Iced Tea Tips, Facts and Recipes

Iced Tea Tips

1. Don’t put hot tea in a cold refrigerator – this produces cloudy tea. Allow hot tea to come to room temperature before cooling the tea.
2. When serving iced tea, offer super-fine sugar or a simple syrup instead of regular
granulated sugar. Super-fine sugar and simple syrup dissolve easily.
3. Consider flavoring your simple syrup with seasonal fresh fruits such as: strawberries, bing cherries, peaches. Also, consider making a simple syrup with fresh herbs, such as: mint, lemongrass, lemon thyme. Use your imagination to create several simple syrups with fresh from the garden flavors!
4. To clear up the cloudiness of iced tea, try adding a small amount of boiling water.
5. When using loose tea for making iced tea, steep the tea between 3 to 5 minutes.
6. When using teabags for making iced tea, steep the tea no longer than 2 minutes. In most tea bags, the tea is finely powdered and steeping the tea over 2 minutes will produce too much tannin (bitterness).
7. When making iced tea, use more tea than you would for making hot tea. The cold
temperature dampens the flavor of the tea.
8. To reduce the amount of caffeine in your iced tea by half, use either the solar or cold-
brewed tea method.
9. Instead of using sliced lemons for an iced tea garnish, use sliced orange, pineapple, or a whole bing cherry with the stem.
10. Since iced tea consists mostly of water, use filtered or spring water. Also, if your water is too hard, this can cause cloudy iced tea. Good water brews great tea!
11. Iced tea lasts up to 3 days in your refrigerator.
12. If you need to use a non-sugar substitute in your iced tea, try Truvia. It easily dissolves and has a natural taste.
13. If you want to increase the amount of anti-oxidants in your diet, drink iced green or iced white tea. Green tea is high in anti-oxidants and white tea contains more anti-oxidants than any other tea beverage.
14. Health reports indicate that drinking iced tea is just as healthy as drinking hot tea.
15. To reduce the bitterness (tannins) in iced tea, add a pinch of baking soda to a pitcher of iced tea.

Iced Tea Facts:

1. Did you know that iced tea was invented in 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair?
80% of the tea consumed in the U.S. is iced.
2. Tea is the second most consumed beverage on the planet earth - the first is water.
3. Around the world, 500 Billion cups of tea are consumed in a year.
4. In the South, one says “ice tea” instead of “iced tea.”
5. Loose black tea, if stored properly, lasts over 2 years.  Green tea lasts about 1 year.
6. Green tea is high in anti-oxidants, but white tea from China contains the highest levels of anti-oxidants in any tea beverage.

The Cultured Cup's Iced Tea Collection

The Cultured Cup’s Recipe for Making ½ Gallon of Iced Tea

1. Use bottled spring water or filtered tap water. Do not use distilled water.
2. Bring 2 quarts (1/2 gallon) of water to a boil in a non-aluminum stockpot.  
3. Turn the stove burner off.
4. To determine the amount of tea to use, refer to the following chart:

NOTE:  Not all teabags are the same!  Today, some teabags contain whole leaf tea. These teas are place in see-through teabags so one can see the size of the tea leaves.
If you cannot see the contents within the teabag, the teabag is very finely ground into what’s called tea dust (not a negative word). This tea steeps very quickly.

5. If you are using loose tea, stir the tea with a spoon. If you are using teabags, do not stir.
6. Cover the pot.
7. If you are using loose tea, steep the tea for 3-5 minutes.
NOTE: Sample and ice a small recipe of tea first, to determine the proper steep time and
tea strength for each tea. If you are using teabags or finely ground tea, steep no longer
than 2-3 minutes.
8. Using a finely meshed large strainer, carefully strain the tea into a pitcher or another
stockpot.
9. Allow the tea to cool to room temperature before placing in the refrigerator.
NOTE: This prevents the tea from becoming cloudy.
10. Pour tea over ice in a tall glass.

 One Method for Making a Low-Tannin, Lower-Caffeine Iced Tea
 Cold-Brewed Iced Tea