Ice tea was invented by chance at the World’s Fair in St. Petersburg. Louis in 1904. Since then, it has become a refreshing and summery alternative to the hot tea.
We have a lot of extremely good fruit teas that can be used for iced 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, variety delights at all times, and a good ice tea is fortunately just as easy to prepare.
Here you get tips for making your own summer fresh ice teas. They get good advice on the basic recipe and lots of inspiration for variations of ice tea.
General tips for ice tea
When you brew your ice tea, you get the best result by pouring the hot tea directly over a good amount of ice cubes. The tea must have been drawn and the tea leaves removed before pouring the tea water over the ice cubes.
The meeting between the hot tea and the cold ice cubes creates a shock-cooling effect. This ensures a better result than if you simply dilute tea with ice water and leave it in the fridge overnight.
What to use
Ice tea is often made on fruit teas, but you can also make ice tea on pure tea leaves that do not taste of fruit. Iced tea made from natural tea leaves (white, green, oolong or black tea without aroma, herbs or pieces of fruit) will often offer very fine flavor nuances. This is a great alternative to the sweeter iced teas.
Flavor it with sugar, honey or herbs
Ice tea can be sweetened or seasoned at any time. Sugar and honey are popular for sweetening an ice tea that can be made on English Breakfast Tea or another black tea, for example. Both can of course be used to sweeten any ice tea mixture.
In addition, herbs such as mint, basil or fresh lemon balm can both decorate the edge of the tea glass and be used to add extra flavor. Experiment with different blends until you find your personal favorite blends.
Decorate with lemon, raspberry or strawberry
Ice tea needs to be refreshing and many people like to put a slice of lemon or lime in their cool drink. As with the herbs, you can also choose to use the lemon to decorate the edge of the glass. Strawberries and raspberries and other fruits can also be used both in iced tea to give flavor and as a nice decoration.
For example, you can mix a few fresh raspberries in an iced tea based on a mild oolong and flavor it with cane sugar or honey for a delicious, sweetly refreshing drink.
On the whole, it is only the imagination and taste buds that set the limits of creativity when it comes to a homemade ice tea.
Something to eat
When you enjoy a cool cup of ice tea, you may also feel like eating a bit. 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. Of course, you can also get inspiration from the dessert menu at Perchs and enjoy some delicious small cakes or freshly baked scones with lemon curd for your ice tea.
Recipe for inspiration
Here you get a recipe for one of our favorite ice teas, Sencha ice tea. This green iced tea gets a nice color and is wonderfully 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 sieve so that the leaves can be easily removed. The sugar is added while the tea is brewing. The tea infuses for 7 minutes, after which the leaves are removed. Teen ckock-cools over lots of ice cubes.
The recipe for Sencha ice tea is from Stine Hincheldey Alwén’s book Afternoon Tea, which is full of inspiration for tea and baked goods that can be enjoyed all year round. The book can be purchased here.