Lemon Iced Tea Recipe

Iced Tea first appeared in the United States in 1860’s and the oldest known printed recipe for iced tea is during the 1870’s.

The oldest printed recipes are made with green tea, not black tea and were known as punches. In 1884 a recipe shows what could be the first recipe involving black tea and could be the earliest version of pre sweetened iced tea as it is made today.

Iced tea became popularized and commercialized in 1904 at a World Fair in St. Louis. The Commissioner of Tea for India, Richard Blechynden, took hot tea to the fair for the fairgoers but because it was such a hot day they went searching for cooler drinks. He iced down the hot tea and served it this way which the public loved. He later took it to New York, offering free iced tea for shoppers in Bloomingdale Department Store.

By the First World War you could buy tall iced tea glasses, long spoons and lemon forks and within the next thirteen years the tall crystal glasses were officially referred to as iced tea glasses.

What you will need

* 2 quarts of water

* 3/4 cup (150 g) sugar

* 2 ounces (60 mL) lemon juice – bottled or fresh

* 2 bags of black tea

Instructions

1. Bring the water to a rolling boil.

2. Drop the two tea bags into the water and remove from heat. Cover with a lid and allow steeping for at least 1 hour. Although, in general, black teas should not be steeped for this long because of the excessive release of bitter tannins, this did not seem to be an issue when brewing this much tea with only two bags. Using more bags with a shorter steep time generated a different flavor profile that did not blend as nicely with the lemon juice.

3. Once the tea has been sufficiently steeped, remove the tea bags and add the sugar and lemon juice. Stir until the sugar completely dissolves.

4. Pour tea into a pitcher and add ice cubes until the volume has returned to two quarts.

5. Refrigerate until completely chilled (at least four hours) before serving.

Recipe from http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/121/Lemon-Iced-Tea