COLD STEEP ICED TEA

To say I love iced tea is an understatement.  It doesn’t matter what time of the day it is; I can probably be found with a glass of iced tea nearby.  As a little girl, I spent part of my summer vacation each year at my grandparents’ house in Colorado, where my grandmother served iced tea at lunch and dinner.  I have fond memories of my Grandma Laine making the daily pot of sun tea during breakfast and of helping her carry it to the back porch to “cook.”  We would do this every day.  My love for this refreshing beverage has only grown as I have gotten older.

While I don’t make my iced tea the same way my grandmother did, it is still my favorite refreshing drink to have at hand.  It turns out sun tea isn’t the healthiest way to make iced tea because using the sun to brew the tea can facilitate growth of bacteria in the container.  Yuck!  According to the Center for Disease Control, the two safest ways to make tea are either to boil or refrigerate your tea.  My favorite way is refrigerated iced tea, because it is so easy and creates a great smooth taste without being bitter.  So, here is my recipe for homemade, refreshing, and healthy iced tea. 

Ingredients:

2-Quart Glass Pitcher with Lid (I like this one from Amazon.)
8 Lipton Black Tea Bags
64 Ounces (1/2 Gallon) of Bottled or Filtered Water
Sweetener and/or Lemon (optional)

Directions:

1. Fill a glass pitcher with 64 ounces (1/2 gallon) of bottled water.  You can use tap or filtered water but since our tap water isn’t the greatest (it has a very chlorine taste–gross), I like to use bottled water. 

2. Place 8 tea bags inside pitcher, making sure the tea bags are immersed in water.  I like to remove the string and tag from the tea bags before I place them in my pitcher.  Cover and place in refrigerator. 

3. Refrigerate for 6-12 hours.  Remove tea bags and serve over ice.  Sweeten to taste and serve with a lemon slice if you like.   

Feel free to get creative and try the above recipe with your favorite flavored tea bags or loose leaf tea.  You can also adjust the quantity by using one tea bag or 2 teaspoons of loose leaf tea per cup of water (1/3 a cup for 64 ounces of water).  Just remember, if you use loose leaf tea, to remove the tea leaves before you serve.  Additionally, if the tea is too strong or weak, feel free to adjust the recipe to your liking.

Every time I pour myself a glass of iced tea, my childhood memories of summers at my grandparent’s house come flooding back to me, drinking tea on the patio as we sat and watched the afternoon summer thunderstorms roll in.  It’s a little different here in southern California, though.  We rarely have summer thunderstorms, but I still cherish those happy memories with each glass of refreshing iced tea I enjoy.