooks as early as the mid nineteenth century.

The oldest known printed recipes show iced tea and tea punch were made from green tea, not black tea. In the mid-nineteenth century, Charleston’s St. Cecelia Punch was one of the most popular of these green tea punches, often heavily laced with champagne or other libations. Here’s one recipe for this delicious punch.

St. Cecelia Punch

Ingredients: 6 limes, sliced thin, 4 lemons, sliced thin, 1 orange, sliced thin, 2 cups peach brandy, 1 cup orange juice, 4 cups iced green tea, 4 bottles champagne, 1 cup sugar

Place the fruit in a very large pot or bowl. Cover with sugar and muddle until the sugar is absorbed into the fruit. Pour brandy over it and let it stand for 24 hours. Add remaining ingredients and pour over a block of ice in a large punch bowl. Do not add champagne until ready to serve.

The next green tea punch recipe from Savannah, Georgia was potent with liquor. One article claims this recipe would serve 100 people or 10 admirals. This is the punch that reportedly knocked out Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley for two days when he visited Savannah in 1899 after the Spanish War

Chathams Artillery Punch

Ingredients: 1 ½ gallons strong tea, 1 ½ gallons Catawba wine, 1 ½ quarts whiskey, ½ gallon rum, 1 quart gin, 1 quart brandy, ½ pint Benedictine, 2 ½ lbs brown sugar, Juice of 18 oranges, Juice of 18 lemons

I somehow think you wouldn’t taste the tea in either of those recipes! But, here’s a few recipes that won’t inebriate and truer to our subject. The following iced tea recipe is from a community cookbook called “Housekeeping in Old Virginia” by Marion Cabell Tyree, published in 1879. The recipe reads as follows:

Sweetened Iced Tea

After scalding the teapot, put into it one quart of boiling water and two teaspoonfuls green tea. If wanted for supper, do this at breakfast. At dinner time strain, without stirring through a tea strainer into a pitcher. Let it stand till tea time and pour into decanters, leaving the sediment in the bottom of the pitcher. Fill the goblets with ice, put two teaspoonfuls granulated sugar in each and pour the tea over the ice and sugar. A squeeze of lemon will make this delicious and healthful, as it will correct the astringent tendency.

Until recently, sweet tea was more popular in the South, with the rest of the country serving iced tea unsweetened. Sweet tea is now sweeping the nation. You’ll find it on menus in restaurants and fast food establishments alike. It was once known as Southern Table Wine. My family is from the South, so I’m very familiar with this confection sweet beverage. First, you need to know that “sweet tea” is different than “sweetened tea”, in that the sugar is added to sweet tea during the steeping or when the tea is boiling hot, melting the sugar, as in the following recipe.

Sweet Tea

Ingredients: 1 cup sugar, 1 quart water, 6 to 8 good teaspoons of black tea, a one-gallon pitcher

Bring the sugar and water to boil; carefully add the tea. Remove from heat and cover. Steep for 20 minutes. You can steep longer if you wish, up to an hour. Strain the tea to remove it from the tea syrup. Pour the tea syrup into the one-gallon pitcher and add water to fill the pitcher. Pour into a tall glass filled with ice and garnish with a lemon slice

Some of the different ways iced tea is served in other parts of the world are fun to explore. For instance, Belgium has a brand of iced tea that is carbonated. In Canada, unsweetened iced tea is almost unheard of. It’s served there sweetened and with lemon.

Iced lemon tea (not to be confused with lemon iced tea) is served in China. A strong black tea is brewed then poured over ice with simple syrup (if desired) and topped with several lemon slices. In the dessert parlors of China, iced green tea is also available, usually flavored with jasmine blossoms. This tea, along with milk tea, is served with or without tapioca pearls.

Iced tea has also become the rage in Italy, Japan, the Phillipines, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkey, all having their own special way of preparing it.

The United Kingdom is known for their love of tea, and there, too, iced tea is becoming more popular, though it does not replace the popularity of hot tea there.

Our favorite way to make iced tea at the tearoom was simple. We served any of our fine teas iced, so we made a lot of single glasses. You’ll need, of course, your favorite tea, lots of ice, a pretty glass and a martini shaker.

Perfect Iced Tea

Instead of 1 teaspoon for a cup of hot tea, use 2 teaspoon to a cup of hot water. Steep the same amount of time as for a hot cup, 3 to 4 minutes is the norm. This way, you are getting a good strong brew without overbrewing to the point that the tannins in the tea take over and make it bitter. Take a martini shaker and fill it with ice. When your tea has finished steeping, pour it into the martini shaker and shake until icy cold. Pour into a pretty stemmed glass filled with ice and sweeten or garnish as desired. We found that offering simple syrup with iced tea was a good way to sweeten, as the sugar was dissolved. For simple syrup, mix equal parts of sugar and water and microwave it for 3 to 4 minutes. Be careful. Less is more with this sweetener

Don’t think it’s inappropriate to serve iced tea when you invite guests for afternoon tea. On a hot afternoon in the garden, there’s nothing better than an ice cold glass of tea, sweetened or un, served with delicate tea sandwiches and delectable pastries.

However you like your iced tea, the next time you make it, try one of the recipes above, or if you have a different recipe that you’d like to share with everyone, email it to us and we’ll post it in the Iced Tea section of our upcoming cookbook, Summertime Tea, or your favorite tea punch recipe in Soirees & Tea Dances.

Join me again in October as we browse the subject of herbal tisanes and try some fall tonic recipes to brace you for the coming rainy season.

Linda