I’ve found an easy way to make amazing iced tea at home. It’s fresh and tasty, and helps me stay away from the dreaded Diet Coke. The key is to use the iced tea making system that you can purchase at Teavana.
Step 1: Boil water. I use this durable I bought in college. It’s the same kind my Mom used when I was a kid. I think she still has hers.
Step 2: Choose which kind of tea you want. I have three canisters of Teavana looseleaf tea: Peppermint, Japanese Wild Cherry Green Tea and Lemon Green Tea. There are many more wonderful flavors, but these are three that I’m not allergic to. (I can’t have apple, strawberry, and peach, among others.) Sometimes I cut open tea bags of non-Teavana teas to make the iced tea.
Here’s what the Peppermint tea looks like in the canister.
Step 3: Measure the right amount of tea leaves into the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker on the right, and fill it with boiling water. I stir it a little while I wait for the timer to beep. Peppermint tea uses 1.5 tsp. of leaves and steeps for 5-6 minutes.
Step 4: Put the container of hot tea on top of the special Teavana pitcher that’s filled with ice. The pressure from below forces the tea out and into the pitcher, and I get instant iced tea.
I prefer to drink it in this I bought at Ralphs. It’s better than a glass on my desk, since if it spills it’s less likely to make a mess. I like how big it is, since it makes me more likely to drink more tea and water, which is good for me. It also fits into the car cup holder and is easy to clean in the dishwasher. I almost never use water bottles anymore. It gets great reviews on , where someone even points out that it’s made out of the safest type of plastic.
I might give this Teavana set to a few people for Christmas. Shhh!! (We’ll see if they read this blog.)
Sounds great. I LOVE TEA!!! I was actually going to start a tea of the week section on my site once it gets cool enough to start drinking hot tea.
The one thing I wanted to mention was about the temperature of the water that you are using. It seems like you are using high quality teas and one thing that I learned over the years is that too hot of water can actually burn the tea leaves and strip them of their health benefits as well. Check out this site for a few brewing tips. http://www.thefragrantleaf.com/brewingtips.html
I’ve always wanted a Tea set like this. It wood go good as I ate my Quesadilla.
Hmm. Sounds good but like a lot of trouble. Let me see how long it takes to get a Diet Coke instead. Start counting…
11 seconds.
Beat that!
hmmm…i like ice tea and i read the blog….
Thanks, Toby. I’ll try steeping in water that isn’t as hot.
I’m so glad I found this easy way to make iced tea. I wouldn’t do it if it weren’t so quick and tasty. I’ve been making so much of it that my freezer’s icemaker can’t keep up with me. I’ve had to actually make extra ice cubes in trays.
Wow!Now i can make ice tea which was tough for me.Now i can make my friends happy and enjoy.
Doesn’t anyone make sun tea anymore? Paradise Iced Tea works great and I also like teas made by Rishi (from Whole Foods). Delish!
Doesn’t it take sun and a long time to make sun tea? We don’t have any sunny windows in our house, and this is very quick to make. Sun tea is wonderful. I love Paradise Tea, but I’m allergic to it. :(
Thanks for the temperature tip, Toby. Ever since I read it, I’m not boiling the water.
Also, I discovered Adagio tea. I ordered some online, and even with free shipping it arrived today. Awesome!
KCH–
You live in SoCal!! Lots of sunny days. The Rishi tea is done in one or two hours max. Just put the water and the tea bag in a glass or plastic container on your sunny porch in the morning and you will be good to go for the afternoon!
Give it a try :)
I found my favorite tea at a Lupicia store. It’s called “Happiness” and you can order it online at http://www.lupiciausa.com/product_p/12408508.htm
Their Grapefruit Green and Passion teas are also wonderful.
I also ordered some great teas from Adagio: http://www.adagio.com/
They were reasonably priced and arrived the next day.