Now that it is summer and it is hot out ( for some of the world ) you may not want hot tea but you still want tea. I give you the 3 best ways to make iced tea, in my opinion, you can have iced tea in this blog.
Now What is this iced tea? Is it just hot tea iced? Now you may think that you just put ice in hot tea and that is iced tea, and you are right. That is what iced tea is, it is very simple yet so many people have no idea not how to make iced tea! You don’t know how many times I have taught people how to make iced (most of the time at coffee shops). You may know how to make your tea cold but did you know there are different methods to make cold tea? Here are 3 of my favorite methods of making cold tea.
1: Iced hot tea
All you need for this method is tea, hot water, cups, and ice cubes.
Time 2 to 10 min
1: Make tea like you normally do. 1.5 teaspoon per 1 cup of water is the rule I follow for loose leaf tea, and or one tea bag per cup of water.
2: Fill a cup with ice to the brim.
3: Pour the hot steeped tea over the ice and enjoy!
I do this method a lot because this is the fastest out of the 3 methods and in the USA this is how we do it. Some people do add something to it, like sweetener. I don’t normaly do this but I know some people do.
2: Cold brewing
Cold brewing is just brewing your tea in cold water in the fridge it also contains less than half as much caffeine as regular tea. The lower temperature of the water extracts less caffeine from the tea leaves. That means cold brew tea is better for people who can’t have caffeine.
Time 6 to 48 hours.
What you will need for this method is tea, a jar, water, and a refrigerator.
1: Put your tea in a jar or a pitcher. It depends on how big the container is that you are using for how much tea you need to put in, 1 teaspoon per 1 cup of water is the rule I follow for loose leaf tea, and or one tea bag per cup of water.
2: Put the water in the jar with the tea in it ( the water can be cold or room temp)
3. Put it in the fridge I leave mine overnight but you can do 6 to 48 hours, see what the tea looks like and taste the tea to see if it is to your desired flavor and color. All tea is different so experiment! And enjoy!
3: The Kōridashi methods
Kōridashi is a slow, mindful method of making tea with ice. Originates from Japan. Makes the tea taste a bit sweeter than making your tea normally. This is one of my favorite methods for making tea.
Time 30 min to 2 hours. You have to wait for the ice to melt so relax if you make it in the sun it will go by faster.
What you will need for this method is ice, loose leaf tea, and a teapot or a pitcher.
1: Put the tea in the teapot. (or you can start with ice I have seen it done both ways and you get the same result). 1.5 teaspoon per 1 cup of water is the rule I follow for loose leaf tea.
2. Put ice in the teapot on top of the tea, fill the teapot with ice.
3: Wait for the ice to melt fully and enjoy!
I have iced tea all the time in summer and these are my 3 favorite methods for iced tea. You will get a different flavor and color with all of these methods so try all of the methods if you are looking for new way to enjoy tea.
The tea I used was Ancient Forest Tea (mountainroseherbs.com) this is one of my favorite for cold tea.