One of my favourite treats in summertime at the cottage was stirring in WAY too many iced tea crystals into a glass of water and then using a spoon to crunch through the sludge I had created. Having moved from the land-of-easily-accessible-drink-crystals to the Land Down Under, I’d been buying my iced tea premade. This was stupidly expensive and I resented it. So I learned how to make it and it is beyond easy!
I found this delicious recipe from “Cooking for Engineers” and can be found here: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/121/Lemon-Iced-Tea
Ingredients:
2 quarts (8 cups) of water
2 tea bags (black tea)
3/4 cup (150 g) white sugar
2 ounces (60 ml) lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
Equipment:
Big Saucepan with lid
Bottle for putting the iced tea in afterwards
Measuring cups and spoons
Directions:
Step 1: Bring your water to a boil
Step 2: Remove your pan from heat and add the tea bags (if you’ve got nice long strings, you can put them under the lid making for easy removal). Cover with the lid and leave to steep for at least an hour. It may seem like a long time, but it really works well!
Step 3: Remove tea bags and stir in sugar and lemon juice until the sugar is fully dissolved.
Step 4: Add ice cubes or cold water to make up for what has been lost to steam. I usually add about a cup of cold water back in.
Step 5: Pour into your bottles or jug and pop in the fridge for about 4 hours to let it cool completely.
Step 6: Drink and enjoy!
Congratulations you’ve made iced tea!
8 replies on “Homemade Iced Tea”
So, does anyone know if the usual tea bags one can find in an UK supermarket will work as well? Inquiring American-living-in-England minds want to know…
We have an iced tea maker, too. It is pretty fantastic.
I’m a big fan of sun tea. Just make sure your jar is super clean and don’t leave the jar out all dang day and you’ll be fine.
I also like to brew a mug of strong tea and dump it over ice. I live with my parents and they have a countertop ice machine that makes a batch ever 10 minutes or so. My family drinks a ton of ice water, so it gets plenty of use. Best $30 I forced my mom to spend at a yard sale ever.
You forgot the Jack Daniels Tennessee honey whiskey duh obvs.
If you want to allow people to sweeten their own tea, make a simple syrup. Boil some water, stir in some sugar, and then refrigerate it. You may even want to add some lemon to it. That solves the problem of how to dissolve sugar in cold tea.
Oh nice! I was also taught a method called cold brewing that, if you’re using cheaper tea bags, makes it taste much better IMO.
Basically, you’d do all the same things, EXCEPT, you don’t boil the water. You stick the teabags and the other stuff in the water, and then you put it in the fridge. It takes a lot longer to steep; I’d suggest leaving it overnight, maybe even longer depending on how strong it gets. But with cheap tea bags, it made the iced tea taste really good.
It does. If you have an ice maker, then you can make all the tea you want. When I had to use ice trays it took a few days to get up enough ice. You fill the pitchure with ice then the water steeped in the tea pours over it. We got one after visiting grandpa in Florida (where is it hot all the time(. So easy!
Your bottles are adorable. I like the idea of having tea brewed and ready to go out with me. But I have an ice tea maker. Love it!! http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-40911-2-Quart-Electric/dp/B00008VSCO
Thanks, I love the bottle too, they’re usually put on the tables of cafes here as water bottles.
The iced tea maker is so cool! Does it really brew iced tea in only 10 minutes?