Easygoing Houstonians are accustomed to accepting hot temperatures with aplomb and even appreciation, but the Summer of ’11 will surely be remembered for its challenges to the most congenial among us.

All over town, drought-stricken water mains have been bursting, cracking the concrete and creating geysers in the middle of the streets, accompanied by traffic jams. Exhausted air conditioners and overheated vehicles are dying unnatural deaths, setting body temperatures and tempers on “Broil.”

How do you keep your cool in this extraordinary heat? Do you have a special solution for an instant cool-down?

Iced tea and cool jazz: that’s my recipe for Instant Cool this summer. My two-part recipe is deceptively simple, and always rewarding. It consists of: (1) my special, super-cooling concoction of fresh-brewed iced tea, and (2) jazz vocalist Stacey Kent’s equally delicious, fresh new CD, Raconte-moi, which I discovered via a recent National Public Radio interview.

I could hardly wait to order this CD after hearing National Public Radio host Jacki Lyden’s wonderful interview with Kent, entitled “An American Jazz Diva Plays French Chanteuse.” In the interview, which features links to two songs from her CD, the silky-voiced vocalist provides the fascinating back story on some of the songs she sings, all in French, including the romantic title song, “Raconte-moi” (“Tell me.”)

The minute I put on this CD after swimming home through palpable waves of radiating heat, I sigh in relief and smile. I swear I feel at least 10 degrees cooler, listening to the opening bars of the first song. I have a whole new appreciation of the term “cool jazz.”

Listen to the NPR interview with Stacey Kent:

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That’s Part I. Part II follows immediately thereafter, when I proceed to the kitchen and brew a quart of fresh iced tea. Instead of the standard American brew, I use a combination of Tazo “Refresh” and “Zen” teabags: two each. Both types contain spearmint leaves — the secret to their cooling effect. Only one, “Zen,” contains any caffeine; however, it’s minimal, due to the use of green rather than black tea.

If I feel I can wait a little while longer to satisfy my parched throat, and want to create a special blend of flavors, I’ll make my iced tea from scratch, unless I already have some waiting for me in a pitcher in the refrigerator. I assemble an herbal and/or green-tea concoction from a broad selection of flavors and types of loose tea that I’ve accumulated from Central Market and Whole Foods Market.

I start with a base of spearmint leaves, which I pour into the bottom half of a stainless-steel mesh tea ball, to mid-level. Then I add my favored flavor du jour, like top-of-the-line Rishi-brand citron oolong or lemongrass mélange. They both have an alluring scent, lovely little flower buds, and a deliciously smooth, light taste.

Sometimes I diversify with a more vivid topping (for example, peach vanilla mint), or simplify with citrus green tea. It’s fun to experiment with new flavors and scents, and you’re not going to break the bank by getting a sample of several, using the tiny plastic bags on hand for this purpose in the tea section.

Recently, I got a little carried away in that section at Central Market. I poured over a third of a pound of absolutely scrumptious-smelling spearmint leaves into a bigger plastic bag I found after scouting around a bit in the Bulk section. Guess how much I spent. That bag weighed in at less than $3.

Even at the accelerated rate at which I drink iced tea these record-hot days, my inexpensive store of spearmint will carry me through this summer and likely the next, as well. Another great point about self-admitted Tea Greed is that you're filling up on fluid, not food. What you really want in this heat is to be refreshed, to feel lighter.

It’s amazing how clean and pure the water in iced tea tastes when you start with water filtered through a Brita pitcher. For the same reasons, I boil the water and pour it over the tea bags, or the mesh ball containing my favored loose tea mix du jour, into a heat-resistant glass pitcher. Let the tea steep for a few minutes. Then pour over ice cubes (made from filtered water) into a heat-resistant glass; I use an 8-inch tall, thick glass mug. Voila! Instant Cool.

Trying out different flavors of tea in the Bulk section of a store is like trying out new perfume scents, except most of these scents are more subtle, so your ability to differentiate isn’t ruined after sniffing several. People who observe me often ask me to tell them which are “the best,” explaining, “You look like you know what you’re doing.”

I always tell them it’s a matter of personal taste, and suggest they do what I’m doing. Pick up a jar or tin of loose tea whose name strikes you as appealing; shake it a bit; take off the lid; and smell the fragrance that is emitted. That’s the best way to get a good idea of how it’s going to taste, and whether it will please your particular palate. (Actually, brand is important too, but that's a whole different seminar that will hold until we hit the cold-weather months.)

Until this long, particularly hot summer, my traditional summer heat remedy was always to find an unending source of standard, fresh-brewed iced tea and keep pouring it down my throat. However, I’ve found that while, like most Houstonians, I love the flavor of orange-pekoe iced tea, I can only drink so much of it before caffeine overload sets in and I start feeling jittery. Also, I want something that is going to taste cool to the tongue, and give me a real sense of refreshment.

For me, that starts with the color green, as in spearmint. I think, like me, you’ll feel much more relaxed and cool if you choose natural herbal and green tea flavors, whether you use loose tea or tea bags for your iced tea.

Try your own creative combination of iced tea flavors and cool jazz some hot summer day. It’s especially nice to look forward to a chilled pitcher of your favorite blend, waiting for you in the refrigerator, after coming home from your gym workout or an especially challenging drive home from work.

Speaking of which, right now, I’m sipping a cool green tea blend, and starting to feel as relaxed as Stacey Kent looks in the image on the NPR website as I listen to her sing “Les eaux des mars” — which you, too, can hear, via the link that NPR generously provided on the interview page. Délicieuse!