How To Make Iced Tea: Everything You Need To Know

If we're talking refreshing, cooling, relaxing, and revitalizing, iced tea is where it's at! Think about it for a minute..a particularly hot day, long day at work, you're famished and could use a fresh pick me up. You need an iced tea (Yes, we’re mind readers now!). But guess what, you’ve already read this blog, prepared yourself a delectable batch that’s waiting for you in your refrigerator. And we couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of your happy dance!

Ever since it was first introduced in the 1870s, Iced tea has only become increasingly popular with the years that followed. It now has a permanent place in our lives and countries from all over the world have modified and personalized this drink to their liking. Because with a basic iced tea preparation, the sky’s the limit!

Here, we present to you the best-iced tea recipe:

Flash Chilled Iced Tea (Peach Mint)

1. Heat 2 liters (8.5 cups) of water in a kettle or saucepan. Take the water off as soon as you see bubbles forming. Do not let the water boil.
2. Steep 9 teaspoons of loose leaf tea using the hot water for about 5-6 minutes. (make sure to use a heat-proof container)
3. In a saucepan, add 5-6 chopped peaches, 1 cup water, ¼ cup liquid sweetener, a handful of mint leaves. You could also spice it up with 4 cloves (a total game-changer!).
4. Let the mixture come to a boil followed by a gentle simmer till the peaches are soft and tender. This takes about 30 minutes. Mash the peaches, mint, and cloves with the back of your spoon. 
5. Using a sieve, separate the pulp from the peach concentrate into a bowl. Don’t throw away the pulp! You could use it as an apple sauce alternative in a delicious chocolate cake. (It keeps getting better)
6. Add about 2 cups of ice in a glass jug, add the peach concentrate, and iced tea the ratios of which can be adjusted based on your liking.
7. Include a few fresh mint leaves, perhaps a lemon wedge and your delicious, fruity iced tea is all ready to be served! Caution: Highly addictive.

Why Flash Chilled Iced Tea?

Our personal favorite, flash chilled method of making iced tea also happens to be the most popular one. This method invariably gives you the freshest tea with the most vibrant color. You can prepare this tea in very little time and you have a delicious batch for a spontaneous party. The good news is you can cook the compote in advance and store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. The prepared iced tea can also be stored for 3 days in the fridge.

Cold-brew Iced Tea (Peach mint)

1. Add 8 teaspoons of loose leaf tea to 8 cups of room temperature water. You could use an infuser kettle or infuser glass bottle but a regular glass pitcher works just fine.
2. Refrigerate for up to 12 hours. We’d suggest you half the steeping time if you’re using Green or White tea). 
3. When you’re ready to serve, add 100% peach jam or compote and mint leaves to about 2 cups of ice.
4. Pour in your infused tea through a sieve to avoid tea leaves. Mix up thoroughly to make sure the fruit jam is evenly distributed. 
5. Serve in style with a lemon wedge and fresh fruits!

Why cold brew iced tea?

Cold-brew iced tea is gaining popularity and rightly so because of the complexity of flavors it imbibes. Despite the time it takes to infuse, this method gives you a well-rounded flavor profile with no bitter notes. You could cold brew iced tea in an infusion bottle, skip all the additions, and simply sip straight out of the bottle all day. What’s better? You can reuse the tea leaves by adding more cold water and letting it steep for an hour.

SUBSTITUTIONS AND AD-INS

When it comes to tea, there’s always plenty of room for add-ins and substitutions which, let's be honest, is the best part! Although you probably have a list of your own, we’d like to chip in to help take your iced tea to a whole other level. So here goes...

1. For our iced tea recipe, you can use any tea of your choice. They all work perfectly well.
2. You can substitute peach with any other fruit. Some superb options are
1. 2 cups Frozen or fresh raspberry + spearmint
2. 3 Apples + cinnamon stick
3. 2 cups Frozen or fresh strawberry + basil
3. You could use herbal infusions and finish off with rose petals for a mild, earthy flavor.
4. To earn extra brownie points for presentation, top up with ice cubes that were frozen with a    piece of fruit. Not only do they look impressive but also add extra flavor to your drink.
5. Add sparkling water or soda to your iced tea to jazz it up. Alternatively, add a layer of froth to your drink by shaking it thoroughly in a cocktail shaker just before serving. 
6. Get creative with your iced tea by adding ice cream or whipped cream (an epic move!)

OTHER POPULAR ICED TEAS YOU SHOULDN’T MISS

How to Make Lemon Iced Tea

You can never really go wrong with lemon iced tea. It’s easy, quick and as fresh as iced tea can get. Simply use the flash chilled method with a tea of your choice. Add the juice of 4 large lemons with ¼ cup of liquid sweetener to a saucepan. Cook until the sweetener has dissolved. Once your tea has steeped, mix in the sweet lemon concentrate. Serve with lemon wedges and fresh mint.  

How to Make Long Island Iced Tea 

If we’re talking iced tea, we dare not miss this one. Known to be notoriously strong, this drink contains no tea at all and gets its name for the resemblance with regular iced tea. A drink with lots of alcohol, this one hits real good but tastes even better. Here’s a quick recipe. 

1. Mix ¼ ounce each of vodka, gin, rum, sour mix (equal parts lemon juice and simple syrup) and triple sec to a glass.
2. Shake in a cocktail shaker with ice.
3. Pour into a glass with ice.
4. Add just a little cola (Just enough for a light brown colour).
5. Serve up with a slice of lime. 

TO SUM UP

With iced tea attaining its celebrity status and finding its much-deserved place in our refrigerators, we want you to have the most delicious recipe that’ll make your party an instant hit! Never stop experimenting with your iced tea. Tweak the flavors to your liking and experiment with the substitutions. Rest assured, this iced tea will never ever disappoint!