Juanita Liddell's Magical Iced Tea
Juanita Liddell, nee Harnes, was the wife and widow of "Tob" Liddell of Jackson, Tenn. She died about 1989 and gave over one million dollars to The Salvation Army and a day camp's swimming pool to them during her lifetime. She was the daughter of a Macon (or McComb), Miss. banker who spent her life both grieving over her (unflaunted) wealth, reading her Bible, and skimping on everything to the point that she would buy only the loose grapes from a bin because she didn't want to spend "God's money" on the weight of the stems. --That's an honest story from a friend of hers.
Jim Liddell savored Aunt Ni-Ni's tea during every trip to her home, and that's a fact!
You will need very sturdy large glass tumblers (or mugs) for this kid and older-kid treat. Pre-chill in the freezer until frosty.
Take any flavorful quality tea, freshly ground if possible, pack loosely in a strainer egg and suspend in a pot of boiling water until the water is blackish and the odor is filling your nostrils. Remove the pot of brewed tea from the heat and set to cool only slightly below boiling.
. Then set the frosty tumblers out and liberally fill the bottom of each with sugar and pack with super-cold ice cubes.
Pour the still very hot tea brew over the cubes and let everyone listen to the sounds of cracking ice and watch the steaming vapors erupt out over the edges of the tumblers. (The melting ice dilutes the tea brew in the tumblers and the in-pouring of the tea brew stirs up the sugar. The flavor changes as the tea is consumed, adding yet another marvel of amazement for the watching and thirsty kids gathered about to watch Aunt Ni-ni create her “brew“.)
This drink is ideal for sitting out under the trees on a hot summer afternoon, especially back before ice-conditioning was so common and people had to work at staying cool!
Those English living south of our river should live so well, aye?