Making Your Own Iced Tea: 4 Methods To Try
Every summer, when the thermometer rises, tea lovers dream of delicious, refreshing and thirst-quenching iced teas. But it's not always easy to make your own homemade iced tea at the right temperature and perfectly brewed. For those who are still fumbling, here are 4 methods to try.
Method 1: hot infusion with cooling in the refrigerator
The first method for making your homemade iced tea is to brew the leaves or bags hot, as usual, and then let the resulting drink cool.
The main advantage of this method is that it doesn't upset your habits, since all you have to do is prepare your infusion as you usually do:
1- Choose a tea that you like, for example among the Kusmi Tea organic iced teas.
2- Measure out the leaves or bags as usual.
3- Adjust the water temperature depending on whether you are using black tea, white tea or green tea.
4- Simply double the brewing time so that your beverage is a little stronger than usual. Indeed, when it is served cold, it must be a little stronger to not lose its taste.
5- Strain the drink and let it cool, first at room temperature and then in the refrigerator, ideally overnight.
As you can see from the last step, the major drawback of this method is that it takes time. To cool hot-brewed teas, you'll need several hours.
Method n°2: hot infusion cooled with ice cubes
To remedy the problem with method number 1, you can try a second much faster method.
Method number 2 for making your homemade Iced tea involves brewing the bags or leaves hot, then cooling the resulting drink with ice cubes placed in a pitcher or directly in your glass.
Here are the steps to follow:
1- Use the tea of your choice but double the usual dose so as to prepare a concentrated infusion.
2- Adjust the water temperature and brewing time according to the tea variety you used.
3- Fill a pitcher or glasses with ice cubes.
4- All you have to do is pour the hot brew over the ice cubes. These will cool your drink and balance its taste by melting.
Method n°3 : cold infusion or maceration
The following method for making your homemade Iced tea is not strictly speaking an infusion, but rather maceration because it uses water at room temperature.
It consists of letting the leaves or bags macerate in contact with cold water in order to extract the flavors.
This method number 3 of cold infusion requires time: it takes between 6 and 8 hours of maceration for a green or white tea and between 8 and 12h for a black tea.
Here is the method to follow step by step:
1- Use the purest water possible, i.e. spring water or filtered water.
2- Pour into a pitcher room temperature water.
Do not use water that is already ice cold as the flavors are not released as well in a very cold liquid.
3- Add the leaves or sachets, increasing the usual dose if you want to save maceration time.
4- Place the pitcher in the refrigerator and wait!
With this cold brewing method, Iced tea does not develop any bitterness or astringency.
The resulting drink is also almost completely free of theine, which may be of interest to children and pregnant women who should not consume it.
Method 4: Cold brew with ice cubes
Method number 4, which comes to us from Japan, is called koridashi and involves infusing tea over ice. If you have time, Koridashi is one of the most bluff methods of making your own homemade iced tea!
The great thing about this method is that it doesn't require any kettle or time in the fridge.
This slow brewing method with ice cubes also reduces the bitterness and astringency of the beverage.
1- Prepare a large quantity of ice cubes, if possible with spring water or filtered water.
2- Use loose tea, with the same amount of leaves as usual or a little more if you want a full-bodied drink.
3- Fill a large pitcher with ice cubes, sprinkling them with tea leaves as you fill it.
4- Just wait for the ice to melt. It is the melting of the ice cubes that gives Koridashi its unique flavor.
5- Now all you have to do is strain the drink and enjoy!
