restaurant style iced-tea (home results dont come close)

Sanjay snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com11/21/03

Sanjay,

I don't want to be discouraging, so *please* take what I say with a grain of salt. I believe there is no way for mere mortals such as you and I to reproduce the wonders of iced tea produced in restaurant chains such as TGI Friday. Personally, I have long ago resolved the issue by giving up the attempt. Just enjoy the tea where and how it's served. Sorry I couldn't really be more helpful.

Best, Michael

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Sanjay Punjab) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

A long time ago, when I was a student and worked in the cafeteria, we made iced by steeping huge teabags in large amounts of water that had been heated to boiling. I don't know if TGI Fridays does it that way or not. However there was nothing mysterious too it in my experience.

From what you say it sounds like maybe you are boiling the tea bag ("using a tea kettle and pouring over ice")? That will make the tea bitter. When I make iced tea at home (and it is good), I put some Luzianne tea bags in a big measuring cup, pour in boiling water, steep, and then pour into my glass iced tea jug. I brew the tea double strength. Before I pour the brewed tea into the jug I put ice and water into the jug equivalent to the amount of water used to brew the tea. In other words, to make a 1/2 gallon of iced tea I brew 1 quart of double- strength tea and pour it over a quart (combined) of ice and water. (In metric terms, that's about a liter of double-strength tea over the same amount of ice water, to yield about 2 liters.)

Another thing that could be affecting the taste of your tea (other than boiling it - ugh) is how long you steep your tea. Too short and it will be weak. Too long and it can become bitter. The Luzianne box has good directions. In fact, Luzianne is so good for iced tea that every so often I buy it over the Internet - it isn't found in supermarkets here in the Boston area.

My last thought is that maybe the restaurants are adding sugar to the tea before serving it. Could that be the difference?

Good luck,

Debbie

Atmosphere. What is commonly served as tea can just as well be a herbal infusion (Celestial Seasons comes to mind.) If the waiter keeps my glass topped off with ice and tea I could care less about the taste just so long it wasn't brewed in the coffee pot. You can check the previous posts on ice tea. I prefer to let the tea adjust to room temperature before serving. Some let chill in the refrig. When you make the tea use a big pot. My grandma would boil water in a large pot on the stove, add the tea, let cool and decant to a pitcher. The chefs in the kitchen probably have a tub of it for serving which has been sitting around a couple of days. My rule of thumb you don't want to know what is going on in the kitchen. There are specific commercial formulations for iced tea but I think it more marketing than anything else.

Jim

| Does anyone know the blend of teas commonly used in restaurant chains | for iced-tea and what their secret (if any) for making great tasting | iced-tea.

How we make it in the restaurant:

Load loose tea into auto-drip coffee maker. Run/cycle hot water over tea leaves. Pour this concentration into tea urn containing cold water. Mix well. Dispense into glasses and pitchers containing ice.

More and more restaurants are using concentrates available on the wholesale market.

How we make it in our home:

Boil water (about 1-1.5 quarts - exact does not matter - 3/4 fill your kettle). Place one family-sized bag (Lipton, Tetley or Luzianne - I prefer Luzianne) into plastic or ceramic pitcher. Pour in boiling water. Allow to steep until water is warm-to-cool. Remove teabag (pressing to get all the tea concentrate into the pitcher). Fill pitcher to top with cool water. Dispense into glasses containing ice. Store unused tea in refrigerator (it's good for a couple days).

You will figure out over time how much water you should add to dilute the tea you brew (given how much ice you like also). It's something you must perfect to your taste.

My wife liked to concoct with a Mr. Tea machine using 8 personal-sized bags poured over ice cubes. I hated the taste and took over the responsibility of making iced tea in our home. Visitors enjoy my iced tea at our house more than at the restaurant.

One thing that I've seen done is leaving a teabag in the cold water in the fridge overnight. Haven't done it myself but I've tried the iced tea, it wasn't too bad. Maybe this will work for you?