How to Make Hot Brewed Iced Tea

There are a lot of ways to make iced tea. I’ll be talking about all of them in the next few months here, but what I want to focus on today is the “proper” way to make iced tea. The reason why I say it is “proper” is because this method extracts the full flavor from the tea to give you the best tasting iced tea possible. On top of that, it is the way that most people make iced tea and have been doing so for decades. What I am talking about is Hot Brewed Iced Tea

What is Hot Brewed Iced Tea?

Well, it is iced tea that is, quite obviously, brewed hot. When it comes down to it, all iced tea consists of is tea that is served cooled or iced. With this method, all you really need to do is brew hot tea and pout it over ice. The only thing you need to be conscious of is dilution.

What you need

2 teaspoons of tea for every 6-8 ounces of water (this is double the amount you would use for hot tea)
A Teapot
A Large Pitcher
Ice

How to make it

Heat your water to the desired temperature (Boiling for Black Tea, slightly cooled for the other types of tea)
Place the tea in your teapot
Pour the water into the teapot and steep for the appropriate time (approx. 4 minutes, but follow the directions on the tea label)
While the tea is steeping, fill the pitcher to the top with ice
Pour the fully steeped tea over ice
You are ready to serve!

Won’t the ice make the tea taste watery?

It could, but that is why we double the amount of tea used. All you need to do is make your tea double the strength as normal. If the tea is double strength, then the water will dilute it and bring it back to normal. If this sounds confusing, don’t worry about it. If you follow the recipe above you will have tea that is the perfect strength.

Summary

Hot brewed iced tea extracts the most flavors giving you the best tasting iced tea possible. It is both easy to make and takes little time before you get to enjoy a delicious glass of iced tea. If you do find that your tea is too watery or strong, then just adjust the amount of tea accordingly. Remember, there are no rules to making tea, just guidelines. This also applies to iced tea. Enjoy!

photo: www.flickr.com/photos/genista/6787720/