Time for iced tea!

Hey peeps- I am very excited about this wonderful weather. I have decided that ignorance is bliss, so I might not check the weather forecast any more (breaking the habit of a lifetime) and just imagine that it will continue like this for the months ahead.

This morning we were up early for a Saturday (6.30) to drive up to Silverstone as Andy was driving an Aston Martin (he got it for his birthday last year and had to cancel twice due to torrential rain and then snow)- we stopped at Ikea on the way home, which of course turned into a two hour shopping trip. Then we popped to town to get a couple of bits, and neither of us could resist a Starbucks. They now sell re-usable cups (for £1 or free if you have a gift card) so I got my free one, and that gave me 25p off my drink (and from now on if I remember to take it with me)- plus this week they donate 25p to a clean water project each time someone uses one- every little helps.

As the sun has come out, it is the perfect time to start enjoying cold drinks instead of hot tea all the time. I was sent some Welch’s juices to try, and they have been great now the weather is warmer.

The Purple and Rose grape light versions are “juice drinks”- water, juice, sugar and a little sweetener, but they have fewer calories than neat grape juice. I think it is a shame they add in the sugar, as the grape juice is sweet enough. Saying that, I really liked the Rose grape (my fave of the three), but on its own it was too sweet for me. I would either have it with some water and lots of ice, or as iced tea.

The White Grape and Raspberry drink was very refreshing as the raspberries added a tartness to it, although again this was a juice drink so made up of water, grape and raspberry juice, and some sugar. I have seen on the website white grape with peach, which sounds so summery.

My favourite way to drink it was as a fruity iced tea.

Any fruity tea would do, but I have some lovely strawberry and kiwi tea at the moment, so I used that. I made up the tea (using hot water), left it to cool, and then had a mixture of half tea, half juice, and then as much ice as I could get out of the ice cube tray.

I bought myself an iced tea cup on holiday (well it is a plastic Aladdin cup with screw on lid and straw).

I also had it with black iced tea. On holiday I would have iced tea unsweetened, but it does go well with something fruity in there too.

I used a Twinings Black tea with Echinacea, as they have a hint of cherry (or something like that) but plain black teabags would be fine. Again, make up the tea (I don’t leave the teabag in there too long), leave to cool, then mix with the grape juice and plenty of ice. It really is so refreshing. I made this up on Wednesday when I got home from work, and had it to drink when I finished my super tough Sweatshop run (tough because I was tired/ had not run for 2 weeks/ it was very windy). Very refreshing. Anyway, I liked these drinks, although I think it is a shame they add sugar to them. But I would prefer to have sugar than artificial sweeteners and as I don’t drink fizzy drinks they make a nice change as the weather warms up.

How have you been making the most of this weather? We walked to the allotment in the week and picked some daffodils, and I need to go and plant out some onions either today or tomorrow. I also want to plant some seeds in pots, as hopefully they will germinate now it is a little warmer. Plus a run in the sunshine is on the cards for tomorrow.

Are you an iced tea fan? I must admit even though I love tea I never liked the sound of it, until I was persuaded to try some while on holiday- now I love it!

Also, GOOD LUCK to Lara (who is running the London Marathon), and of course anyone else running this weekend 🙂