Iced tea, beverage of the gods

Chuck Taggart, proprietor of Looka, is one of my favorite Web food writers, especially since he shares my love of New Orleanian cuisine. Hope and I honeymooned in NOLA 8 years ago last month, and it was one of the best weeks of my life. Not only was it our honeymoon, but we had some great meals.

I enjoy Chuck's occasional food rhapsodies; he has a good eye for the odd engaging detail. But I can say with the confidence of a native Texan -- where we drink a lot of iced tea -- married to a native Mississippian -- where they drink even more iced tea -- Chuck's both right and wrong about the stuff. Yes, iced tea is beverage of the gods. But, no, Luzianne isn't the best; in fact, it's downright nasty. We're a proud Lipton-only household (not the cold-brewed nonsense which Chuck rightfully scorns; that stuff just screams "I'm a Yankee, I don't know any better!"). We've tried Luzianne a few times when the grocer was out of Lipton, but it always seems just wrong somehow.

My favorite way of preparing tea is sun-brewed; it's nearly impossible to botch, brews a deep, rich flavor, and appeals to my Green, retro, no-electricity streak. My sisters, whom I've long suspected of being strange, tend to use these awful iced-tea brew machines that alway overdevelop the tannin. Yech!

Now, Chuck, what about iced tea accoutrements? The Brits (and Turks, another great tea-loving culture) aren't the only ones fussy about what you put in -- or, more importantly, refrain from putting in -- tea. I like a bit of lemon or, occasionally, lime (though lime is, let us be clear, in most parts of the Deep South, completely heretical). Hope loathes lemon in iced tea. As for sugar, well, yes, I like some, though not so much that it makes your teeth ache, which is the preference of many Southerners. Strangely enough, for home-brewed iced tea, we use some sugar, but when I drink iced tea in restaurants I never add sugar, as it's nearly impossible to satisfactorily dissolve sugar in iced tea. I'm also picky about the kind of ice used to make iced tea. If the ice is too small it mars the drinkability: you end up crunching when you want to savor. If the ice is too big, it creates those nasty tea dams, and you end up with it all over your shirt. Now that will ruin a good dinner at Mary Mac's right fast. Just ask Niel.