Beat the Heat with Our Delicious Iced Tea Recipes
With the weather heating up in the UK and some of the hottest days of the year being recorded, one great way to stay cool and refreshed is by enjoying a delicious, chilled glass of iced tea, made from fresh, loose leaf tea leaves.
If you haven’t had the pleasure of enjoying a delicious, homemade iced tea until now, why not give one of our tasty recipes a go and treat yourself to these perfect summer teas?
How to Make the Perfect Homemade Iced Tea
The perfect iced tea should be prepared with good quality tea and fresh ingredients; we would strongly recommend using a quality loose leaf tea instead of a tea bag when preparing your drink.
There are two common methods for preparing an iced tea. The more traditional method involves steeping tea leaves in hot water, allowing the drink to cool and then chilling it in the refrigerator, or simply adding ice. This method is great if you want a quick fix of chilled iced tea, although sometimes you may find that a slightly bitter taste is present, caused by tannins being released during the steeping process.
There is a second method, which is akin to the process of preparing cold brew coffees; a cold brew tea is made my placing tea leaves into cold water, rather than hot water, and placing the steeping leaves into the refrigerator for several hours, during which time the delicate flavours are slowly extracted. Suggested times for green, herbal and fruit teas in the cold brew process are 3 to 8 hours, and 6 to 12 hours for black or oolong tea. You’ll find that an iced tea prepared in this way will reveal wonderfully subtle tastes and fragrances that make it worth the wait!
Some of Our Favourite Iced Tea Recipes
When making your iced tea, it’s best to use quality loose leaf teas. There are plenty of tasty teas that you can choose, allowing you to experiment with flavours and ingredients, but we’ve pulled together some of our favourites for you to try, focusing on iced teas and a cold brew that use a black tea, a flavoured tea and a refreshing peppermint tea.
Iced Black Tea with a Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea
Ingredients (Serves 4)
8g of Ceylon Orange Pekoe tea
Half a litre of boiled water
Half a litre of cold water
1-2 sliced lemons
Steep the Ceylon Orange Pekoe tea leaves and half of the lemon slices in the boiled water for 3 to 5 minutes. Cool the mixture then strain it through a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth. Pour the mixture into a large pitcher add the cold water (if you prefer a sweeter tea, you can add around 15g of sugar) Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours, before serving with the remaining lemon slices.
Mango and Lime Cold Brew Tea
Ingredients (Serves 4)
8g of Mango Flavoured tea
1 litre of filtered or spring water
Half a mango, peeled and chopped
1 sliced lime
Place the mango flavoured tea leaves in a clean container or mason jar and add the water. Cover the container and place into the refrigerator for 6 to 8 hours, before straining the mixture into a pitcher through a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth. Serve with the peeled and chopped mango and sliced lime pieces.
Peppermint Iced Tea
Ingredients (Serves 4)
8g of Peppermint tea
Half a litre of boiled water
Half a litre of cold water
1 sliced lime
A few mint leaves
Steep the peppermint tea leaves and half of the sliced lime in the boiled water for 3 to 5 minutes. Cool the mixture then strain it through a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth. Pour the mixture into a large pitcher add the cold water, then cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours, before serving with the remaining lime slices and the mint leaves.
There’s plenty of room for you to experiment with your favourite loose leaf teas and fresh ingredients when making your own homemade iced teas and cold brew teas, so why not take a look at our tea finder tool to find your favourite loose leaf tea?