Tea...a beverage that puts the "steam" in Steampunk.

[Gazongola]

Indeed.

[A.G.Morgan]

You are correct Mr. Gazongola, it is a powder mixed with water and with a few ice cubes thrown in.

Not very romantic, but while working in the shop in over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit weather you don't really care how it's made so long as it's cold.

I have however heard of liquid tea concentrate type mixes. And of course Luzianne can also be brewed to make iced tea as well if your feeling patient.

[Gazongola]

I am asuming Luzianne is a kind of tea?

[A.G.Morgan]

An old brand of tea out of Louisiana (Louisianans must not be very good spellers) originally made for iced tea. I've always used it more hot than cold.

[Gazongola]

i see. But then iced tea has never really been a widely used thing in Britain, perhaps gained a little more poularity when Lipton promoted themselves a few years back over here. IAt is more widely drank on the continent however.

[Flynn MacCallister]

You are correct Mr. Gazongola, it is a powder mixed with water and with a few ice cubes thrown in.

Not very romantic, but while working in the shop in over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit weather you don't really care how it's made so long as it's cold.

I have however heard of liquid tea concentrate type mixes. And of course Luzianne can also be brewed to make iced tea as well if your feeling patient.

But what's actually in it?

[Gazongola]

Mysterious substances unknown to a British man... (tea, sugar, water, ice, sometimes lemon or other flavour, thats about it.)

[A.G.Morgan]

According to the back of the tin, Ms. MacCallister...

SUGAR, CITRIC ACID (PROVIDES TARTNESS), INSTANT TEA, SILICON DIOXIDE (PREVENTS CAKING), RED 40, NATURAL LEMON FLAVORS.

Now I'm curious as to the nature of INSTANT TEA.

[Lady Penelope]

How is American-style iced tea actually made? It seems to be rather different from the (non-premade) sort I'm used to here...

Different people make it in different ways, strengths, etc., but one basic recipe is to boil your water as usual (or heat to just under a boil), add tea (generally "family sized" tea bags made for the purpose) and allow this to steep for several minutes until you have a strongish brew, then add sugar to the hot tea according to taste.  (Here in the South, anywhere from 1/4 to 1 cup of sugar per 2 quart pitcher isn't uncommon.)   Quite often, one starts out with only about a quart or so of the strong tea/sugar mixture, but once the sugar has been completely stirred into it, the maker will add ice and/or more water until the total amount of tea fills a two-quart pitcher.  Some people also swear by a "cold brew" method, in which the tea bags are steeped in cool water for a longer period of time (an hour or so), and then the sugar and ice are mixed in after, which (allegedly) helps keep the tea from tasting bitter.  (I assume they mean it cuts the flavor of the tannins.)  In the summer, crushed sprigs of fresh mint can also be added.  Personally, I prefer peppermint.

[Lady Penelope]

According to the back of the tin, Ms. MacCallister...

SUGAR, CITRIC ACID (PROVIDES TARTNESS), INSTANT TEA, SILICON DIOXIDE (PREVENTS CAKING), RED 40, NATURAL LEMON FLAVORS.

Now I'm curious as to the nature of INSTANT TEA.

*shudders*  Ghastly stuff, IMO.  I have yet to find a powdered tea mix I find at all drinkable, aside from one "raspberry tea" mix that I like well enough only because I consider it to be something completely different from real tea.   

[Lady Penelope]

According to the back of the tin, Ms. MacCallister...

SUGAR, CITRIC ACID (PROVIDES TARTNESS), INSTANT TEA, SILICON DIOXIDE (PREVENTS CAKING), RED 40, NATURAL LEMON FLAVORS.

Now I'm curious as to the nature of INSTANT TEA.

My guess?  Whatever powdered residue gets left behind when real iced tea is allowed to boil or evaporate out until only solids are left.  Just add water to rehydrate. 

In other words...the ghost of tea past.   

(Then again, I could be dead wrong.)

[Flynn MacCallister]

According to the back of the tin, Ms. MacCallister...

SUGAR, CITRIC ACID (PROVIDES TARTNESS), INSTANT TEA, SILICON DIOXIDE (PREVENTS CAKING), RED 40, NATURAL LEMON FLAVORS.

Now I'm curious as to the nature of INSTANT TEA.

Instant tea isn't such a huge concern; it's just like instant coffee. The tea is made from cheap leaves, then freeze-dried. It was widely used before teabags became the norm. A lot of Chinese, Japanese and Korean companies still produce it, and it is used in chai tea mix and often in "bubble milk tea".

The thing that bothered me about it was that it tasted more like flat fizzy drink than tea... that'd be the combination of citric acid and sugar, rather than just lemon and sugar... should've thought of that, I guess.

How is American-style iced tea actually made? It seems to be rather different from the (non-premade) sort I'm used to here...

Different people make it in different ways, strengths, etc., but one basic recipe is to boil your water as usual (or heat to just under a boil), add tea (generally "family sized" tea bags made for the purpose) and allow this to steep for several minutes until you have a strongish brew, then add sugar to the hot tea according to taste.  (Here in the South, anywhere from 1/4 to 1 cup of sugar per 2 quart pitcher isn't uncommon.)   Quite often, one starts out with only about a quart or so of the strong tea/sugar mixture, but once the sugar has been completely stirred into it, the maker will add ice and/or more water until the total amount of tea fills a two-quart pitcher.  Some people also swear by a "cold brew" method, in which the tea bags are steeped in cool water for a longer period of time (an hour or so), and then the sugar and ice are mixed in after, which (allegedly) helps keep the tea from tasting bitter.  (I assume they mean it cuts the flavor of the tannins.)  In the summer, crushed sprigs of fresh mint can also be added.  Personally, I prefer peppermint.

Hah, the bitterness is deliberately trying to be reduced or disguised. That was the difference. I think what we were drinking had citric acid added, too, but it seems that the sugar content might be the big difference.

[Gazongola]

I have always found bottled Lipton to have ample bitterness and sweetness.

[Gazongola]

According to the back of the tin, Ms. MacCallister...

SUGAR, CITRIC ACID (PROVIDES TARTNESS), INSTANT TEA, SILICON DIOXIDE (PREVENTS CAKING), RED 40, NATURAL LEMON FLAVORS.

Now I'm curious as to the nature of INSTANT TEA.

As for instant tea, it is just powdered freeze dried stuff. A great urveyor of fine instant teas in England is Whittards of Chelsea. Nice they are.

[Lady Penelope]

Now I'm curious as to the nature of INSTANT TEA.

Instant tea isn't such a huge concern; it's just like instant coffee.

Then again, I'm not much of a fan of instant coffee either.  It seems to lose something in the translation. 

[A.G.Morgan]

Ah well. It holds off dehydration well enough

I have always found bottled Lipton to have ample bitterness and sweetness.

I'll have to try it some time.

[Ginny Blundy]

Now I'm curious as to the nature of INSTANT TEA.

Instant tea isn't such a huge concern; it's just like instant coffee.

Then again, I'm not much of a fan of instant coffee either.  It seems to lose something in the translation. 

Good evening, Lady P. I noticed that you and I seem to be competing for most recent post on Anatomical right now.

Agreed regarding instant tea and coffee. And honestly, is it all that hard to brew either? I don't see why the process needs to be made quicker.

[Gazongola]

Whittards do some quality instant and regular teas and coffees. If I want instant tea I go there. But only for the fruit teas, and they are designed so they can be made with cold water as well as hot, just as easily.

[Flynn MacCallister]

Now I'm curious as to the nature of INSTANT TEA.

Instant tea isn't such a huge concern; it's just like instant coffee.

Then again, I'm not much of a fan of instant coffee either.  It seems to lose something in the translation. 

Oh, yes, it's horrible, but it's nothing particularly strange and unnatural.

[Hester]

A hilarious Steampunk music vid, devoted to the subject of Tea, reposted from the "Playing Dress-up" thread:

Cup Of Brown Joy - Elemental
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eELH0ivexKA


Genius. And I have the same helmet.

SteamRap! 

"18 cups a day - I haven't slept for 80 years!"  Sounds like my m-i-l.

[terobi]

Yes, you could say that I like tea.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dear god...

Could that be the first recorded instance of an aether-peen?

I'm sorry, but what is an aether-peen?

Sorry for late reply;

An e-peen is basically an "electronic penis extension", something that one might post on a forum to prove superiority over others on a certain subject (eg. on a computer games forum someone might post a picture of a room in their house that's stacked from floor to ceiling on all the walls with games and consoles).

Was just a joke, might have been a bit convoluted. My apologies.

[wisdom_of_trees]

Ah, yes... I had given the term some thought and had come up with "aether" from Greek mythology for heaven, and peen like a hammer. So I had thought that you were comparing my collection to a heavenly hammer. (I hadn't thought it that impressive.) However; now that I think about the similarities between your definition and my educated guess I suppose there may not be too much of a difference. I don't have much basis for comparison though, having never possessed any sort of male member... metaphorical, electronic or otherwise. 

[Flynn MacCallister]

Mlle Wisdom, "inter" and "e" are commonly replaced on this forum by "aether", for example "aethernet" and "aether bay", in reference to the disproven/unnecessary medium for the propagation of light, the luminiferous aether.

[Mal `e Diction]

I haven't gone back all the way on this thread, but has anyone mentioned sun tea? I learned to make it from my grandmother. Not that it's all that hard. Fill a pitcher or large jar with cold water, put in a few tea bags, cover the top of the pitcher with plastic wrap/or the jar lid, and put it out in the sun for a few hours and let it brew. This is what I use for iced tea during the summer. I don't put sugar in my iced tea, but I like a bit lemon, and I grow my own mint, so may add that, depending. It really is quite nice.

[Hester]

I haven't gone back all the way on this thread, but has anyone mentioned sun tea? I learned to make it from my grandmother. Not that it's all that hard. Fill a pitcher or large jar with cold water, put in a few tea bags, cover the top of the pitcher with plastic wrap/or the jar lid, and put it out in the sun for a few hours and let it brew. This is what I use for iced tea during the summer. I don't put sugar in my iced tea, but I like a bit lemon, and I grow my own mint, so may add that, depending. It really is quite nice.

Up here across the northern border, I doubt the sun gets strong enough to brew tea. 

Your homegrown mint sounds like a nice touch, though.

Which reminds me, I have some lemon balm running wild in the yard.  That makes a nice herbal tea by itself, and some crushed sprigs would probably be a good addition to iced 'real' tea in the summer.

I think iced tea tastes tend to differ on either side of our border.  Americans, for the most part, seem to prefer their iced tea plain -- just cold tea over ice.  Whereas Canadians tend to consider lemon & sugar as essential.  I was therefore rather taken aback when I ordered an iced tea at a Starbuck's (American coffee chain that has infiltrated here) -- no lemon, no sugar!     When I asked for sugar, they pointed me to a bottle of liquid sugar-syrup on the counter.  Without lemon, the resultant mixture was both cloying and bland.

Oh... this page suggests that the unsweetened version is most common in the northern U.S., but that American southerners prefer the sweetened type:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/IcedTeaHistory.htm

Odd that we Canadians are closer to the southern states in this preference. 

Here's more info about how "iced tea" is served in various countries:

http://www.answers.com/topic/iced-tea