Making Delicious Iced Tea

It quickly became a drink for all types of weather. It was so refreshing that people realized you could enjoy tea served cold instead of the common hot methods. Louis expo. A tea merchant by the name of Richard Blechynden decided to serve tea over some ice during a St.

Iced tea can trace its' roots back to the heat wave in the year 1904. Many people savor drinking iced tea, especially on a warm summer day.
You can drink these either decaffeinated or not for a little boost in energy when you need it. Some of the popular flavors are peach, mango, strawberry, and raspberry iced tea. It is a refreshing drink when the temperatures are rising.

Simply open the bottle and enjoy. Many of the bottled iced teas you purchase already have these in them for extra flavoring. Iced tea can be sweetened by adding sugar.
Sugar and lemon can be alternatively added to sweeten it up even more. It should be refrigerated for six or seven hours, then strained into a second clean container. With this method, a dry tea leaf should be placed in a clean container that has the right amount of cold water.

The first way is called the cold steeping method. If you are more inclined to make your iced tea there are two methods to try.
The second method of making iced tea is the hot steeping method. One favorite way of doing this is to double the amount of dry tea leaves you would typically use for hot tea, infuse it for approximately 5 minutes, and then pour over a full glass of ice. For the optimum results, let the tea cool down before pouring it over the ice. Alternatively you can try to steep it for approximately 5 minutes in hot water, then pour into a container with a matching amount of cold water. This method will dilute the strong tea flavor and help avoid clouding.
Iced tea can be mixed with lemonade or your favorite fruit juices to create a fruity flavored drink. Bear in mind that by doing this you should make sure that the juice does not overwhelm the flavor of the tea, but complement it instead. Experiment with the mixing ratios for the most desired results. Once you get it right you will be enjoying your iced drink while soaking up the warm sun.
James McDonald writes for findteaonline.com, a website where you can find
flavored tea
products and gift ideas. We have a variety of flavors as well as informative articles on many topics related to tea.

Tea and Time

Tea and time have something in common. They both begin with letter "T". There is a reason for that. Under that commonality also lies a lesson of life.
To enjoy tea, we need to take time.
Tea is no longer mere leaves but a form of art from beautiful hands. After the leaves are dried, they hand roll them to form a certain shape and sort them out at the end. Imagine how those beautiful girls and ladies pluck the leaves in a sunny spring morning. The majority of the workers in a tea garden are women.

The shapes are typically from the delicate hand rolling. Leaves from different types of tea come in different shapes, texture and colors. First of all, even before the steeping starts, we observe the tea leaves.
Second, you pour hot water into the cup. You don't just sit and wait (and getting bored and even impatient). Watch the leaves unfold and dance up and down slowly. This "agony of the leaves" is necessary for the flavors and nutrients to be released.
The timing depends on our individual preference in taste. Not too long, not too short. Steeping is also about timing.
Finally, we don't gulp a cup of tea as we do with a can of soda. We sip. Before we sip, we observe the color and the uprising mist of the liquid. We smell the aroma. These are all part of enjoyment of tea.
It all takes time. All the good things in life take time to brew and to enjoy.
Time is the most precious thing. It is also most constant thing as well. We can't get more of it by rushing it. We could potentially lose it if we rush - not only time but also all the great things in life that must be enjoyed with and over time.
A Chinese proverb says it all, "Hurry and impatience prevents the enjoyment of hot tofu."
You may ask, what about the need for speed and convenience?
The faster pace of living demands speed and convenience. Fast foods have become a part of our diet in the past decades as more and more families have two working parents and more and more families have two working parents and more and more families have two working parents and more and more people are into sports, travel and adventures. Mankind invented automobiles, aircrafts and spacecrafts to move from A to B faster. They are the propellers of civilization and evolution from nomadic to agriculture to industrial society.

Yes, they are some times our friends.
Our physical and psychological well being does not improve even though economically we are better off. More people and families are suffering from stresses of all kinds. Recent years have seen increased health problems such as obesity and cancer.

Overdose of speed and convenience can and have already hurt our quality of life. But there is a limit.
Tea can help in many ways with its powerful healing power and the lesson it teaches us about time and timing. It may be time to slow down a little bit and to get back to the basic of life.
Jay is the owner of TaimuTea.com - an online tea store that focuses on tea knowledge, news and education in addition to providing quality fresh teas from Taimu Mountain and its surrounding areas in Fujian province of China.

http://www.taimutea.com

Amaretto Flavored Tea

Amaretto flavored tea is great for experiencing the smooth almond taste connected with amaretto but without the effects of the alcohol. It has a velvety feel in the mouth and makes a great after dinner tea. This amber-red liqueur is enjoyable in all its many forms including tea drinks.
If you enjoy learning about the history of things, you might find one story of how amaretto came about a little interesting.
Not unusual, except that the innkeeper's romantic interest, which inspired the creation of the liqueur, had grown while posing as a model for Bernardino. The painter, Bernardino Luini, who created the Madonna fresco in the Santa Maria delle Grazie Church located in Saronno, Italy, received the handmade gift from the innkeeper. It's certainly colorful and as rumors go, entertaining. Now, would you believe the first bottle of amaretto made was because of a love affair?

Amaretto means "a little bitter" in Italian.
You might also be interested to know that the almond flavor associated with amaretto comes from apricot stones, or pits. The original drink was probably made from grape brandy in which apricot stones were left to soak, or infuse. Accidents have been the catalyst for many of the beautiful and functional things we have today, but whether amaretto came about by accident, or intentional, we have no idea.
We like to mix things up sometimes so we frequently buy syrups to add flavors to our usual teas. This comes in handy if you sometimes like to disguise the grassy flavor of green tea. You can also buy green and black teas with amaretto flavoring. You can, for instance, add the syrup directly to the teapot, for an ultra-fresh and delicious tea.

Amaretto flavored tea is made in different forms.
Make sure to try this tea and remember that teas like this can be enjoyed year around, and any time of day. Being creative with your tea is a lot of fun and drinking amaretto flavored tea is a great new alternative to the usual tastes and flavors of traditional teas.
The tea guide makes it easy to learn all about drinking teas and tisanes from all over the world. To view more articles pleas visit our
flavored teas
website.

Green Tea; The Secret To Good Health

Green tea has been around for 1000s of years, and the Chinese have always known about the many health benefits of green tea. Now the rest world is catching up and jumping on the green tea bandwagon.
These powerful antioxidants are so potent that research is showing that they might even be able to cure cancer. Antioxidants, green tea is loaded with antioxidants that support your bodies immune system and helps eliminate harmful toxins from your body. What makes green tea so healthy?
In addition to being healthy green tea can also help you lose weight. Green tea has what is called a thermogenic effect on your body meaning that it makes your body burn more calories there by causing you to lose weight. In addition many people feel they get a natural energy boost, and also that they can think better when taking green tea.
The best way to buy green tea is in bulk loose leaf form, or if that's not available in your area you can substitute it with bagged tea, but keep in mind that bagged tea is typically lower in quality than loose tea. You can find green tea in many different flavors, but stay away from bottled tea because most of the time it's filled with sugar or artificial sweeteners. It doesn't give you that insulin crash that soda does, and it's not hard on your stomach like coffee. Promoting good health and weight loss are great, but perhaps the best part is that green tea tastes wonderful.
By simply replacing soda, coffee, or any other sugar filled beverages with green tea you'll be doing yourself a huge favor and you will notice a positive change within days.

Green Tea Brewing Guide

Green tea is believed to have many healthful benefits. If you have ever tasted a good cup of green tea it can be reviving and delicious. However the delicate nature of this tea does demand a certain watchful eye when preparing it. Here is an easy to follow guide on how to brew an outstanding cup of green tea.
• Use high quality tea a lesser quality will not yield as good a flavor.
• If using lesser quality, boil water and steep for a longer period of time. This will help extract the flavors.
Steep for about half the time recommended, if let go too long the flavor will turn bitter and sharp. Gently heat the water and steep the tea. • When using the preferred high quality tea do not boil the water.
• Never use an aluminum pot to boil water. It will change the flavor of the tea. A cooper pot is ideal.
• Use only porcelain or ceramic to steep the tea.
If the steam is drifting straight up the water is at the proper temperature. To ascertain the proper water temperature, check the direction of the steam. • If the water does boil allow it to cool for 1-3 minutes before adding the tea.

Chew Your Tea and Finish That Fugu

Have you ever had one of those "cream of tartar is the same thing as tartar sauce" disasters? Well you certainly know now that if you mix those two up, your chiffon will not be a tasty dessert. While Recipe4Living has many expert cooks, we have probably all had a time in our cooking explorations when we have come across an ingredient and thought "what the heck is that?" As fellow gastronomers, gourmets, and gourmands, finding out about new foods is almost as fun as sampling them. In that spirit, here are some of the rarer, odder, and more exotic foods from all over the world. While I wouldn't really recommend all of these, I'm not here to judge; haggis just might be someone's absolute favorite.
Bubble Tea/Boba
I love them! Tapioca drinks like this are popular in many Asian restaurants throughout the states. The bubbles are sucked up though a large straw and chewed. Large marble-sized balls of tapioca, sometimes made from sweet potato, form the bubbles in this often fruity drink.

- Boba is a Taiwanese drink that comes in a variety of flavors.
Ceviche
The most popular choice is red snapper, while shrimp ceviche is becoming increasingly common in restaurants in the U.S. - This immensely popular dish in Mexico varies, but always consists of a raw fish or shellfish chopped up and marinated in lime juice overnight.
Conch
- That pretty horned shell found on the beach, the one you can hear the ocean in, was probably once home to an animal called the conch. While protected as an endangered species in the U.S., this edible snail is a popular food throughout the Caribbean, but must be tenderized because of its toughness. Vendors in the Bahamas serve the shellfish right on the water by chopping up the raw conch and marinating it in lime juice. It's delicious!
Durian
- This football-sized fruit covered in spine, from a tree native to Southeast Asia, is the definition of irony. The smell from the custard-like flesh of the fruit is absolutely horrendous, often compared to rotten meat or sewage, but the taste is extraordinarily good. Many call it the king of fruits. Public signs in many places in Southeast Asia outlaw bringing a durian onto public transportation.
Fiddlehead Ferns
- This one sounds safe enough, being simply the sprouting tops of new ferns resembling violins. These are served as a delicacy in the northeast United States and western Canada. But strangely enough, fiddleheads contain a toxin that can cause symptoms similar to food poisoning from undercooked meat. Adequate cooking does destroy this toxin, but many restaurants still make the mistake of quick-sautéing fiddlehead ferns.
Fugu
Still, several hundred people die in Japan each year from eating poisonous fugu. Specially trained sushi chefs prepare the fugu so that a small amount of poison gives a desired sensation to the tongue. In Japan, a certain pufferfish called the Fugu is enjoyed as a delicacy even though it is highly poisonous.

There was truth in that. - Did you ever see that Simpsons episode where Homer eats the dangerous sushi?
Fried Candy Bars
In fish and chip shops throughout Scotland, fried candy bars are very popular, battered in the same flour and milk mixture used to fry fish, black pudding, and other foods. Actually, Scotland might be able to take credit for this one. - Ok, I know what you are thinking—this artery-clogger is just the invention of American state fairs looking for the craziest and most unhealthy food creations.
Haggis
How is that possible? Ironically, some modern companies have started producing vegetarian versions of haggis. - This Scottish dish is made by stuffing a sheep or other animal's stomach with a mixture of minced organs (heart, lungs, etc.), oatmeal, vegetables, and other seasonings.
Hákar
l- This one truly makes you wonder why. Putrefied or rotten shark makes up this classic Icelandic dish. The shark meat is actually buried for several months to ensure proper decomposition and then left in a drying shack for several more. When fresh, the shark meat is poisonous due to a high concentration of uric acid. This one has to be enjoyed, or rather, endured with shots of the equally strong Icelandic drink called Brennivin.
Inago
- Another Japanese dish compliment of the inland area of Nagano, Inago are cooked and often candied grasshoppers. They taste crunchy, of course, but also quite sweet from living off the rice fields. Many consider them quite tasty.
Kimchi
Soaked in salt and red pepper for several weeks, the fermented cabbage takes on a hot vinegar taste. - (gimchi or kimchee) This traditional Korean food is fermented cabbage.
Kishka/Kishke
In another variation, kishka can also be a stitched kosher chicken neck holding similar ingredients when preparing a chicken broth. - This Eastern European food popular among Russian Jews is a kosher beef intestine stuffed with matzo, fat, and spices.
Lobster Butter
- I do not mean butter mixed with lobster meat. Rather, this term refers to the green, mucus-like substance found in the head of a cooked lobster. While it doesn't look appetizing, many lobster connoisseurs consider this the best part of a lobster meal. Next time you want a lobster tail at a fancy meal, consider the whole thing instead.
P"té de Foie Gras
Recently, Chicago became the first place in the United States to ban p"té de foie gras from restaurant menus. Unfortunately, this often involves the practice of force-feeding the animal, making pate a controversial food. - French for "fatty liver," this delicacy is made from the livers of uniquely fed and fattened geese or duck.
Scotch Egg
The egg is wrapped in sausage meat (or bacon), rolled in bread crumbs, and finally fried to heart-stopping goodness. A Scotch egg, popular also in English and Irish Pubs, begins with a hard-boiled egg. - You've got to hand it to the Scots for this one.
Sild
- Varieties of pickled herring are found throughout Scandinavia. Left in outdoor barrels, the fish "marinate" for around three months in vinegar and spices. If not gutted first, the fish turn a dark red and have an even stronger musty taste (red herring).
Surströmming
- This rather-famous Swedish dish is fermented herring. Unlike pickled herring, the fish is left unsalted to allow it to ferment while remaining in those outdoor barrels for several months. Because of the extremely pungent aroma, this dish can only be enjoyed outdoors. Do not, under any circumstances, open a tin of packed surströmming indoors.
Tequila Worms
In a strange twist for the tourists, some shops sell tequila-suckers; tequila flavored lollipops complete with worm. And you are supposed to eat the worm in the bottle of mezcal. Rather, the worm was added to bottles of another agave liquor mezcal in the 1940's as a genius marketing ploy, and the myth evolved on its own. The worm, more correctly a caterpillar, never actually appears in Mexican-bottled tequila.

- True to those gaudy Cancun t-shirts that boast, "I ate the worm," the little "tequila" worm, the gusano, lives on the Mexican agave plant used to make tequila.
Truffles
Strangely enough, the truffle in open fields has a compound strongly resembling the sex pheromone of male pigs, which explains why female pigs are often used to find truffles. Uncooked truffle shavings or paper thin slices are added to many different dishes. White truffles are much stronger, while black truffles have a more refined taste. A truffle is an edible fungi, like the mushroom, and has a strong aroma and flavor.

- You may have heard of this expensive food as part of fine gourmet or French cooking.
Vegemite
- This smelly, salty sandwich spread is made from yeast extract and has a slight taste of beer. Marmite is actually the British version without the added vegetable extracts. Vegemite is most popular in Australia and New Zealand (it's practically a national tradition), but actually originated from an American company.
Copyright © 2006 Ampere Media LLC
All of the recipes mentioned in this article can be found at Recipe4Living.com features more than 10,000 user submitted recipes, ideas and recipes from Wolfgang Puck, reference guides, healthy living advice, tips for kids, and much more.
www.recipe4living.com
.