Time for Tea
This was originally posted on our old blog on May 27, 2008. I decided to post it again today because according to my beverage aficionado friend, Steve Tanner, today is National Iced Tea Day. If you are a beverage-nerd like him, or even if you’re just looking for something interesting and different to drink, you should read BevReview.com.
When our pastor, Doug, came to our home in Corvallis to interview us almost 3 years ago, I offered him iced tea. He asked me if it was sweetened, and I told him, “Yes, with a bit of Splenda.” Since it was over 100 F that day, he guzzled down several glasses, even though it was almost 10:00 at night. I felt good that I was able to provide him with a beverage that pleased him! But now I know what he really meant when he asked if the tea was sweetened, and I’m not sure I gave him what he was looking for after all.
Henry has held several lunch meetings with his children’s ministry volunteers, and in the beginning, we almost always bought a couple of bottles of pop. But we soon learned that people here don’t drink as much pop as our American friends. Once again, another cultural nuance to adapt to. Many people choose water over pop! Another example of this is when our friends come over on Thursday nights for Grey’s Anatomy, only Christen accepts our offer of pop! Everyone else wants boring (albeit healthy) water.
But you know what these Thunder Bayans love to drink? Iced tea. I learned early on, though, what iced tea means to them. It comes in a 2L bottle, and it seems to be made of syrup, just like pop. Sans carbonation. I find it disgusting. It’s usually sickeningly sweet with some fake lemon flavour. I’m pretty sure it’s Lipton. But it’s what they like! Many of my Canadian friends drink it, and most really do NOT like my idea of iced tea.
When I was growing up, my mom drank so much iced tea, especially in the summer. She didn’t just scoop some of that tea powder into a glass and add cold water. (Blech!) I still can remember the big see-through-y Tupperware container she brewed it in. After steeping the Lipton tea bags in hot water, she added cold water and ice. Whoever was drinking it would add the amount of sugar they wanted, at most about 2 tsp. Mmmm.. Resfreshing!
When I lived in Oregon, I purchased a jar to make sun tea. (Yeah, “sun” tea in Oregon. I know. I didn’t have many opportunities to make it.) I’d brew it out in the sun, then add a perfect amount of Splenda, just sweet enough to accent the flavour of the tea. It tasted soooo good poured over a glass of ice.
Even though at least half of my Thunder Bay friends enjoy tea, neither of these options are very popular here. My friend Becky finds my “cold hot tea” disgusting. I think only one of my friends, Leslie, likes it like I do. When our pastors and wives visit Niagara for the district retreat, those who order iced tea clarify by saying “sweet tea.”
But to me, “sweet tea” means something entirely different. Henry lived in Kentucky, and he knows what sweet tea is.
Even though I live in Thunder Bay now, I still stand by my brewed iced tea, especially in the summer. It’s a summer staple, just like lemonade. But something happened recently.
It all started last Friday, an absolutely gorgeous day, when Carrie, my neighbour, brought a can of Lipton’s Citrus-flavoured Green Iced Tea to our little lunch picnic. She left it for me to try. At first, I was going to give it back. I think I even told her that I don’t really like canned iced tea. But later that afternoon, I pulled it out of my fridge and took a sip.
It was delicious. It was refreshing. And it was not sickeningly sweet. I ended up buying a couple of cases for us (including a diet one) and another one for a meeting we had on Sunday. And, unlike the leftover pop we always have, everyone took a can.
I think I finally have connected with these Thunder Bay iced tea-drinkers.
