the scoop on Iced Tea
We love fresh iced tea made with high quality organic tea leaves. It's refreshing, invigorating and versatile, there's so much to love. Get the scoop on iced tea with some history, info and brewing tips so you can easily make great iced tea at home. Forget those bottled beverages and pricey energy drinks and go with mother nature's original energy drink for a fraction of the cost. Brew loose leaves, fill up your own bottle and you'll be chilling all summer long.
We hope you enjoy learning about iced tea, check out the teas in store, see the popular picks, ask us your questions or visit the cafe in Seattle for everything you want to know about fresh organic iced tea.
Iced Tea History
Over 5000 years ago, brewed tea was introduced by China to the world. But at the turn of the century, "iced tea" was pretty much popularized right here in the United States. For the last few hundred years in the U.S. there have been varying accounts of the emergence of this cool brew including published recipes from the early 1800's and historical accounts of iced tea being served to soldiers during the Civil War. But a lot of folks attribute iced tea's popularity to a cool idea on hot June day in 1904.
The story goes, on a scorching day at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, Englishman Richard Blechynden's tea booth was not doing so "hot" until Richard put his tea over ice and people went crazy for it. Up until this time, Americans were drinking mostly Chinese green tea. He was introducing Black Ceylon tea from India and over ice, people were charmed. Maybe it was black tea's richer taste and full caffeinated pep, but in part thanks to that hot day in 1904 we have June as National Iced Tea month to celebrate and now it's more popular than ever.
Today's iced tea is at yet another crossroads. With the proliferation of today's industrial bottled tea, at RemedyTeas we are inspired to get back to the basics —fresh brewed iced tea. We are all for convenience, but great tea is simply leaves and water. Tea costs cents not dollars. Don't pay for needless packaging and ingredients between you and your brew. Brew loose leaf tea into reusable bottles and save your money and your environment. It's not just dollars and cents though, teas powerful nutrients are most active fresh and it tastes better too. Enjoy saving money, drinking green and tasting the freshest tea by doing it yourself. All it takes is some good tea, a good brew and the rest is up to you.
What types are best
A world of tea is open for your tasting. Blended teas offer hints of exotic flavors and pure leaf teas can be straight up delicious. Visit our iced tea page for selections of top iced teas at RemedyTeas. Pure teas make excellent iced teas but the most popular teas with folks at RemedyTeas are our artisan blends. These are teas that are blended with herbs, fruits, spices or botancials to reveal tastes that are fruity, flowery, cooling or zesty and everything in between. Unblended (pure, unflavored) tea is simply divine. Pure, clean, teas of every type offer a range of taste from light to bold to soothing or invigorating. Refreshing green teas, brisk blacks, sumblime whites brew the great taste of pure tea. Single herbal teas can refresh and invigorate like pure rooibos, fruity hibiscus, cool peppermint, lemongrass and more. And don't forget the herbal boost from iced yerba mate.
Brewing Ice Tea
We always have tons of people asking how to make iced tea as good as we make it at RemedyTeas. Here's the scoop. It all starts with good tea, proper brewing and a little practice. There are many simple ways to brew killer iced tea, you can select a method that works best for you.
By The Cup or the Gallon
Brew your tea as you normally would. Green teas brewed with a lower water temperature with short steep times, black teas with a high water temp and a few minutes steep and herbals with your hottest temp water for about 4-8 minutes. Refer to your brewing tips at our website and each tea is clearly marked on packaged tea from RemedyTeas. This varies per tea, but use approximately 1 tablespoon per cup for iced tea and for a gallon of tea add 3.5-5 tablespoons per 64 ounces. We like to brew our iced teas strong for full flavor. Do this by adding more leaf, not by adding more steep time.
Method 1. Brew It Chill it
As simple as could be. Brew a cup or pot of tea as normal following the appropriate temperature and brew times. Let it cool and pop it in the fridge. It takes about 6 hours to properly chill tea, so either make it first thing in the morning or brew a pot the night before and you’ll be drinking great iced tea all day long. Most important, use good tea and brew it properly and you'll have delicious iced tea. If you are drinking hot tea at night and have some left over, pop it in the fridge, strained and sealed to try it the next day iced.
Method 2. Cold brewing
Brewing with cold water might seem a little different but tastes great. Using the same principles as "sun tea", cold brewing can be done in small or large batches by letting the tea steep in the fridge overnight 6-12 hours. It's great iced tea brewed with no heat. Cold brewing requires simply a couple containers to brew and store tea in and a way to strain leaves away. After brewing, use a household strainer or cheesecloth to strain tea. You do not have to really be concerned with oversteeping tea when cold brewing and it has a slightly mellower flavor with no bitterness that's always clear and beautiful.
Method 3. Instant iced
This awesome method is a “single cup” method for instant iced tea on a cup-by-cup basis. What you do is to make a concentrate, then quickly dilute it over ice. Use double the amount of leaves that you normally use per cup, use the normal temperature and steep times and pour the strong tea into an ice filled glass and you are good to go. If you like iced tea with a touch of sweetener, add it when the tea is hot. Then chill.
fresh is best
So crisp, so flavorful, so clean. There is nothing like fresh made iced tea brewed from quality tea leaves. Tea keeps pretty well in the refrigerator if you follow some simple tips. Seal your brewed tea very well. It really matters. Keep tea in a sealed container or wrap the top of your pitcher to prevent fridge tastes and aromas from mixing with your tea and to keep the fresh tea flavor inside. We prefer to not keep tea around too long because the fresher the tea, the better the tea. Iced tea keeps up to five days depending on the brew and it won't spoil for over a week. We recommend making enough for one day, but good tea will certainly keep great flavor for a couple days. Iced tea does lose its flavor over a couple days and will expire so brew it in small batches, using good quality tea and you'll always be drinking great iced tea.
what, no sun tea?
Yes, no sun tea. At RemedyTeas, we opt for the Cold Brew method using a refrigerator. Just like any fresh food, it is a good idea to practice the safest preparation techniques and a little risk exists with leaving tea uncontrolled out in the sun. We know, we know, our Grandmothers did it too and it didn't kill us, but why risk the chance of growth of any harmful bacteria when the fridge works just as well and its pure, chilled and delicious. Sorry Grandma :)
southern Sweet Tea
Sweet tea is a Southern Classic that's typically a bold black tea that has been heavily sweetened while brewing and you could ignite feuds over who's recipe is best. While everyone likes it their own way, there is one universal trait; this tea is sweet. Real sweet. Crazy sweet. Make it your way, but the basics are as follows; Boil a pot of water. While the water is boiling, add a load of sweetener and stir. Brew some strong black tea. Teas of India are best. Strain and cool with cold water diluting the strong tea and top with ice. Garnish with a lemon twist. Some folks like lime or mint. Some folks add a pinch of baking soda while the tea steeping to enhance taste and remove a bit of bitterness. A word of advice, have some simple syrup, agave, stevia or extra sugar around because one thing is certain, someone is going to want it even sweeter. Our Deep South gallon recipe suggestion is below but please email us your favorite recipe and we'll test it out.
Contact Us For Tips
You have access to hundreds of fresh brewed iced teas at RemedyTeas and for easy brewing at your home, we're here to help you with whatever you need. Please contact us anytime you want to know anything about iced tea brewing. There are so many simple, wonderful ways to make iced tea. Pick a tea you love and we'll help you brew it iced. We have ton of techniques for individual teas, tea cocktail recipes and we'll be happy to share with you. The more you brew fresh organic iced tea the more you will love it, but we know that getting started it might seem more complicated than it is. Ask us here and we'll help you or visit us in store in Seattle and we'll show you first hand. Have fun sipping your healthy, tasty iced tea.