COLD BREW ICED TEA
Cold brewing is a wonderfully simple way to make iced tea at home, transforming ordinary tea leaves or tea bags into a smooth, refreshing drink with very little effort. Instead of using hot water, cold brewing involves steeping tea in cold or room temperature water in the fridge for several hours, allowing the delicate flavours to develop slowly. The result is a naturally mellow tea with a lighter, smoother taste and less bitterness, perfect for sipping on a warm afternoon. Simply add your favourite tea to a jug of cold water, leave it to infuse for around 6–12 hours, strain, and enjoy over ice. Black tea, green tea, white tea and herbal blends all work beautifully, giving you endless possibilities to experiment with different flavours from the comfort of your own kitchen.
The real magic begins when you introduce fresh fruit, turning your homemade cold brew iced tea into a colourful, flavour packed creation. For a taste of summer I have gone with a peach version that keeps it really simple with a bit of lemon sugar allowing the peach to steep out its gorgeous golden orange hue. My second version is a strawberry version that gets hit with ginger as well for gut health. Don’t feel you can’t mix it around here, the options are honestly endless when it comes to cold brew iced teas.
COLD BREW ICED TEA
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COLD BREW ICED TEA 〰️
Time: 10 minutes hands on + 24 hours chilling
Serves: Makes 1 litre per tea
Peach Iced Tea
1 yellow peach
3-4 table spoons raw sugar*
1 lemon
4 tea bags black tea or 2 table spoons loose leaf black tea
4 cup room temperature water
*feel free to swap for maple syrup, honey, or calorie low sugar alternatives.
**I prefer just a classic black like an english breakfast
Chop the peach into cubes and add into a large jar/container that can be sealed along with the sugar and mix together and leave to the side to let the sugars break down the peach a little bit. Slice half the lemon into rounds and add into the jar, along with juice of the other half of lemon. Top with black tea and water. Give everything a good mix and seal, place in the fridge for 24 hours to cold brew.
Once brewed take out of fridge and strain the solids out, before placing cold brew peach tea into a fresh sealed jar. Taste and adjust with sugar or lemon juice to your own taste for sweeter or more tart. Enjoy for the next 3-5 days for the best freshness from the fridge.
Note on the used peach cubes, I eat them once strained out which is easier with tea bags opposed to loose leaf tea.
Spicy Strawberry Ice Tea
1 punnet strawberries
1 small knob fresh ginger
3-4 table spoons raw sugar*
1 lemon
4 tea bags black tea or 2 table spoons loose leaf black tea
4 cup room temperature water
*feel free to swap for maple syrup, honey, or calorie low sugar alternatives.
**I prefer just a classic black like an english breakfast
Chop the strawberries into cubes and the ginger into roughly chopped pieces before adding into a large jar/container that can be sealed along with the sugar and mix together and leave to the side to let the sugars break down the strawberry a little bit. Slice half the lemon into rounds and add into the jar, along with juice of the other half of lemon. Top with black tea and water. Give everything a good mix and seal, place in the fridge for 24 hours to cold brew.
Once brewed take out of fridge and strain the solids out, before placing cold brew spicy strawberry tea into a fresh sealed jar. Taste and adjust with sugar or lemon juice to your own taste for sweeter or more tart. Enjoy for the next 3-5 days for the best freshness from the fridge.
Note on the used strawberry cubes, I eat them once strained out which is easier with tea bags opposed to loose leaf tea, just try to avoid the ginger pieces as they can be a bit full on.