How to Make Iced Tea - Simple things to do for best recipe (2024)

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video

The Lemon iced tea recipe is a perfect refreshing cool drink for summer. You can make homemade honey lemon iced tea with easily available ingredients at home with this quick and easy iced tea recipe. A foolproof recipe to make perfect and healthy iced tea at home each time. You can customise and add flavours as per your preference.

How to Make Iced Tea - Simple things to do for best recipe (1)

Summers are a time to enjoy refreshing drinks to stay hydrated. But Many of them are loaded with a lot of sweeteners. Or sometimes a recipe requires you to have so many fancy ingredients that you actually don't end up making it.

For those times, I have this delicious and easy lemon iced tea recipe that you can make with basic ingredients in your pantry.

Ice chilled Iced Tea

Making ice-chilled iced tea is one of the fastest methods. In the ice chilling method, I first brew hot tea and then add a lot of ice to chill it. You have a perfect pitcher of iced ready in no time and it's ready to drink right away.

I am sharing with you this honey lemon iced tea recipe with 3 ingredients. All of these are easily available in your kitchen and are refreshing and yummy in taste?

How to Make Iced Tea - Simple things to do for best recipe (2)

How to Make Homemade Iced Tea

There are different ways to make iced tea. 3 Popular ones are:

Iced Chilled Ice tea: You make hot tea and immediately add a lot of ice to chill it.

Hot Brewing: In this method, You brew hot tea as usual and then allow to cool it in the refrigerator before adding ice.

Cold Brew Iced Tea: This is the slowest method for making cold brew iced tea, tea is brewed in the refrigerator for a minimum of 12 hours and that concoction is used to make iced tea.

Ingredients To Make Iced Tea

Tea leaves: For making lemon and honey iced tea, I used simple loose tea leaves. I have used black Assam tea. You can use Darjeeling or English breakfast or green tea leaves to make this ice tea.

Teabags/ Sachet: For the quickest way to make iced tea you can use tea sachets. This is a non-messy way to make ice tea. Just steep tea bags in hot water for 3-4 minutes add honey and lemon juice and tonnes of ice. You have chilled iced tea in less than 6 minutes.

Honey: You can use or skip honey as per your taste. You can make unsweetened or sweetened iced tea as per your choice.

Lemon or Lime: Use lemon or lime juice as per your taste preference and availability.

Mint is optional but adds a nice refreshing summery flavour and is cooling in nature.

SO making ice tea at home is super simple. You do not need Ice tea mix or tea bags.

Sounds simple? Yes! Making the iced tea from scratch at home is very simple if you follow certain tips for making the perfect iced tea pitcher which I have mentioned below.

Recipe notes and Tips make Best Iced Tea

Making Iced Tea at home to enjoy homemade Iced Tea is quite simple. Follow these easy tips to make the best homemade Iced tea.

Tea to water Ratio

Tea to water ratio is important. When you are making hot tea, the flavours are prominent so you use less amount of tea leaves. But the flavours of cold tea mellow down.

SO make sure to use a little more quantity of tea leaves for iced tea. For example, in hot tea, I use 1 teaspoon of tea for two cups but for ice tea, I would use 2tsp for 3cups of water, or slightly more depending on the potency of tea leaves I am using.

Right way to Steep the Iced Tea

Steeping time is the time for which you allow the tea to remain in the hot water, so steeping time is important when you are brewing tea.

Over steeping the tea makes it bitter. For stronger tea to add more tea leaves rather than cooking it more or steep it more.

Cool it and then refrigerate

Allow the tea to cool down before storing it in the fridge. If you place hot tea in the fridge your iced tea can become cloudy.

So always make sure that you cool iced tea properly before adding ice or placing the iced tea pitcher in the fridge.

If you take care of the above-mentioned tips while making ice tea, I am sure you can make a perfect pitcher of homemade lemon Iced tea at home.

How to Make Iced Tea - Simple things to do for best recipe (3)

This is a basic Iced tea recipe that forms the base of many delicious iced tea flavours. You can make many refreshing fruity iced tea recipes using this as a base.

More Such Recipes

  1. Kanji Recipe
  2. Apple Iced TeaRecipe
  3. Non-Alcoholic Summer Drink Recipes
  4. Basil Seeds Sharbat
  5. Rose Falooda
  6. Cold Coffee
  7. Gond Katira sharbat with Rose Flavour
  8. Mango Mojito
  9. Strawberry Lassi
  10. Paan Lassi
  11. Kiwi Iced Tea
  12. Aam Panna Recipe - Raw Mango Sharbat

ORIGINALLY THIS POST WAS PUBLISHED ON 17Th April 2017: Updated with new info on 13 June 2020

Watch Video

If You like this recipe and made it Please rate the recipe. It helps us to reach more people. You can follow me onInstagram,Facebook,Youtube,Pinterestfor more food inspirations.

📖 Recipe

How to Make Iced Tea - Simple things to do for best recipe (4)

Homemade Easy Iced Tea Recipe

Basic Iced tea recipe and tips to make best iced tea at home. Simple points to remember while making homemade iced tea.

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Appetizer, drink

Cuisine: continental, english, Indian

Prep Time: 2 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 4

Calories: 66kcal

Author: Rekha Kakkar

Ingredients

  • 4 Tbsp honey
  • 1 litre water filtered water
  • 2 tablespoon lemon juice
  • Lots of ice
  • 6 tsp tea leaves (single origin Tea is best)

Instructions

  • Heat up filtered water in a pan on the stovetop or use anelectric kettle.

  • While heating water takes care not to boil it completely, it may turn iced tea cloudy. Switch off the heat just before boiling add tea leaves and allow the tea leaves to steep and sit in hot water for 3 minutes.

  • After that, strain it with tea filter into a pitcher and cool the liquid for 20 minutes or so.

  • After that add ice cubes, lemon juice, honey and stir it all to combine well.

  • To make quick Iced Chilled tea, after straining add ice cubes along with honey to sweeten it and lemon for taste

  • Now add few more cubes of ice in a glass pour iced tea and garnish it with a lemon slice and mint leaves.

  • The chilled glass of refreshing honey and lemon iced tea is ready. Enjoy!

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 66kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 11mg | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin C: 3mg | Iron: 1mg

Related

How to Make Iced Tea - Simple things to do for best recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to make iced tea taste better? ›

With this method, the trick is to brew a strong tea base with a small portion of hot water, let it cool a bit, then dilute it to taste with cold water. If you chill the tea too fast (such as pouring warm tea over ice), it releases more astringent tannins that turn the tea cloudy and produce a more bitter-dry taste.

What is the best way to make cold tea? ›

Combine tea and water in a covered pitcher or jar and place outside or in a window with direct sun for at least six hours. As the sun warms the water, the tea slowly releases its flavor. Strain or remove the tea bags and serve over ice. Or, keep it refrigerated until you want to drink it.

What tea is best for homemade iced tea? ›

Iced tea can be made out of regular tea bags and loose leaf tea, or large tea bags made specifically for pitchers of iced tea. Black tea is commonly used for iced tea, but white tea, green tea, and oolong tea also work particularly well over ice without losing flavor integrity or aroma.

How can I make my tea more flavorful? ›

The first and easiest way to enhance your tea is with Tea Flavoring Concentrates. The potent drops increase the Flavor profile of beverages without adding sugars or carbs. You can incorporate Tea Flavorings in cold or warm brews and enjoy the pleasant notes of Honey, Cherry Blossom, Chamomile, and much more!

Is iced tea good for you? ›

Iced tea made with the Camellia sinensis plant has many of the same benefits as hot tea, so long as there aren't too many additives—like sugar. In general, unsweetened iced tea gives the most health benefits since added sugars in sweet iced tea may negate the positives.

How many tea bags per cup of water for iced tea? ›

Ways to make an Individual Size glass of iced tea:

Boil 8 fluid ounces of water (1 cup), pour over 1 Luzianne Cup Size Iced Tea bag. Brew 3-5 minutes and sweeten to taste. Pour into a glass of ice (of course you can also serve it hot).

What tea bags are best for iced tea? ›

It is often black tea that is used in iced tea but you can use any type. Fruit tea bags lend themselves very well to making iced tea too. Making it is simple too. Simply add 1 teabag per four cups of water into a pitcher and let the tea bags steep.

Is there a difference between Ice Tea and iced tea? ›

Do you know the difference between ICED tea and ICE tea? Iced tea refers to hot tea that has been poured over ice. Ice tea is tea that has either been brewed cold or has been cooled down before serving.

What kind of tea does McDonald's use for their iced tea? ›

McDonald's Iced Tea recipe features a brisk blend of orange pekoe black tea, freshly brewed and served ice cold. Wondering if there are any calories in Unsweet Tea from McDonald's? Unsweetened Iced Tea is a zero-calorie, sugar-free iced tea that pairs perfectly with your menu favorites. *At participating McDonald's.

What iced tea does Starbucks use? ›

Each iced tea is handcrafted and shaken 10 times to bring out the delicious taste in every perfectly chilled cup. Teavana® Shaken Green and Teavana Shaken Black teas may be ordered sweetened or unsweetened for a delicious and refreshing zero-calorie beverage any time of day.

What is the secret to making good tea? ›

The best brewing method is to use a tea pot and loose leaf tea - never tea bags. For black tea, brew leaves for 2–5 minutes, depending on desired strength, at 190–200 degrees F. For green tea, brew leaves for 30 seconds to 1 minute, depending on desired strength, at 160–170 degrees F.

How do you make tea like a pro? ›

Pour the water over the tea and steep for 3 to 7 minutes

For every other tea (black, green, oolong, dark), you can probably get away with 3 minutes. Taste the tea at this point—if you want it stronger, keep steeping! But don't just let the tea hang out in the mug/pot forever, otherwise it will get tannic and bitter.

Why doesnt my iced tea taste good? ›

Your Iced Tea Tastes "Off" Just like cloudy tea, a funky tasting tea could have something to do with glassware, water, or brewing methods. If your tea is tasting overly astringent, try adjusting the amount of tea you're adding or the length of time you're brewing.

How do you fix weak iced tea? ›

Here's how to fix the most common iced tea mishaps: Problem #1: The tea isn't strong enough. Solution: Add more tea. Sometimes all it takes is an extra bag or two, or an extra teaspoon if you're working with loose leaves. Certain teas, like hibiscus, take better to cold water than others.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Terence Hammes MD

Last Updated:

Views: 5733

Rating: 4.9 / 5 (69 voted)

Reviews: 92% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Terence Hammes MD

Birthday: 1992-04-11

Address: Suite 408 9446 Mercy Mews, West Roxie, CT 04904

Phone: +50312511349175

Job: Product Consulting Liaison

Hobby: Jogging, Motor sports, Nordic skating, Jigsaw puzzles, Bird watching, Nordic skating, Sculpting

Introduction: My name is Terence Hammes MD, I am a inexpensive, energetic, jolly, faithful, cheerful, proud, rich person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.