National Iced Tea Day by Maria (SassenachD)

With triple digits upon us this wonderful alternative to soda and water is being celebrated!!  *Fans self with magazine.  June 10 is considered National Iced Tea Day, where and how this refreshing holiday began, I can’t seem to locate.  I’m still fanning myself.  I am just sharing my love of the bodacious brew. Remember the commercial with the handsome rugged guy in the white t-shirt glistening from work and drinking a sweaty tall glass of iced-tea? BIG SIGH!!!! Wait! Is it getting hotter here? OOO Wrong Forum…Blog not DOS!! * Pours more tea into glass and dabs forehead.  Anyhoo…

I grew up drinking Iced Tea with meals. My family didn’t care if I drank milk or not. I chose Tea. My    job in the evening was to make the tea! Get the pan, boil the water, fill the pan with tea bags (remember to fish them out when done steeping) fill the Tupperware pitcher with ice and if it was too strong add a bit of water. We didn’t add sugar (diabetics in the family).  We had Pink Death (Sweet and Low or saccharin tablets or drops for special guests).  My brother brought home something called Lipton Instant Lemon Iced Tea…Looked funky…smelled great…cold water , tea powder, ice, stir…done! That went by the wayside after a few years…Back to teabags…Drinking Iced Tea at the Aunt’s house was nice, she would serve it with lemon or mint…It was so cold…looking at that amber color through the ice cubes, not dark like Coke, but a friendlier brew, a darker form of sunshine. Twirling the ice cubes with the loonngg tea spoon.  I loved to watch the condensation form on the glass… I would draw hearts on the glass then lick my finger of the cold wetness. ”Don’t forget to wrap the glass” Aunt Myrtle would holler out to us. She didn’t want her tall tea glasses to get broken if they slipped out of our hands.

I still make Iced Tea almost daily, either a nice black or green.  It is a nice break from water or that bottled stuff they call tea. I have only found a few I really like.  I add lemon, ginger slices, peaches, mint or even berries.  Some of the Fruit Teas make lovely Iced Brews in the summer.   My Mr. Coffee Tea maker has been chugging along making tea for 24 years now. I consider it the easy way to make tea, 4 tea bags; water ice cubes…hit the button…Viola! Tea in about 10 minutes! That works for us! When we entertain I usually make three pitchers of tea. One with no sweetener, one weird concoction of berries or mint and one sweet. Nothing ever goes to waste.

I have had Sweet Tea made lovingly by real southern women.  It goes great with some peach cobbler or some warm scones or my favorite, on the porch with company. Iced Tea is a stop and savor- waves to the neighbors this moment kinda drink. It brings smile to people. Friends can sit together and hash out problems and find solutions. A comfort drink for a good cry and a great shoulder to lean on.  A celebratory concoction for that great news you want to share. It’s a non-judgmental drink. It doesn’t wear a designer label or care if it comes from a specific shop. It lets generations reconnect with each other. You can’t OD on it or get a DUI (unless it is a Long Island Iced Tea!!). It’s a non- threatening beverage.  No country has ever declared war with another over tea. Well, okay, I take that back. There was this mishap back in Boston about 250 years ago. I’m talking recently. Raise a glass this day (Don’t let it slip!) to this inexpensive, refreshing beverage.  It is amazing how so much flavor and other health benefits can come from leaves.

Now about the guy in the white T-shirt…

Sweet Tea at Sunrise by Sherryl Woods

Cold Tea On A Hot Day by Curtiss Ann Matlock

Drink the Tea: A Mystery by Thomas Kaufman

Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes by Sandra Chastain, Donna Ball, Virginia Ellis aka Lyn Ellis, Debra Dixon, Nancy Knight

My Turn to Make the Tea by Monica Dickens

Thank God for Iced Tea: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Family by Nicole L. Weyant

Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea: Poetry Leopold McGinnis

We Present Mango Musings

By James L. (JimiJam)

There’s something strangely therapeutic about the way I eat mangoes, almost cathartic, though I rarely, if ever, cry. There’s a reckless abandon to the way I throw myself at the vibrant, glistening orb set before me, an almost childlike disregard for manners or decorum. That youthful innocence plays out in the shameless grinning of sticky sweet lips dripping with citrus pine juices; I swear that, were the seat high enough to allow for it, I would kick my feet playfully as I hummed sweet mango songs to myself through over-sized mouthfuls of delectable orange flesh.

There are few joys as uninhibited, and yet so simple and convenient. It takes merely the selection of a properly ripened specimen and a quick peeling, and the stage is set perfectly for bliss. No darkness dare oppose the happiness that lies within that multicolored rind, no amount of sadness or anger could possibly outlast the 5 minutes it takes to regrettably reach that ovular disc of a pit.

If I could, I would eat nothing but mangoes, though no doubt this would somehow blunt their powers of unrivaled and miraculous goodness. I am more than content, as ever I shall be, to have just eaten one, at its well appointed time. With no room in my stomach for another, there would be no room in my heart for more happiness, my cup having runneth over in abundance. In that moment my life, as my fingers and face, is undeniably juicy and sweet.

Some Mango Books to enjoy: