How do you make Ice Tea?

Not sweet tea...........not "sun tea"............

I always put boiling water in a pyrex glass decanter and put three or four tea bags in and let it steep until done. Throw the tea bags out and voila the tea is ready to be put in the refrigerator.

I recently heard of a strange method of taking a glass pitcher and filling it half way with cold water.

Then you take a stainless pot and boil enough water to fill the pitcher to the top. Put in the five tea bags with tags removed and boil ten minutes. Throw out the tea bags and then put the tea liquid in the pitcher.

Refigerate or pour over ice for iced tea.

Which method would be the best?

I imagine either would work just fine.

I just made a batch of peppermint iced tea this afternoon. Here's my method.

Boil water. Pour into 2qt pyrex bowl over 2/3c loose peppermint leaves + 1/4 cup loose licorice root. (Licorice root sweetens the tea without sugar). Steep for 20 minutes. Strain into 2qt pitcher 1/3 filled with ice. Pop it in the fridge!

I know one reason for the proliferation of iced tea recipes is that it can harbor bacteria. Ordinarily, brewing and drinking it hot kills the bacteria, but if you heat it quickly and then don't cool it quickly, some can survive and multiply happily in the interim temperature between hot and cold: here's a Snopes articleabout sun tea, which surprisingly pertains to herbal tea as well (I'd thought it was the fermentation process in black tea, but apparently microorganisms are everywhere, go figure.)

Many of the methods similar to what you described above (I often brew double-strength hot tea and pour it over ice) are to facilitate chilling the tea to get it out of the "temperature danger zone (40-140F) as quickly as possible.

I used to make sun tea but now stopped. I think brewed tea tastes better. I am intrigued by the second method and will try it soon.

Ihave been making ice tea using fruit flavored teas this summer. I use 8 teabags to 4 cups of boiling water. I use a 4 cup measure. After brewing for about 5 minutes, I throw away the tea bags and pour the concentrate into a pitcher. I add 6 cups of cold water and place in frig to store.
Paulette

I use an iced tea pitcher we got as a wedding gift. It has a small filter that slides in on one side where you can put either tea bags or loose tea (I've found that bags work better). Anyway, I use 5 Republic of Tea tea bags and fill the pitcher about halfway with water just short of boiling. I brew for 10 minutes, take out the bags, and fill the rest of the pitcher with ice. Then, right into the fridge.

I make it in the refrigerator, with tea bags and cold water. I used to make sun tea, until I heard on a recent episode of "The Splendid Table" that it was a recipe for bacterial growth. Before that I used to make it with boiling water, but didn't like how cloudy it would get within a day or two.

If it were up to me I could leave it unsweetened, but to keep the natives from getting restless I make some simple syrup to sweeten the pitcher.

I bought an ice tea maker at target and it works great. You just add cold water to the little machine on the side, fill the pitcher with ice, place whatever types of tea in the top container, you can also add skin of a fruit, mint, whatever...then the water boils and infuses in. I really like this method as I can make different flavors with ingredients as well as tea bags. I also do the old-fashioned way of adding almost boiling water to a glass container (purchased at argo) then place the loose tea on top for three-five minutes then place in the fridge.

The first maker is perfect for wanting to drink tea right away as well, while the second you have to wait a little bit for it to cool down.

We use the Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Pot. Be warned; there are different versions. The best version involves a basket with an open/closed mechanism. Stay away from the one that has a "brew strength" dial; it doesn't really work well. We use Luzianne family style bags (3 per pot), filtered or reverse osmosis water (1.5 quarts) and ice to the top of the pitcher. Hit the button and voila! Ice Tea!

My husband drinks ice tea exclusively. We go through at least a gallon per day. If there was a way to set up an ice tea IV, he'd be a happy camper!

I am a huge ice tea fan, and so is my family. We prefer the Southern Style of iced tea.
We prefer the luzianne tea bags, like to use 3-4 family sized bags, a 1/4 of a teaspoon of baking soda, 1.5 cups of sugar. Normally like 4 cups of reverse osmosis water boiled, add in the baking soda and tea bags, let it sit for 20 minutes. Pour into your pitcher, add the sugar, add cold RO water, and put it on ice or refrigerate it.
My family has done this for years and it tastes great.

Rocky33 wrote:I am a huge ice tea fan, and so is my family. We prefer the Southern Style of iced tea.
We prefer the luzianne tea bags, like to use 3-4 family sized bags, a 1/4 of a teaspoon of baking soda, 1.5 cups of sugar. Normally like 4 cups of reverse osmosis water boiled, add in the baking soda and tea bags, let it sit for 20 minutes. Pour into your pitcher, add the sugar, add cold RO water, and put it on ice or refrigerate it.
My family has done this for years and it tastes great.

What's the purpose of the baking soda? Does it somehow mitigate the sterile taste of the RO water?

stevez wrote:

Rocky33 wrote:I am a huge ice tea fan, and so is my family. We prefer the Southern Style of iced tea.
We prefer the luzianne tea bags, like to use 3-4 family sized bags, a 1/4 of a teaspoon of baking soda, 1.5 cups of sugar. Normally like 4 cups of reverse osmosis water boiled, add in the baking soda and tea bags, let it sit for 20 minutes. Pour into your pitcher, add the sugar, add cold RO water, and put it on ice or refrigerate it.
My family has done this for years and it tastes great.

What's the purpose of the baking soda? Does it somehow mitigate the sterile taste of the RO water?

The baking soda is supposed to soften the tannins and also darken the tea.