Leveringstid 2-3 hverdage Ice tea was by accident invented at the world Exhibition in St. Louis in 1904, but it has not prevented the refreshing and summer-like version of tea in becoming a popular alternative to warm tea.
It is funny how ice tea has become a popular beverage for summer and spring, because in fact you should drink something hot when the weather hot. However, a good ice tea is just as easy to prepare as a traditional cup of a variety.
Here you will get tips to make your own fresh and summer-like ice teas. You will get good advice for the basic recipe and lots of inspiration for variations of ice tea you can try out at home.
General tips for ice tea
When preparing ice tea, you get the best result by pouring the hot tea water directly over a good amount of ice cubes. The tea water must have steeped and the leaves must have been removed before pouring the water over the ice cubes.
When the hot water and the cold ice cubes join together, it creates a chock cooling effect, which simply ensures a better result than if you simply dilute tea extractions with ice water and leave this in the refrigerator overnight.
Ice tea is often made on fruit teas, but you can also make ice tea on more serious tea leaves which do not taste of berries or fruit, but tastes of pure tea. Ice tea which is made on natural tea leaves (white, green, Oolong or black tea without aroma, herbs or pieces of fruit) will often offer some very fine tasting nuances and create a nice alternative to the sweeter ice teas that you will often make with fruit tea as a base.
Taste with cane sugar, honey or herbs
Ice tea can be sweetened or seasoned at any time according to taste and pleasure. Cane sugar and honey are popular to sweeten an ice tea that, for example, can be made at Luxury Keemun or another black tea. Both, of course, can be used to sweeten any ice tea blend you make.
In addition, herbs such as mint, basil or fresh lemon balm can both decorate the edge of the tea glass, and can be used to add an extra twist to the ice tea itself. Experiment with different combinations until you find your own personal favorite of combinations.
Decorate with lemon, raspberry or strawberry
The point of ice tea is to be refreshing, and many peoplelike to put a slice of lemon or lime in their cool drink. As with the herbs that we mentioned before, you can also choose to put the lemon on the edge of the glass as a decoration. Strawberries and raspberries and other fruits can also be used, both in the iced tea to add flavour, or simply as a nice decoration.
You can, for example, mix a couple of fresh raspberries with an ice tea based on a mild Oolong and add cane sugar or honey to create a lovely, sweet and refreshing beverage.
On the whole, it is only the imagination and taste buds that limits the creativity when it comes to home-made ice tea.
For the small hunger
When you enjoy a cool glass of ice tea you might also feel like a little something to snack on. As with traditional tea, the possibilities for a delicious accessory are many, for example you can make a few fine finger sandwiches for your drink. You can of course also get some inspiration from the Dessert Menu at Perch’s Tea Room, and enjoy some lovely small cakes or freshly baked scones with lemon curd next to your ice tea.
Recipe for inspiration
Here you will get a recipe for one of our favorite ice teas, the Sencha ice tea. This green ice tea has a really beautiful colour and is very refreshing in the summer heat.
Sencha Ice Tea
- 5 tablespoons of Sencha tea
- 1 litre of water (80 degrees)
- 10 Large pieces of sugar (possibly cane sugar/honey)
The tea is brewed with a large strainer so that the leaves can be removed easily. The sugar is added while the tea steeps. The tea steeps for 7 minutes after which the tea leaves are removed. The tea chock cools over a large amount of ice cubes.
The recipe for Sencha ice tea is from Stine Hincheldey Alwén’s book Afternoon tea, which is filled with inspiration for tea and pastries, which can be enjoyed all year. The book can be purchased here.