How to make iced tea from lose leaf tea by MyPersonaliTea

When you hear someone speak of tea you normally think of the hot drink and that hot drink comes in the form of bags or leaves. In the warmer season we don’t reach for a cup of hot tea. It’s more cool drinks, such as lemonade, soft drinks, iced coffee and iced tea. But when we think of iced tea, we don’t immediately think of tea bags, loose leaf tea, tea infusers and all the other fun accessories we associate with hot tea. We think of, iced tea, a golden coloured sugary drink in a glass pitcher with ice cubes floating in it and maybe some lemons or other things floating around that look summery. But how does that golden coloured drink get into the picture? Well, first it doesn’t always have to be sugary, nor does it always have to have summery things floating around in it. Nothing has to float in it. I came across three different ways to make iced tea from lose leaf tea.

Ways of making iced tea

Japanese Iced coffee method
Hot brew + ice cubes.
Sun brew.
Cold brew.

Japanese iced coffee method

In Japan there is an iced coffee method where the coffee is brewed at double strength and then diluted to regular strength. This is a possible method to apply to making iced tea, brew the tea at double strength then dilute to regular strength with iced cubes. However, this can lead to a watered down iced tea.

Hot brew + ice cubes

Another way is to brew the tea in hot water as with hot tea but then to chill it down in the fridge or with ice cubes. This usually ends tasting a little like stale cold tea.

Sun brew

Sun brew is the practice of brewing tea using the heat of the sun.

Cold brew

Cold brew is the practice of brewing tea in the fridge. This is similar to sun brew except the tea is brewed in water in the fridge. The taste is a littler fresher and cleaner and does not run the risk of bacterial growth by sitting in the sun.

Benefits of cold brewed ice tea:

That bitterness that sometimes results when brewing hot tea is not as likely when cold brew. The bitterness is usually due to too many leaves or brewing to long in the hot water. However, when brewing in cold water, the cold water extract the flavours more slowly and more naturally resulting in a less bitter tea.
Cold brewing keeps more of the antioxidants from the tea.
A cold brew tea has about half to two thirds the amount of caffeine of hot brewed teas.

How do you make a cold brew iced tea?

Add 8-10g of tea to about 1L of water.
Refrigerate the tea over night or brew to taste. (There is a minimum about of time for brewing the tea in the fridge. For the lighter teas such as white, green and herbal, 2-6 hours minimum in the refrigerator; for the darker teas, black and oolong, 6-10 hours.)
Strain and then serve.

“Best” teas for making iced tea

Any tea can be cold brewed however each tea has their distinctive flavour and more suited to cold brewing than others.

Black tea is the most common tea used in the west however is the worst tea for cold brewing for iced tea. The cold temperature doesn’t do the natural flavours of black tea justice, so just as well it isn’t the best candidate for iced tea and cold brewing.

White tea is a light tasting tea and the result when cold brewing is a light and refreshing taste. So a good candidate for cold brewing and iced tea.

Green tea is another lighter tea with a grassy vegetative flavour or a roasted grassy taste depending on where the tea is from, Japan or China, respectively. Green tea is another good candidate for cold brew and iced tea.

Oolong is a semi-oxidized tea anywhere from 20%-80% oxidization. Green tea is not oxidized at all and black tea is fully oxidized. The greater the oxidation, the more roasted, nutty and honey flavours while less oxidation gives a lighter, fresher taste.

Herbal “teas” are usually quite good for cold brewing as they are not formally a tea but a mixture of flowers, fruit, herbs, roots, barks etc.

The lighter and herbal teas are the better teas for cold brew and iced tea. So, the white, green and lightly oxidized oolongs are the best candidates for cold brew and iced tea.

“Sparkle brew” is using fizzy water for cold brew. It’s a nice treat and results in a sparkly iced tea.

Additions to iced tea

The cold brewed iced tea is usually fine however, sweeter or lemon are common additions. Some other common additions to your cold brewed iced teas are as follows:

Lemon, lime or orange
Milk (this make a nice creamy iced “latte” type taste.)
Fresh mint is always nice and refreshing.
Fresh ginger gives a nice bite to the fresh iced tea.
Cucumber sliced are always refreshing.
Palm sugar, maple syrup or stevia are all nice natural sweeteners.
For an adult brew, spirits can be added.

Iced Matcha

Matcha is the green tea but the leaves are crushed to a powder so the entire leave is ingested when driving matcha. The health benefits of matcha are vast. We won’t go into the details of what nutrients matcha contain but rather the possible benefits of these nutrients. Some of the benefits of drinking matcha are,

It is relaxing and therapeutic on the mind and body
Increases serotonin, dopamine and other chemicals in the brain promoting focus, happiness and mental clarity.
It is an immune boosters.
My help protect the body from some types of cancer such as bladder cancer and colorectral cancer.
Help prevent the spread of malignant cancerous cells.

Recipe for iced matcha

1 cup unsweetened almond, soy or cashew milk
1 tsp matcha powder
Sweetener to taste, approximately 1 tbsp. For example, maple syrup, palm sugar, raw honey, stevia

Reference:

The Tea Lover’s Way to Make the Best Cold Brew Iced Tea, Max Falkowitz, URL: https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/06/how-to-make-the-best-cold-brew-iced-tea.html
How to Make Cold Brew Iced Tea, URL: https://www.teatulia.com/tea-101/how-to-make-cold-brew-iced-tea.htm
Cold Brew Iced Tea, June 2015, URL: https://cookieandkate.com/2015/cold-brew-iced-tea/
The 3-Ingredient Iced Matcha Latte Recipe You Can Make In Less than a Minute, August 2017, Kate Gavlick, URL: http://www.organicauthority.com/3-ingredient-iced-matcha-latte-recipe

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Lani and Norm

I enjoy learning and sharing that knowledge.Sharing has been in many forms over the years, as a teaching assistant, university lecturer, Pilates instructor, math tutor and just sharing with friends and family.Throughout, summarizing what I have learnt in words has always been there and continues to through blog posts, articles, video and the ever growing forms of content out there!