I have been really enjoying the gunpowder tea that Mom and Dad got me for Christmas. Today I thought I would try it for iced tea.

I normally use seven Luzianne tea bags for a full three quart pitcher of tea in our Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Pot. I cut open a Luzianne tea bag to see how much tea was in one bag. About a teaspoon. I went ahead and added the contents of that bag to the filter basket so as not to waste it. That means I needed the equivalent of six more teaspoons of Luzianne tea for the batch I was making. Because the gunpowder tea is a little stronger than normal tea, I thought I would add just a little more than half of what I normally add for iced tea. So instead of six more teaspoons, I added four teaspoons of the gunpowder.

It turned out perfect. The color of the brewed tea is surprisingly lighter in color than the tea made from Luzianne tea, but the taste is stronger. Go figure. It still has a nice crisp taste that I like in iced tea.

Because gunpowder tea is a green tea it is better for you because it has more antioxidants. If Sheri likes it just as much as the Luzianne tea, I think I will start using it all the time for iced tea.

Because it looks like I will be using about 40% less tea leaves than with the Luzianne tea, it might actually work out to be cheaper too.

I don't like flavored teas (or coffees). Those are not "gourmet", just flavored. I like high quality tea and coffee with no added anything so I can really taste the tea or coffee.

I feel the same way about sea food. I don't want to use tartar sauce, lemon juice, or cocktail sauce on fish, shrimp, oysters, etc. I like seafood and want to enjoy it with as little to get in the way of the taste as possible. If you gunk it up with all that other stuff you might as well be eating fish sticks.

I will use tartar sauce if I have a piece of bad fish that I feel obliged to eat, but with good fish there is no need for extra stuff.

This post kind of took a turn from iced tea, so I think I will stop here, but I will write later about my food philosophy.