Making Iced Tea

There are several different ways to make iced tea with your favorite loose-leaf tea (and not all of them even have to involve ice!).

If you have the time to prepare in advance, steep your tea as you would normally or per our Tea Brewing Guide instructions. Let it reach room temperature, and put it into the refrigerator overnight or for several hours to chill.

If you need your iced tea a little sooner, make a concentrated brew of the tea by steeping roughly twice as much loose tea in half to two-thirds the amount of water. It’s better to add more tea leaves than to let your tea steep too long, as that can draw out tannin, which will make your brew more bitter and astringent. Once that’s ready, simply add enough ice to make up for the full amount of beverage desired. This will make sure your iced tea is full-flavored and undiluted.

One of the easiest and most popular methods is simply to cold-brew tea. Let the tea steep for a few hours (or overnight!) in filtered water in the fridge, then take out the leaves in the morning. This method may take longer, but it provides the smoothest brew, often without even a hint of tannin. And unlike an oversteeped hot tea, you can rescue an overly-strong cold brew by adding more filtered water to taste. If you have a container with a tight-fitting lid, you can even make sparkling tea with this method! Regardless of whether it's sparkling or not, cold-brewing can give you fantastic flavor without even having to heat up water!

Interested in more ways to play with chilled tea? Check out the Discover Teas Tips and Techniques for Chilled Tea Treats eBook with exclusive recipes for how to make tea ice cream, DIY tea freeze pops, and more!

So which teas make great iced teas? Most of our teas ice and cold-brew wonderfully, but here are some suggestions from our staff and customers:

For Iced Black Tea:
• Baja Ice Tea Blend
• Pirate's Boo-Tea House Blend
• Peach Apricot or Decaf Peach Apricot Black Tea
• Black and Blue Monk House Blend
• Yorktown Patty House Blend 

For Iced Green Tea:
• Chocolate Covered Strawberry House Blend or Strawberry Green Tea
• Summer Mojito House Blend
• Mo-Rockin' Mint House Blend
• Year of the Dragon House Blend
• Kyoto Cherry Rose Festival Green Tea

For Iced Caffeine-Free Fruit & Herbal Teas:
• Peaceful Pathways House Blend
• Rooibos Provence
• Organic King Tut Lemonade
• Lady Hannah's Whole Fruit Blend
• Piña Colada Fruit Blend