Iced Tea Recipes
Many of our teas or herbal and fruit infusions can be made into iced teas. They are extremely refreshing and still contain all the antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that make tea such a wonderful beverage.
We have created a few recipes you can start with – then once you have mastered the basics you can start to get creative and make your own flavours!!
Read down after the recipes for tips on making the perfect iced tea.
Click here to go to our Iced Tea Packs page for more recipes.....
Iced Red Citrus Zing
I love this herbal infusion – Red Citrus Zing is an energising blend that includes apple, carrot, eucalyptus, hibiscus and lemongrass. It infuses to a beautiful pink colour which is perfect for an iced tea. You can just infuse the tea, add sweetener and chill down as it is or make it into something special with the following recipe
You will need:-
- Red Citrus Zing Herbal Infusion
- ¼ cup Cranberry Juice
- 1/2 a lemon
- 20mls sugar syrup, agave syrup or honey
To make one large glass (approximately 400ml) of iced tea:-
Put 2 heaped teaspoons of Red Citrus Zing into your usual tea infuser mug or teapot. Pour hot water over it to make up 1 cup. This is twice the strength of a normal herbal infusion. Let it infuse for 10 minutes then strain the tea, cover and put into fridge to cool.
Put a handful of ice into a tall glass. Pour the now cool Red Citrus Zing infusion up to about 3/4's of the glass over the ice. Top up with 1/4 cup of cranberry juice and squeeze the juice from the 1/2 lemon in also. Then add about 20mls of the sweetener of your choice.
Stir and enjoy!
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Berry Nice Spice Fresh
You will need:-
- Berry Nice Spice Fruit Infusion
- ¼ cup Cranberry Juice
- 20mls sugar syrup, agave syrup or honey
To make one large glass (approximately 400ml) of iced tea:-
Put 2 heaped teaspoons of Berry Nice Spice into your usual tea infuser mug or teapot. Pour hot water over it to make up 1 cup. This is twice the strength of a normal fruit infusion. Let it infuse for 10 minutes then strain the tea, cover and put into fridge to cool.
Put a handful of ice into a tall glass. Pour the now cool Berry Nice Spice infusion up to about 3/4's of the glass over the ice. Top up with 1/4 cup of cranberry juice from the 1/2 lemon in also. Then add about 20mls of the sweetener of your choice.
Stir and enjoy!
Note: you can make a similar flavoured tea by adding ½ a stick of cinnamon to either Berry Beautiful or Very Berry Bundle when infusing the tea.
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Fine China Jasmine Green Iced
You will need:
- Fine China Jasmine Green Tea
- 30mlsSugar Syrup
- ½ a Lemon
Put 2 heaped teaspoons of Fine China Jasmine into your usual tea infuser mug or teapot.
Pour hot water over it to make up 1 cup – it is best with green tea to let the water from the kettle cool a little before pouring over the leaves. This is twice the strength of a normal green tea. Let it infuse for 5 minutes then strain the tea, cover and put into fridge to cool.
Put a handful of ice into a tall glass. Pour the now cool Fine China Jasmine up to about 3/4's of the glass over the ice. Stir in the juice of half a lemon and 30mls of sweetener of your choice. Serve with a slice of lemon floating in glass.
Note: Because green tea has a natural bitterness to it you may need more than 20mls of sweetener – make it to taste is always best – start with a little and add more if you need to.
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Classic Black Iced Tea
Black Tea based ice tea is the most common iced tea and is particularly common in America. It is very versatile as you can add lots of different fruits and flavours to it, or try a flavoured black tea as the base tea.
You will need:-
- Breakfast Brew Tea
- 30mlsSugar Syrup
- ½ a Lemon
Put 2 heaped teaspoons of Breakfast Brew into your usual tea infuser mug or teapot. Pour hot water over it to make up 1 cup, infuse for 5 minutes, remove the tea strainer and then let the tea cool on the bench. This is important - if you put it in the fridge the tannins in black tea will cause it to go cloudy.
Put a handful of ice into a tall glass. Pour the now cool Breakfast Brew up to about 3/4's of the glass over the ice. Stir in the juice of half a lemon and 30mls of sweetener of your choice. Serve with a slice of lemon floating in glass.
Note: Because black tea has a natural bitterness and astringency to it you may need more than 20mls of sweetener – make it to taste is always best – start with a little and add more if you need to.
Iced Tea Brewing Tips
Whether you want to make an iced tea from black, green, fruit or herbal tea there are a few tips you need to know for the best results.....
My black iced tea goes cloudy. How do I stop this?
It can be the most tricky of all iced teas to make however due to it’s tendency to go cloudy. There are a couple of things that will prevent this:-
- Water Quality – the tannins in tea will cause more cloudiness if they are brewed in hard water. It is best to use filtered water to reduce the tendency to cloud.
- Tea Type – certain types of black tea contain more tannins than others. I find that our Breakfast Brew is the least astringent but Ceylon teas are also good.
- Don’t put the tea into the fridge when it is still warm – this will make it instantly cloudy. This will also happen if you add ice cubes to the hot tea. The best thing with black tea is to let it cool on the bench after infusing it.
My sweetener is not mixing into the tea and just drops to the bottom of the glass or jug?
If you are using sugar granules or a heavier liquid sweetener like honey it is best to add this when the tea is still hot to dissolve it completely. Mix it in just after you pour the water over the tea leaves. If you are using sugar syrup then the sugar can be added at any stage.
My tea is too astringent?
Black tea contains tannins which create an astringent sensation in the mouth. This seems to be more noticeable when the tea is iced. The best way to avoid this is to not over-infuse the leaves – no more than 5 minutes for both black and white tea. If you want a stronger tea just add an extra teaspoon – don’t infuse for longer.
If you have over-infused then you can use Baking Soda to take away excessive astringency. Add a pinch of baking soda to the infusion and this can help reduce the astringency.
I want to make more than one cup?
I you want to make iced tea for your friends and want to make a jug of iced tea just increase the quantities of everything. The recipes above are based on making 1 tall glass – or around 400mlks including ice.
As a rule you double the amount of tea to make an iced tea from hot tea. So if you are making up 1 litre of iced tea use 5-6 teaspoons of the tea or herbal infusion of your choice.
Healing Herbal Infusions Iced
Our Healing Herbal range of teas are often drunk for medicinal reasons (although people drink them for their great flavours also) and to get a medicinal benefit from them you need to drink 3 cups a day. For some people this can be a bit of a chore – especially if they are at work and if it’s summer time 3 hot cups of tea sometimes isn’t what you feel like. So I often tell people to make the tea, chill it down and put it in your normal water bottle and drink throughout the day! What an easy and tasty way to get your herbs!
Making Sugar Syrup
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 cup sugar
In a saucepan combine the sugar and the water. Stir over a low heat until the sugar is dissolved then bring to a low boil and cook for about 10minutes until the mixture reduces and is syrupy. Don’t overboil or you will create crystals in your sugar. Put into a container and this will keep for about a month in the fridge