Sweet Citrus Iced Tea

The boil began Tuesday. The temperatures had cooperated and by Sunday the gathering tank held seventy gallons and the pan was ready. I fired the evaporator at seven, the wood crackling under the firebox, the sap going onto the pan in its first thin layer. The smell that has not changed in any sugarhouse in Vermont in two hundred years began to fill the air. I boiled all day Tuesday and again Wednesday — sixteen hours total over the two days — the long patient watch, the constant addition of fresh sap as the pan reduced, the careful skim of the foam, the thermometer creeping toward the seven-degrees-above-boiling that means syrup. The first finished syrup came off the pan at four Wednesday afternoon, drawn into the felt filter and into the canning pot for the hot pack. The color was a beautiful early-season gold. About two and a half gallons from the first run.

David came up Wednesday afternoon to help with the bottling — the same forty-minute drive from Montpelier without my having to ask, the same quiet competence at the worktable. We bottled together. We did not say much. The work has its own conversation. He took a case home as he always does. He said: dad, this is good syrup. I said: it is. The compliment from David at the bottling table is one of the small enduring affirmations of the year, and I value it.

The dog and I walked the woodlot Saturday — the snow consolidating fast now, the bare patches widening, the maples in the road showing the red-flower week of their pre-leaf bloom. The walk took an hour. The leg was cooperative. The dog stayed close. The afternoon was the kind of late-March afternoon that makes a man grateful to live where he lives, and I let myself be grateful for the duration of the walk.

David took his case of syrup and drove back down to Montpelier, and I stood at the worktable a while longer, the sugarhouse still warm and smelling of the boil. There’s a quiet after bottling day that I’ve never quite found the words for — part satisfaction, part gratitude, part the particular tiredness of work that was worth doing. I wanted something to drink that honored that sweetness without adding to it, and this Sweet Citrus Iced Tea has become the thing I reach for at the end of a long sugaring week: it lets a good syrup do quiet, honest work, the way David does at the worktable.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 15 minutes (plus chilling) | Servings: 8

Ingredients

8 cups water, divided
4 black tea bags
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
1/4 cup fresh orange juice (about 1 orange)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
Ice, for serving
Lemon and orange slices, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Brew the tea. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Remove from heat and steep the tea bags for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags and allow the tea to cool to room temperature.
Make the simple syrup. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar with 1/2 cup of water. Stir until the sugar fully dissolves, about 3–4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
Combine the citrus. In a large pitcher, stir together the lemon juice, orange juice, lime juice, and orange zest.
Build the tea. Pour the cooled brewed tea into the pitcher. Add the cooled simple syrup and stir to combine. Add the remaining 3 and 1/2 cups of cold water and stir well.
Chill and serve. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour until cold. Serve over ice, garnished with citrus slices if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Sweet Citrus Iced Tea — A First-Run Sweetness Worth Sharing