The javadoc for java.util.TimeZone suggests that I use
TimeZone.getAvailableIDs() to figure out the ID for the timezone
I want.

This isn't good enough.  The three-letter abbreviations that we've chosen
to use probably aren't known to everybody.  For example, when I lived
in France I though that my timezone was called MET (Middle European Time).
There is a timezone called MET, but TimeZone uses that for Middle Eastern
Time.  Without the source for TimeZone, I would have never guessed the
abbreviation used for Middle European Time.

We really need to list the abbreviations with their meanings somewhere.