July is Cold/Iced Tea Month

Happy July! In the USA it's officially Cold/Iced Tea Month, although (tsk, tsk) you won't find info about this important month-long phenomenon on the website of the Tea Association of the USA. So I'm here to let you know that YES it's really Cold/Iced Tea Month, all month, all over the country. Golly!

To celebrate such a momentous thing, I'm going to bend your ear (or eye) a moment to remind you how to make cold-infused tea:
1. Take a clean glass jar, such as a Mason jar, with a tight-fitting lid
2. Put tea into the jar: loose tea on its own, or loose tea in a pouch or infuser, or some teabags (quantity discussed below)
3. Add really lovely water: good tap water, or bottled, or pre-boiled and cooled -- water is so important, and what is tea if not flavored water?
4. Close the jar tightly, place it in the 'fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight
5. Remove tea leaves from jar (alternately strain tea into another clean jar); dilute your cold tea to taste and serve with or without ice.

Ç'est tout, mes amis. Drink and be happy.

We are frequently asked how much tea to use for cold-infusing, and I hesitate to prescribe exact amounts because your preference may not be the same as mine, and if I tell you "do this" and you hate it, you will hate me. I will encourage you, as I always try to do, to use your fabulous senses to discover how strong or subtle a flavor you like, write down or remember what you do that works, and do the same again next time. That, by the way, is True Tea Independence, and since it's only 2 more days until Independence Day, it's altogether appropriate.

We highly recommend the use of O-Cha Pack infusion pouches, which you can order from Trixie if your local Asian grocery store doesn't have them in stock.

I'm off to fill a couple of Mason jars (yes of COURSE with tea),
sending you all my tea-ish affection,
xo, Dustin
p.s. Cold-infused tea tastes more mild (less tannic) than Sun Tea, and according to the gov't it's also safer.