Lipton Cold Brew

When the outside temperature hits 106 degrees Farenheit (41 degrees Celcius), things slow down here in the parlor, and it becomes difficult to move, or breathe, much less contemplate drinking a nice, hot cup of tea sometimes (although we drank two cups of Prince of Wales tea yesterday morning, so go figure). We admit it--when the long, very hot days of summer arrive, we cheat and make tea the easiest way we can find. Sun tea is perfect for lazy days. How more lazy can one be than to just let the sun boil your tea and make the perfect summer drink? Well, here's a way to be even lazier, cut out a few steps, and--best of all--not have to venture out into that abominable heat to make iced tea nectar.

Our neighbor recommended Lipton refrigerator tea to us as a strong, fast, and easy to make iced tea. When we went shopping, we could only find Lipton Cold Brew, in a blue and yellow box with the word 'redesigned' splashed all over it. We assumed it was the same product and bought some. We can just about expend enough energy these days to throw tea bags into a pitcher, pour water over same, and deposit said pitcher in the recesses of refrigerator (thus maximizing the amount of body skin exposed to cold refrigerator air). The cold brew experiment was undertaken two nights ago.

And we're pleased with the results. It's a nice, strong, full-bodied tea. It was difficult to get any agave nectar swirled in to sweeten the cold brew (despite not being a solid that needs to dissolve), but we could stand to lose some sugar out of our diet, so that may ultimately be a good thing. We expect to hook up a continuous IV bag of this stuff to get us over the next few weeks of suffocating summer doldrums.

Ah, the tinkling sound of ice cubes clinking against a tall, dark glass of rich, amber-colored tea! All that is needed is a good book and a few hours to relax. Summer is indeed here.