Cold Brewed Iced Tea

by Imperial Tea Garden June 17, 2018

It's National Iced Tea Month and the weather is heating up! Beat the heat with some refreshing cold brewed iced tea this summer. Cold brewing real tea leaves tastes better because most of the tannins are never released into the tea as is case when excessively hot water is used to steep loose leaf tea and the tea leaves are allowed to steep for too long.

Use green tea, black tea or one of our herb and fruit flavored loose leaf teas to make your next cold brew iced tea! Plus, it stays fresh tasting for days.

Ingredients

Use 1 teaspoon loose leaf tea or 1 tea bag per 6 to 8 ounces of water, depending on desired strength. Our Baja iced tea is a great place to start when selecting a loose leaf black tea.
Optional: sliced lemon or fresh mint leaves. For sweet tea, use a pinch of Stevia leaves, cane sugar, honey and/or organic blue agave nectar. Blue Agave is a low glycemic sweetener that is 25% sweeter than sugar so you need less and its absorbed more slowly into the body which helps prevent spikes in blood sugar for those concerned with hypoglycemia and diabetes.

Instructions

Add the loose tea or tea bags into your pitcher. Pour in room temperature or cold water.
Cover the pitcher and refrigerate. Steep green tea for 6 to 8 hours; steep black for 8 to 12 hours. Doing this step before bedtime is the easiest way to make cold brewed iced tea.
Once your time is up, strain the loose leaf tea out of the pitcher by pouring the tea through a fine mesh strainer. For best results, repeat this process with a cheesecloth or other food grade filter to remove all fine particles. Discard the tea leaves into your garden or compost.
Serve over ice or with a garnish. Cold brewed iced tea will keep for 3 to 5 days if covered and refrigerated.