Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Summer tea and toxins

I crave iced tea in the summer far more often than I actually consume it.

Iced tea requires a little forethought--time to brew the tea and then let it cool and an appropriate container in which to store the cooled tea. I'm not so good at that planning ahead stuff but I could probably get my act together if I had the appropriate container available. My big teapot is a gorgeous Wedgewood Blue Willow wedding gift that would get smashed to pieces by the small people if I left it in the fridge.

After much searching for a sturdy yet not hideous container, I found this:
The Frigoverre 1 L glass pitcher containing concentrated iced jasmine tea.

I love this thing. And I love that it was made in Italy and yet only costs $7.50. I'm making the tea super strong so it lasts a while. When I want some, I pour about half a glass, add some ice cubes and then fill the rest of the glass up with water.

What with all the recalls of Chinese products out there, I'm a little paranoid about what I'm buying these days, especially if it will store food. I also bought the 2 L pitcher which I use for the kids orange or grape juice so I won't have to worry about crazy chemicals or lead leaching into their beverages. My kids are weird enough (charming! charmingly weird!); god only knows what a little industrial poisoning would do to them.

We also got rid of all our Nalgene bottles after discovering that they are made with a plastic that leaches Bisphenol A into the water. Don't you love it? Containers that are specifically made as water bottles with nice endocrine disruptors! My kids have been drinking from these for the past few years which probably explains a lot...but now we have replaced all the Nalgene with a combination of stainless steel Klean Kanteen and coated aluminum Sigg water bottles (which, if you aren't picky about the design on the outside of the bottle, you can often get on sale at the REI Outlet.)

I know this is just one step and we'll still be getting Bispheol A from other sources, but at least this is one relatively easy way to reduce our intake.

2 comments:

tree town gal said...

ok, delurking for this one... (love your blog. live in ann arbor, old west side and feel like i would have run into you at jefferson market or the farmers market.) your recipes delight and your insight always helpful. even if, at times, i feel bone lazy in comparison. did you get these beautiful italian containers locally or online? why dont we have a store here to sell this stuff and teach us more. wanna go into business? and how is it that i've missed this about nalgene bottles. what would i do without you to smack some of us ever so gently upside the head?

Kate said...

Hey tree town gal--happy to provide smacks upside the head. God knows I've been smacking myself about the Nalgene bottles since I found out. The only place locally that I forgot to check for not outrageously priced and relatively sturdy glass pitchers was downtown home and garden; otherwise it seems like Ann Arbor has a big deficit in the beverage containers market. I ended up buying them from Greenfeet.com. They are often backordered since they are such a good deal, but worth the wait!