The results of the 2011 North American Tea Championship were in on June 1. This is just the first time I had a chance to write about it.
I found it very surprising that Rishi did not have any winners this time. They have scored big with their iced teas in the past.
There was a time when I would not drink the RTD iced teas, but in recent years, their quality has improved. ITO EN in particular makes a great unsweetened brew in their TEA'S TEA line. It actually tastes like tea, not tea soda. I am not quite sure how Snapple became a first place winner. I am going to have to try their bottled tea again. To me it always tastes like slightly tea-flavored soda or juice drink, not much like tea.
I much prefer to brew my own iced tea. I use Tetley's British blend. It's a blend of Assam and Ceylon. It has tiny leaves for quick brewing, but the tea has a good flavor. This makes me think that the tea is the broken pieces of good tea left behind after processing as many teabag teas are. As James Norwood Pratt has said, the dust of good tea is better than the full leaf of bad tea. Or something like that. I forget his exact words.
Last year I used green teas for iced tea for the first time. I find that green teas can be even more refreshing than the black teas. One needs merely be more aware of the more subtle flavors of green teas. The Tea Spot's Boulder Blues is my favorite green iced tea, though I am going to try their Jasmine Petal green tea soon.
I also have the lightly oxidized Darjeeling that Shiv gave me. It is very sweet and subtle. I think it will be delicious iced.
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