Written By Paul Stephen, as Published in the Houston Chronicle

Legendary songsmith George Jones wasn’t singing about the weather in Texas, but his words certainly ring true: it’s hotter than a $2 pistol out there right now.

But Texas knows how to cool off. Nobody here is ever more than a few minutes away from tall glass of iced tea.

Now, we’re not about to challenge anyone’s alliance to Lipton or Luzianne, but iced tea is ripe for reinvention thanks to the staggering variety of flavors and blends available on shelves in nearly every grocery store. Throw a dart at the globe, and there’s a good chance you’ll find herbs, spices and fruits from that corner of the earth stuffed into a little bag and ready to brew.

Steeping two or more of those tea bags together yields an even more infinite variety of libations — which then can be shaken and stirred into mocktails and cocktails perfect for any front porch sittin’ session. We’ve created four such blends that stand alone as a fine glass of iced tea, and then provided all the instructions to make a mocktail and then a cocktail from each blend.

For example, the Raspberry Zinger tea from Celestial Seasonings has an intensely powerful bouquet of fruit and flowers that can overpower on its own. Temper that with peppermint tea for a fruit and herb blend that’s utterly thirst quenching and intriguing to the palate. That tea becomes the base for a mocktail sipper made with muddled fresh fruit, mint sprigs and a splash of ginger beer that’s sure to impress any guest in your home.

Some tea blends evoke far flung locales, such as Pukka’s Three Ginger tea made with ginger, galangal and turmeric mixed with a few bags of Versana’s Cinnamon Blend. The results mirror a Korean after-dinner drink called “su jung kwa,” which can then be developed into a mocktail and cocktail that sips like a collision of sazerac and hot toddy.

Other effective blends include a mixture of South African rooibos tea and a saffron-chamomile blend, that’s easily boozed up with brandy. Yerba mate and lemongrass teas become a refreshing tequila-based sip that any margarita-loving Texan will appreciate.

All of these iced teas and cocktails are easy to prepare with basic kitchen and bar equipment and rely entirely on ingredients available in nearly all area grocery stores. In the event a specific tea brand isn’t available, we’ve selected flavors that can easily be substituted with similar offerings from other manufacturers.

We’re going to be sweating away with highs in the 90s for at least the next few weeks. However you stay hydrated, may it be as sweet as tea on a hot summer day.

Recipe: Razzmintazz Smash Iced Tea

Recipe: Cinna-Sipper Iced Tea

Recipe: Rooibos Chamomile Refresher Iced Tea

Recipe: Tea-quila Quencher Iced Tea

Original article: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/food/article/Iced-tea-twisted-with-new-flavors-becomes-14408755.php