Brewing tips for Iced Tea and some recommended teas to ice.
Black teas which are used to make the traditional iced tea, can be hot steeped or cold steeped. Both work well, cold steeped takes longer and produces a milder less brisk tea. A type of cold steep would be sun tea, a technique used in the southwest of the US where tea is put in water and left for a number of hours in the sun. There have been cautions put out warning that there is the potential for bacterial growth in sun tea. Hot steeped tea is quicker to make but can be sharper in flavour and more likely to get cloudy when poured over ice. Note, a cloudy iced tea still tastes fine, it just might be less visually appealing. When brewing hot tea if you reduce the temperature of the water when brewing tea you can lessen the chance of cloudiness and make a smoother iced tea.
Click here to see some recommended Black teas to ice
Traditional Iced Tea (hot steep)
Steep 1 tsp of tea per 300ml (10oz) of hot not boiling water for 45-60 minutes, refrigerate until cool, pour over a glass of ice
Traditional Iced Tea (cold steep)
Steep 1.5 tsp of tea per 300ml (10oz) of room temperature water and refrigerate at least overnight, pour over a glass of ice, NOTE: less ice is required.
Fruit (Herbal) iced tea is a lot more tolerant of heat and as such really needs only hot steeping, not boiling water. The fruit iced tea Granville Island Tea Co uses is a blend of fruit tisanes which provide the widest spectrum of fruit flavours, however any fruit tisane is perfectly acceptable. Fruit teas do not turn cloudy or bitter however they can become stronger over time, so watch out for that.
Click here to see some recommended Fruit teas to ice
Herbal Fruit Iced Tea
Steep 1 tsp of tea in 300ml (10oz) of not quite boiling water for 60-90 minutes, refrigerate until cool, to serve pour over a glass of ice.