How to make Iced tea

When you need to cool down on a blistering hot day, make an iced tea and you will feel instantly refreshed. Iced tea is good, in fact, it is very good because tea is loaded with antioxidants.

Daughter no. 2 loves homemade drinks, from iced tea, lemonade, zobo etc. So when she is home, we enjoy a lot of her refreshing and comforting drinks. This is one of her favourites.

One good reason to make your own iced tea is, that you have complete control of what goes in and in what quantity. We mostly use black tea, but you can use green tea, black tea, white tea etc. The tea can be made strong or light, sweet or unsweetened. Flavour it any way you like, I have listed a few of the more popular flavourings below with lemon taking the lead.

Flavours for iced tea

Lemon juice or rind
Lime juice or rind
Orange juice or rind
Pinapple
Kiwi
Peach
Mint
Ginger  
Cloves
Condensed milk
Lemongrass
Apple juice

Sweeteners

Sugar, syrup, honey, artificial sweeteners etc.

To make Iced tea

4 cups boiling hot water
4 teabags
sugar to taste
4 cups ice water or ice cubes
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

In a large pitcher, place tea bags and pour boiling hot water over them. Leave to steep for 5 minutes or more.

Remove the teabags and discard them.

Add sugar, stir to dissolve and leave to cool for about 30 minutes.

Add lemon juice and 4 cups of ice water or ice cubes and enjoy.

For lemon iced tea, add lemon rind with the hot water.

For the fresh lemon juice and fresh fruits add after steeping, and leave in the refrigerator for about 2-3 hours to infuse.

Note

• The needs to be strong initially because you are going to dilute it with either ice cold water or ice cubes.
• If using sugar to sweeten your iced tea, add it when the tea is still piping hot. If you need to sweeten it when it is already cold, it is best to use sugar syrup. Granulated sugar will be very difficult to dissolve in cold tea and your tea won’t be smooth.
• If you want a stronger tea, it is better to increase the number of tea bags used rather than increase the steeping time of the tea. This is for better flavour.
• If you want lighter tea, reduce the steeping time but not the quantity of tea bags.
• Putting hot tea in the refrigerator makes it go cloudy, nothing wrong with the taste just that the presentation won’t be very pretty.

There is an alcoholic version called John Daly, made with Iced tea, lemonade and vodka.

If you enjoyed my Iced tea, you will also enjoy my Carrot, Orange juice, Black velvet tamarind drink, Zobo drink and Beetroot juice mocktail.

Print

Iced tea

When you need to cool down on a blistering hot day, make an iced tea and you will feel instantly refreshed.

Course Drinks

Cuisine world

Keyword drink, tea

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author gaga

Ingredients

• 4 cups boiling hot water
• 4 teabags
• sugar to taste
• 4 cups ice water or ice cubes
• 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

• In a large pitcher, place tea bags and pour boiling hot water over them. Leave to steep for 5 minutes or more.
• Remove the teabags and discard them.
• Add sugar, stir to dissolve and leave to cool for about 30 minutes.
• Add lemon juice and 4 cups of ice water or ice cubes and enjoy.
• For lemon iced tea, add lemon rind with the hot water.
• For the fresh lemon juice and fresh fruits add after steeping, and leave in the refrigerator for about 2-3 hours to infuse.

Notes

Note

• The needs to be strong initially because you are going to dilute it with either ice cold water or ice cubes.
• If using sugar to sweeten your iced tea, add it when the tea is still piping hot.
• If you need to sweeten it when it is already cold, it is best to use sugar syrup.
• Granulated sugar will be very difficult to dissolve in cold tea and your tea won't be smooth.
• If you want a stronger tea, it is better to increase the number of tea bags used rather than increase the steeping time of the tea. This is for better flavour.
• If you want lighter tea, reduce the steeping time but not the quantity of tea bags.
• Putting hot tea in the refrigerator makes it go cloudy, nothing wrong with the taste just that the presentation won't be very pretty.

There is an alcoholic version called John Daly, made with Iced tea, lemonade and vodka.

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