Iced Tea * Sangria * how to section oranges

Iced tea

6-8 c. water

2 family-sized tea bags

About 1 c. sugar

Heat water in a pot until it begins to boil but before it is at a rolling boil. Remove from heat. Place tea bags in the water, cover with a lid, and let steep for about 10-15 minutes. Remove the tea bags and stir in sugar until dissolved.

Allow the tea to cool to room temperature. Then fill a pitcher with ice and pour the tea over the ice.

Sangria (alcoholic)

1 bottle cheap red wine

½ c spiced rum

½ c orange juice

½ - 1 c pineapple juice

several oranges, peeled and sectioned

other fruit as desired

Mix everything together in a jug and refrigerate at least overnight (24 hours is best). Give the jug a good stir with a long spoon every few hours, making sure to press the pieces of fruit against the side of the jug to express some of the juice.

Serve cold with ginger ale (or Sprite) to taste.

Welcome to the Real Life Cooking Podcast. I’m Kate Shaw and this week we’re going to learn how to make sangria, which is alcoholic, and iced tea, which is not.

We’ll cover iced tea first, so if you want to listen to that part and skip the discussion of how to make sangria, I’ll tell you where to stop listening.

There are a number of ways to make iced tea. The recipe at the top of the show notes is how my grandmother made it, which I’ll go over in just a minute.

The easiest way is to cold-brew your tea. Fill a big jug with warm water—not hot—plop a couple of family-sized tea bags formulated for iced tea in it, and stick it in the fridge overnight. In the morning remove the tea bags and drink the tea. This is how I make it most of the time, because I like my iced tea unsweetened. You can’t sweeten iced tea properly once it’s cold, since the sugar won’t dissolve, so if you want to make real southern sweet tea, you have to make it a different way.

Whatever you do, don’t make tea the way you would to drink it hot, then throw ice cubes in it. I suspect that people from areas where iced tea is rare or practically unknown, like the UK, think that’s how you make iced tea. For the love of all that’s holy, no no no.

Also, you don’t want to use the same kind of tea you use for hot tea. If you make it right—and you will if you follow my recipe—the tea steeps for a relatively long time. Therefore, you can use lower quality tea and still end up with a strong but smooth brew. Conversely, if you start with high quality tea leaves, your tea may end up too strong. Plus, iced tea is meant for swilling, not sipping. I make it by the gallon every summer and go through it quickly. There’s no sense wasting high quality tea on something you’re going to chug after you mow the lawn. Save your good tea for chilly autumn days when you want to curl up with a hot drink and a murder mystery.

You can find lots of brands of tea made specifically for iced tea. I’ve tried them all and don’t really have a preference. This time I used one bag of Lipton tea meant for cold brewing, since that’s how I usually make it, and one bag of Walmart brand tea. I mean it that the quality of the tea has very little impact on the finished product if you make it right.

For this recipe you’ll need a pot with a lid and a pitcher. I measured out eight cups of water when I made the recipe this time, just to make sure I had the proportions right, but usually I just fill the pot with tap water and don’t worry too much about measuring.

So, fill your pot with tap water and set it on the stove. Turn the burner to high and keep an eye on it as it heats, because you want to bring the water to a boil but not a rolling boil. Once the water is moving briskly but not slopping around violently, move the pot off the heat.

Put two big