How Do You Make Easy Iced Tea: Four Simple Techniques

Making iced tea at home may seem complicated, compared to ready-made iced drinks, which we find mostly in large retailers. Using leaf tea seems difficult to us, less immediate than instant iced tea, certainly convenient, but also highly sweetened.

If we do not want to give up the benefits and pure, authentic flavor of leaf tea that we consume throughout the year, some techniques allow us to have a fresh and tasty drink in the warmer months.

Remember that even with leaf tea we can experiment with the addition of edible flowers or fruits. In this article I will tell you about some techniques for making iced tea at home, which will allow you to take a moment to relax or impress your guests.

Infusing Iced Tea

The best technique for extracting the best from tea. To infuse leaf and iced tea we need these ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of tea leaves per 1 liter of water.

Very few steps are needed:

• Pour the leaves into a pitcher, or bottle, trying to respect the above proportions
• Pour in the cold water
• Store in the refrigerator

This way, with the low temperature, few polyphenols and caffeine are extracted, which would otherwise contribute to an unpleasantly bitter taste.

The infusion will be slow, but we will be amazed at the nuances of flavor that will stand out, which are very different from hot-infused tea.

The trick to this method is to know how to respect the proper timing of each tea:

• 1 to 2 hours for green teas
• 3 to 5 hours for black teas
• 3 or 4 hours for oolongs
• 5 hours for fermented teas

This technique is perfect if we are planning a long trip, or we are invited to a party in the middle of summer and want to bring a special non-alcoholic aperitif.

Ideally, it should be consumed within 1 or 2 days.

Cold infusing can also be done in a pitcher, the important thing is to remember to strain the infusion once ready so that the leaves do not remain in contact with the water.

Another suitable tool is the glass flask with filter, which is perfect for letting the leaves steep and serving them conveniently at the table.

You can make your cold infused tea even more special by adding for the last two hours of infusion some pieces of fruit; if it is black tea, opt for red fruits, so chunks of raspberries or strawberries; if it is oolong tea, add a few pieces of peach or apricot.

Making Iced Tea With A Shaker

This technique is fun; here’s what you need:

• 7 ice cubes
• 4 teaspoons of tea leaves in 200 ml of water

This technique involves making a traditional hot brew first. The only difference, as it turns out, is that you need to double the dosage, to make the tea more concentrated.

Once the hot tea is ready, prepare ice cubes inside a shaker or a container with a stopper, such as a thermos.

Pour in the ready brew and start shaking so that almost all the ice cubes are melted. This allows the tea to cool very quickly.

This technique is ideal if you are home and want to prepare a special drink for guests or to enjoy a few hours of relaxation on a sunny day.

With this preparation, I especially recommend low-oxidation oolongs, both Chinese and Taiwanese.

You can also try this technique with Culinary Matcha and make a cold Matcha Latte:

• 4 grams of Culinary Matcha Bio
• 200 ml of milk, also vegetable (soy or coconut)

At this point, you can shake, until you get a Matcha without lumps, with bright green color and tasty with the addition of milk.

Making Iced Tea With Ice Cubes

Although it may seem a bit unusual, this is one of the quickest techniques for having a tasty and enjoyable tea.

Here is the recipe:

• 7 ice cubes
• 4 teaspoons of tea leaves in 200 ml of water

Again, tea is prepared by hot brewing. Since there will be ice cubes intended to melt, it will be best to concentrate the doses of leaves and water so that the infusion does not become too diluted and thus lose its flavor.

The ice cubes should be placed in a glass pitcher or thermos. Once the infusion is ready, it should be poured directly onto the ice so that the contact between the two elements is immediate.

This preparation is great if you are at home and cooking; since it is very quick, you can make it really in just a few minutes. Ideally, prepare a pitcher of tea to be consumed slowly throughout the day.

In general, iced green teas are great, especially Japanese ones. In this case I propose a Hojicha, roasted Japanese green tea.

Japanese green teas always know how to give many surprises when prepared cold, as they manage to surprise with their sweetness. This Hojicha, which is very good even when prepared by the two previous techniques, retains its roasted and nutty side.

Japanese Iced Tea: Kōridashi

This technique is perhaps less well known, but it makes for a truly refreshing tea. Ice infusion preparation, also known as Kōridashi, involves tea leaves being in contact with ice cubes, which, as they melt, produce a concentrated, cool infusion. This technique is suitable for green teas, especially Japanese teas.

Here is how to prepare Japanese-style iced tea:

• 7-8 ice cubes
• 4 grams of Japanese leaf green tea (Sencha, Kukicha, Kabusecha, Genmaicha, Gyokuro)

Get a fairly large teapot, or a pitcher or water bottle. Insert an initial layer of 3-4 ice cubes, after which pour over half of the tea leaves you have already measured. Next, complete another layer with the remaining ice cubes, over which you can pour the last of the tea leaves.

Wait until the ice has melted almost completely. On a sunny day this will happen very easily! Otherwise you can pour 20 ml of room temperature water inside the teapot, so the ice will begin to melt sooner.

With the ice infusion technique we get a very concentrated green tea, in which marine, mineral and iodine hints will stand out, along with a delicate sweetness.

You now know as many as four techniques for brewing iced tea: try them all and find your favorite method for not giving up leaf tea in the warmer months!