Iced Tea

This Summer, let iced tea be your solution to your warm weather qualms! Hot day? Drink iced tea! Thirsty by the pool? Drink iced tea! Need a mixer for a cocktail? Go for iced tea! Make sure iced tea is always a solution and never a problem by following this guide to fixing your top three iced tea issues!

1. You Don’t Know How to Make Iced Tea

Making iced tea should be the least of your worries! One of the best things about iced tea is that there are multiple brewing techniques you can use to make great iced tea. The easiest, most “no-duh!” way is by making yourself a cup of tea, chilling it in the refrigerator for a few minutes, and serving over ice. For a larger batch of iced tea, however, we recommend following our brewing guide. This guide will instruct you on quick brews and how to (super easily!!!) make amazing cold brew iced tea. Whatever method you choose, you’ll find that brewing iced tea is simple and easy!

2. Your Iced Tea is Cloudy

Cloudy iced tea is more of an aesthetic issue. Nobody wants to put their fresh-brew iced tea in a pitcher only to have it look as murky as ocean water! There are five main reasons your iced tea might be cloudy: your glassware could be dirty, the tea could have gone from the hot brewing phase to the iced phase too quickly, the tea that was brewed as iced tea is tea that is historically only enjoyed hot, there’s something wrong with the water chemistry, and, finally, the tea was left in the fridge too long. The best way to avoid cloudy tea is by following our brewing guide, using clean dishes, and making sure your water is clean and of high quality.

3. Your Iced Tea Tastes “Off”

Just like cloudy tea, a funky tasting tea could have something to do with glassware, water, or brewing methods. If your tea is tasting overly astringent, try adjusting the amount of tea you’re adding or the length of time you’re brewing. If your tea has any odd tastes that should not be present, try changing your water source. Certain water types, like soft water, don’t work well with teas. Others, like water that has not been purified, could bring flavors of their own. Finally, check that your dishes have been properly cleaned and are free from dirt, residue, or soap. 

Make sure your Summer is full of delicious, worry-free iced teas! For a fail-proof iced tea that everybody will love, try one of our award-winning iced teas: Classic Black, Summer Peach, Green Pomegranate, Meyer Lemon, 9:00 PM, or Passionfruit Jasmine.

In our opinion, Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of Summer. (Or, as we like to call it: Iced Tea Season.) Sure, the calendar might say that Summer doesn’t start until next month, but Summer festivities and activities start now. Whatever plans you may have this summer, make sure you have these three Summer Iced Tea Essentials. 

Iced Tea

Well, isn’t this one obvious. If you want iced tea, you need to have iced tea! There are a few avenues to explore when brewing an iced tea. You can keep things classic with Classic Black, you can try our award-winning Green Pomegranate, or you can enjoy the quintessential Summer iced tea, Summer Peach. With iced teas, you can expect bold, fruity, and floral flavors. Temperature also plays a role in iced tea flavors. Because iced tea is (of course!) cold, you can expect naturally sweeter flavors, too. 

Don’t be afraid to break the iced tea mold, either. Some of our teas are surprisingly delicious iced. White Coconut Creme’s sweet, tropical flavors are amazing over ice. Even Fukamushi sencha can be a treat when prepared as a cold brew. 

Brewing Supplies

Brewing iced tea doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, the simplest way to make iced tea is to make regular tea, let it cool off, and serve it over ice. However, you can make consistent, delicious iced tea even more easily with the proper supplies. We suggest using a Takeya Iced Tea Maker. That way, you can make enough iced to for your entire family and you can store leftovers in the fridge. (That is, if you have any leftovers!) Another way to make things easier? Try using our pre-packed 2QT iced tea pouches. They’re the perfect size for a pitcher of iced tea and they’ll take the guesswork out of your brewing process!

Recipes

Like we said, making iced tea can be as simple as chilling and icing regular tea. But there are other methods to making delicious iced tea drinks, too. For example, you can make bold, flavorful iced tea through cold-brewing. You can then use your iced tea to make a classic Arnold Palmer. Iced Tea can be an amazing mixer for cocktails. Matcha can make for a refreshing cup of iced tea, too. Or, get even more creative and use iced tea to make sangria! 

There are lots of options for awesome iced teas this summer, but no matter what, you’ll need great iced tea leaves, the right supplies, and recipes. So, cool off, relax, and have an amazing Iced Tea season!

As we brave through the last weeks of cold weather and prepare for Spring, we can all start thinking about which delicious iced teas we’ll be enjoying this Spring and Summer. Of course, you can always shop Art of Tea’s Iced Tea section to find tried and true iced teas, but we also encourage you to get creative. Some of our teas are usually served hot but are even better cold. 

Imagine eating a slice of pizza that’s just come out of the oven. Now imagine eating another slice of pizza, but this time, one that’s been sitting in the fridge. Hot and cold pizza taste wildly different, right? That’s because heat plays a role in the way things taste. Similarly, teas taste different iced or hot. Many teas adopt a sweeter taste when served over ice, much like how pizza tastes slightly sweeter when it’s served cold. 

Oolong Rose

If you didn’t think an oolong would taste light and refreshing ice, then you’re mistaken. When you think about it, darker oolongs are very close to becoming black tea, a tea that’s the base of many iced teas. And lighter oolongs have light, often floral or sweet flavors. Take, for example, Alishan Oolong that has sweet notes reminiscent of nectar. Like Alisan, Oolong Rose is lightly oxidized, giving it a greener hue. When served as an iced tea, this tea is crisp and delicate, with subtly sweet floral notes. It’s not the tea you’d drink with a meal on a patio, but we highly recommend sipping on iced Oolong Rose while laying out in a park or relaxing on a porch. 

Fukamushi

With grassy and crisp flavors, Fukamushi is one of our favorite green teas for Spring. It’s easy to assume most nicer Japanese green teas are served hot. After all, you usually see iced matcha or iced senchas. Don’t skip out on icing this amazing tea, though! Fukamushi is actually great when cold brewed. Just like a hot cup of Fukamushi, it doesn’t take much time or effort to cold brew. While we suggest cold brewing your leaves for 10-22 hours, you can toss Fukamushi leaves in a bottle of cold water, agitate the leaves, and sip on-the-go. 

White Coconut Creme

It’s one of our best selling teas, and we’re not surprised. With sweet coconut shreds and hints of smooth French vanilla, White Coconut Creme is a decadent treat served hot. Like many teas, the sweetness of White Coconut Creme is only enhanced when iced. We think iced White Coconut Creme tastes like a tropical drink mixed with a tasty creamsicle. In fact, you can even turn iced White Coconut Creme into an actual creamsicle. Perfect for poolside chilling or packing in a thermos for the beach, iced White Coconut Creme could be the best beverage you have all Spring and Summer. 

When looking for teas to try iced, look for fruity, floral, grassy, or sweet teas. Tea type isn’t as important, but tasting notes are. A tea like Blueberry Pomegranate might lend itself better to iced tea than an earthy tea like Pu’erh. And, of course, you can never go wrong with a simple iced Matcha for a refreshing drink on a sunny day. 

Sweet tea is as famous in the South as “southern hospitality.” When you think of this drink, you can’t help but conjure images of lazy summer afternoons on a local patio. But it’s not just a great drink! In fact, sweet tea also has some really amazing health benefits.

The best southern sweet tea is made from black tea leaves. Black, green, and oolong teas are actually all from the Camellia Sinensis plant — black tea, however, is made with different amounts of fermentation than green or oolong tea. The quintessential dark tea is fully fermented before drying, which results in the deeper color and flavor that sweet tea is known for.

Health Benefits of Sweet Tea

Like a daily multivitamin, sweet tea contains important minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, and zinc. While sweet tea won’t replace nutritional supplements, getting nutrition from whole food sources like tea is important for a well-rounded diet.

Feeling low on energy? Black tea offers a gentle infusion of energy without the jitteriness that might come from coffee. Also, in various studies, caffeine has been associated with higher metabolism, increased fat oxidation, and better endurance during exercise.

The flavonoids found in black tea have been associated with benefits to your cardiovascular health. German researchers suggested that it could reduce or prevent clogged arteries while providing anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, and lipid-lowering properties.

The longer fermentation time of black tea also results in two powerful compounds — theaflavins and thearubigins — which may have additional associated benefits. More research is needed, but it’s very cool to learn what exists so far!

For the best refreshing, brisk, and yummy Sweet Tea, try our Classic Black Tea. Winner of “Best Black Iced Tea” at the World Tea Expo, we carefully hand-blended bright Nilgiri tea with smooth, rich Yunnan golden buds to create a supremely classic infusion for the perfect beverage.

How to Brew The Perfect Sweet Tea

There is a fine art to brewing the perfect sweet tea. The key is steep time and it’s the most guarded secret south of the Mason Dixon Line. Here’s your guide to making a really great and authentic sweet tea:

Ingredients:

• 1 ounce organic Classic Black tea
• 1 1/8 cup organic unbleached cane sugar
• 12 cups purified or Spring water
• Ice
• 1 gallon glass pitcher
• Strainer

Directions:

Bring water to a boil in a pot. Once the water is boiling, add your Classic Black Tea and remove the pot from heat. Stir the water with a non-metal spoon for 30 seconds.

Steep the leaves in the hot water for exactly 4 minutes and 30 seconds. The tea will take on a bitter taste if steeped for longer.

Add ice and sugar to the pitcher. After the brewing time is up, pour the tea through the strainer and into the pitcher. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate until cold.

Grab a glass, fill it with ice, and pour in the chilled sweet tea. Don’t forget to garnish with a lemon wedge.

Tips, Tricks, And Substitutions

Avoid having sugar at the bottom of your pitcher by making a simple syrup while the tea is steeping. In a glass, mix the granulated cane sugar with 2 cups of hot water. Mix until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add this over the ice in the pitcher before adding the hot tea. (The person that gets the last glass of tea will be thankful for this trick!)

For an even healthier sweet tea, substitute the organic cane sugar with ¾ cup agave or raw honey. Or try one of our naturally flavored iced teas like our Summer Peach Iced Tea, which includes sweet, sun-ripened peaches to bring out a fruity and crisp flavor without needing sugar or other addons.

Want to spice up your sweet tea? Add a slice of orange and a cinnamon stick while the tea is cooling in the refrigerator. Discard the orange and cinnamon once the tea is cool.

Next time your friends are over you can serve them a glass of this southern sweet tea and get a ton of compliments. You can also feel free to experiment with healthier sugars and even toss in some mint leaves to make sweet tea with an unexpected twist.

You don’t have to be Southern to love sweet tea, but you do have to love a great, anytime drink that’s easy to make and hard not to love!

What’s better than kicking back under the hot summer sun and enjoying life? Adding a tall glass of America’s favorite iced tea! But the iconic warm-weather drink of choice is so much more than your average beverage; aside from the countless health benefits that drinking tea provides, enjoying iced tea this summer is extra nice because it hydrates your body and mind. Research also suggests that it might even promote weight loss and help you fight aging.

Benefits of Drinking Ice Tea

Hydration.  Many people struggle to drink their daily recommended amount of water. (In fact, according to the CDC, over 40% of Americans don’t drink enough!) We get that. But you know what can help solve that problem? Drinking iced tea!

Iced tea consumption counts towards your water intake so you can enjoy every tasty sip guilt-free knowing you’re fueling your body. This is especially helpful when you’re sitting outside getting a tan, which subsequently dehydrates your body and could cause damage to your skin. Proper hydration helps your skin glow and softens facial wrinkles.

Weight management.  If you’re careful about how you sweeten it, tea can be the best calorie-free drink you’ll ever indulge in. Research from the University of Washington even suggested that beverages containing caffeine and catechins (like in a yummy green tea) can help curb cravings!

Want more reasons? A study in the International Journal of Obesity found that drinking a very cold beverage increased resting energy expenditure for over 40 minutes after consumption. This means you could be burning calories long after your last sip!

Quick Tips to Choose a Healthy Iced Tea

The key to choosing the perfect iced tea is to find the ones that naturally match your tastes.

For example, if you want to indulge in fruity and sweet flavors — without having to add sugar to make it artificially sweet — try our Summer Peach Iced Tea, which won the award for “Best Flavored Black Iced Tea” at the 2013 World Tea Expo. Delight in the fusion of sweet, sun-ripened peaches delicately grounded by the crisp, bright after-notes of our organic Classic Black tea.

For something tangier and more tart, sip on our Green Pomegranate Iced Tea, which won the award for “Best Flavored Iced Tea!” We hand-toss select organic green tea leaves in a large wok, dry them to perfection, and then carefully blend them with organic raspberries and an essence of pomegranate.

Oh, and if you’re looking for a decaf way to enjoy iced tea, indulge in our Brûlée Mint for a naturally sweet treat with hints of mint and a creamy burnt caramel finish reminiscent of crème brûlée.

How To Make Healthy Iced Tea

Making a great iced tea has never been easier! Just follow the instructions on our tea and enjoy!

But if you’re not quite sure how to get started, feel free to follow this guide and make it the night before you plan to partake in its tasty goodness.

What You Need:

• 3 Tablespoons of the tea of your choice
• ½ gallon Mason jar
• Warmed spring or Purified water

Add 3 tablespoons of your tea to the jar.  Fill your mason jar with warm water (not boiling). Stir. Close the lid tightly and place this jar in your refrigerator.

When you are ready to drink, add ice to a glass and simply pour the tea over a strainer and into your glass. Now you have a delicious, healthy, and refreshing iced tea!

Want to try it with a twist? Slice oranges, berries, or any fruit and layer the fruit with your ice in a glass and pour tea into your flavor-infused cup. You could also opt to add fresh mint, ginger, cardamom, and cinnamon sticks for other flavor bursts. (Or try any of our natural, flavor-infused iced teas listed above!)

Iced tea is the preferred healthy summer drink of choice. It hydrates your body and is full of antioxidants and other properties that can provide countless health boosts. Find your summertime favorite and enjoy!