Taking the tea all over town
On a hot day, cooling down is easy. Find a tumbler of cold, amber liquid and ice, and you've got a glass full of refreshment.
Sweet tea, as it's known in the American South, is a strong ice-cold tradition. It's a very popular, seriously sweetened glass, and drunk by the gallon year-round, but especially during the blistering hot summer months.
Boston, known more for its tea party than for its icy brews, now has some refreshing versions of chilly iced tea, tall glasses of amber liquid that you get to sweeten yourself. Tea merchants, coffee shops, street stands, and other purveyors of camellia sinesis in this region have their own ways of cooling off a humid July afternoon. Some are taking short cuts, brewing bags of light Ceylon and serving it on ice. Others are purists, steeping loose tea leaves in precise quantities for strong and tannic results. Adventurers are mixing unusual combinations of tea and tisanes into iced tea-like fruity beverages.
Sweet tea in the South is brewed slightly differently from its Yankee cousin. To make the Southern version, large amounts of tea, usually in bags, are brewed in a small amount of boiling water. Often, a sugar syrup is stirred in (this is made by heating sugar in water until the grains dissolve) so it becomes a smooth sweetness without the telltale granules floating in the liquid. That mixture is either poured over ice or diluted with cold water to cool the brew. But the concoction remains thick and strong. In "Steel Magnolias," Dolly Parton's character calls it "the house wine of the South."
Northern iced tea is mostly undiluted, simply poured over ice. Add lots of cubes, which start to melt instantly, and your tea becomes weaker as you drink it. Some glasses are so strong that they demand sweetening or a little squeeze of lemon for pucker.
With many more weeks ahead of high summer days and blistering city sidewalks, it's worth knowing the lay of the land here. Make a mental map of where to find the best glasses across town so wherever you are, you can plop into a chair, sip your icy brew, and get revitalized in minutes. Remember which ones are filled to bursting with ice, which ones are naturally sweet enough on their own, which stores serve the fattest wedges of lemon, and who makes the smoothest, most cooling brew. Go armed with a couple of dollars, something to read, and a thirst for a tall glass.
The only iced tea available at Pie Bakery and Cafe is a straightforward black tea ($2.75), served simply, quickly, and cold in a plastic cup. But it's pleasant enough to compensate for the lack of options. The brew is bagged Tazo tea, and the package doesn't give you a hint about its origins. Guessing from its light, sweet, floral aroma, it's likely a blend. It has enough character to stand on its own without sugar or lemon; either would make this solid cup even more delicious. Pie Bakery and Cafe, 796 Beacon St., Newton Center, 617-332-8743, piebakeryandcafe.com.
All teas at 1369 Coffee House are brewed with loose leaves from the Somerville-based MEM Tea Imports. The unadorned iced tea is a Ceylon ($2). It's not bitter, but not sweet either, and almost clean-tasting. Unlike most shops doing a brisk tea business, 1369 serves iced tea in a chilly glass pint, brimming with tiny ice cubes. The shop's Thai iced tea is made with two Chinese black teas, cardamom, ginger, and cloves, then mixed with sugar and a healthy dose of half-and-half. The show-stopper, however, is a combo white tea and crimson berry tisane that is light as petals and just verging on sweet. 1369 Coffee House, 1369 Cambridge St., Cambridge, 617-576-1369, and 757 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-576-4600, 1369coffeehouse.com.
They're almost making Southern sweet tea over at JP's City Feed & Supply. Harney & Sons Ceylon blend tea bags are steeped in quart batches of boiling water, which are then blended with cold water in half-gallon containers. A small comes in a 16-ounce cup ($1.65). Not surprisingly, perhaps, City Feed considers itself traditional, says General Manager Jeff Morin. The shop tried other varieties, but customers at this tucked away neighborhood cafe and hip general store just liked their "regular, plain iced tea," he says. City Feed & Supply, 66 Boylston St., Jamaica Plain, 617-524-1657, www.cityfeedandsupply.com.
With over 110 varieties of loose leaf tea in the inventory, Tealuxe employees have the challenging task of choosing just four each day to ice. Usually they select a black tea (like an Assam, but not an Earl Grey, which they say doesn't ice well), green tea, herbal tea, and flavored black tea ($2.59). And they take their task seriously, brewing precisely 200 grams of leaves for exactly six minutes (in most cases), serving it in real glass if you stay to drink it. None are sweetened. Most patrons choose thick lemon wedges over sugar. This is tea for perfectionists. Tealuxe, 108 Newbury St., Boston, 617-927-0400; 0 Brattle St., Cambridge, 617-441-0077; tealuxe.com.
Darwin's iced tea is strong, tannic, and verging on bitter but not quite. The shop brews Somerville's MEM tea and Irie tea from Providence, which are organic and fair trade ($1.38). Straight iced tea is a loose tea blend that's not for the faint of heart, but it is for the hot and thirsty. Better yet and less bitter is the black currant black tea ($1.38). It is naturally sweet enough to enjoy straight so you don't have to add sugar. Both come in plastic to-go cups. Darwin's Ltd., 148 Mount Auburn St., Cambridge, 617-354-5233, and 1629 Cambridge St., Cambridge, 617-491-2999, darwinsltd.com.
Loud, bright, and bustling, the 88 Food Court, adjacent to Super 88, is a perfect spot on a hot day. Amid the many stalls of Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Indian food is Lollicup, an international bubble tea franchise that looks like a candy store. Follow a lunch of fresh spring rolls with a green boba (or bubble) tea. It's not straight-brewed tea, but rather a tall plastic cup of sweetened fruity tea mixed with tapioca (hence the bubbles), and twice as fun. Lollicup, 1095 Commonwealth Ave., Brighton, 617-782-2622; 219 Quincy Ave, Quincy, 617-471-1141; lollicup.com.
