For those of you who are new to our tea box this month, here's a primer on making iced tea from loose leaves.
There are so many teas that taste great iced and it's best to test and see what you like. From August, we recommend trying the Passion Fruit and Vintage Violet as iced teas. You may even want to try the Apricot Oolong and see how the roasted notes mellow out as a cold brew.
How to Cold Steep
You can use this for any type of tea as a cold brew. This method creates a super smooth, flavourful iced tea with less caffeine.
Use about 1.5x the amount of tea you would per cup of hot tea. So, for 1 cup (8oz) of cold water, use 1.5tsp of tea. Let's say you're making a 1L (about 33oz) jug of iced tea:
- measure out 6 tsp of tea
- fill the jug with cold, filtered water
- put the jug in the fridge for 4-10 hours (overnight is easy)
- strain out the leaves and drink!
Our very favourite this month for cold brew is the Vintage Violet white tea. It's more mild than the hot version, but incredibly refreshing and pleasantly sweet.
Making Iced Tea from Hot Tea:
If you didn't think ahead 4 hours to make a cold brew, no worries! You can make almost instant iced tea by first making a double strength cup of hot tea. Just make sure you've got ice in the freezer.
- use double the amount of loose tea per cup of water. So, 2 tsp of tea per 8oz cup. Steep as per the tea's normal steeping guidelines (we've got the steep time noted on the tea labels).
- remove the leaves
- if you want it sweet, add your sweetener while it's hot so it dissolves
- pour your double strength hot tea into a cup of ice and enjoy!