Homemade iced tea for summer

The Origins of Iced Tea

Tea originated in China and East Asia a long time ago. It is a rich universe, filled with legends and flavors. It was consumed in dishes as a spice, then infused hot.

The origin of iced tea, also called cold tea, is said to be in Britain, where it was common to add ice to tea on hot days.

Then imported to the United States by the French botanist André Michaux in the late 1790s, tea, and in particular green tea cold is almost immediately used in recipes for very alcoholic and very sweet cocktails, especially in the famous “punch” which mixes tea, fruit juice and alcohol.

Traces of it can also be found in Russia, where the first written records of it appear in the mid-19th century. It was a drink sold on the street, to which natural ice was added.

Today, iced tea is mainly prepared with black tea, and flavored with lemon or peach for the commercial versions. But it's also very easy to make it yourself!

Prepare your own iced tea

Hot days inspire us to drink something cold, and iced tea seems to be THE ideal drink to help us cool down. And like everything in cooking, it's often better and tastier to make it yourself! And to avoid wasting anything, it's really very simple.

For this you have two options, cold infusion or hot infusion. You can then add sugar, cut fruits, syrups, herbs... Go according to your tastes and desires!

How to proceed?

As explained above, depending on the method you choose, the infusion will be more or less long, and the quantity of tea used will be different.Cold infusion is recommended for Camellia Sinensis teas, which we will present below. The technique takes longer but releases the aromas better.

For hot infusion, you must respect the infusion time and temperature, otherwise you will get a bitter tea where the infusion will not be optimal.

For cold infusion:

• Add 1 teaspoon (or 2.5 grams) of tea to 250 ml of cold water.
• Add sugar (or not) according to your taste (about 1/2 teaspoon for 250 ml)
• Let it steep for 6 to 10 hours in the refrigerator, then filter to remove the tea leaves and keep only the infusion.

• Use 2 teaspoons (or 5 grams) for 250 ml of hot water (infusion at 95 degrees Celsius)
• Add sugar (or not) according to your taste (about 1/2 teaspoon for 250 ml)
• Let steep for 5 minutes, strain, then pour into a cup filled with ice.

Tips:

• Sugar can be replaced by honey or even by a aromatic syrup.
• If you want to avoid the ice turning your iced tea into water, you can replace the ice with pieces of frozen fruit (orange, lemon, raspberry, strawberry, grapefruit, etc.) or herbs (mint, basil, etc.). To prepare them, simply chop the fruit or leaves the day before and place them in the freezer. The frozen fruit will add freshness, sweetness, punch, and decoration to your iced tea.

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