Karin LaRonde makes what is arguably the best iced tea on Prince Edward Island and sells it from her stall at the Charlottetown Farmer’s Market (they do make a good glass at the Trailside Café in Mount Stewart too; Karin’s it a pinch better, though). Two weeks ago Karin concocted an iced tea that was flavoured with rooibos a plant that hails from South Africa. And it was iced tea to die for, crisp, refreshing, and eerily reminiscent of the “Mind Demuddler” I had in Santa Fe at the Longevity Café last year and have hankered for ever since.

Alas word of Karin’s iced tea excellence has spread, and so when Oliver and I arrived at the market this Saturday at 11:30 a.m., Karin had just served her last glass. Next week we’ll have to go earlier.

All this thinking of iced tea prompted me to dig up an old episode of Off the Beaten Track, a summer series I produced with Matthew Rainnie for CBC Prince Edward Island’s Mainstreet. The episode is the best of the series, I think: I took a passion and pursued it to the ends of the earth, and had much fun doing so. The piece was later picked up by CBC’s syndication service, and I spent a heady afternoon talking to CBC afternoon show hosts from St. John’s to Yukon delivering the same spiel. I’ve attached the original Mainstreet audio here so that you too can learn everything you might ever want to know about iced tea.