Iced Tea

With 4th of July just around the corner Iced Tea is becoming all the buzz it seems. It makes perfect sense too, with the mercury rising who wants to make a piping hot cup of oolong and drink it down. I for one don't. In actuality though I tend to keep some black iced tea on hand pretty much all year round. So I thought I would share my formula for iced tea that I use.

20g black tea leaf (pretty much any will do)
2 quarts ice
2 quarts water
apple juice/honey/orange juice or fruit (optional)

I normally bring the 2 quarts of water to a full rolling boil and then toss in the 20g of black leaf. The leaf that I use tends to be a mix of different sources, leftovers from various reviews, tidbits leftover, and sometimes I just add some in the mix to change up the flavor. Normally I use some flavored tea leaf for this. Mixing and matching different flavors produces a nice variety of flavors, and the base teas tend to be the same base. I.e. if you were to get yourself a handful of different flavored teas from Adagio's flavored selection and mix and match to make your batch of tea is an ideal way to keep it changing and still consistent. Once the leaf is added to the boiling water I turn off the heat and put the lid back on the kettle. I let it steep for 5 minutes. While this is happening I get my 5qt iced tea jug (one of those little plastic jugs with the spout on the bottom) Fill it about halfway with the ice and a little bit of water. If I have some juice, fruit or honey, I add that in at this point. It adds for a little bit of sweetness. Normally I use either one orange or apple, or a few ounces of juice. About a tablespoon of honey works well too. After the tea has steeped for 5 minutes, strain the tea into the jug and stir. Alternatively if you don't have ice handy and you don't need it right away, you can also just replace the ice with cool water and stick it into the refrigerator.

A few things to note about the way that I make Iced tea though. I tend to like mine a bit on the stronger side, if you find it is too strong for you, either dilute it more or cut back on the leaf. Your initial tea will have a dark, but clear appearance to it, after cooling the clearness will be replaced by a browner murky hue. This is normal and doesn't really affect the flavor. This also seems to be a factor of the strength I brew mine at. If you go for a lighter brew you won't see this as readily.