Ice Tea

[lucyem]

I am making myself prefer to drink unsweetened ice tea. Sometimes it is really good and other times it is just plain awful. I usually add a teaspoon of sugar or some honey and am slowly cutting back on it. How much I end up using depends on the tea. I buy Bencheley vanilla tea for drinking hot with milk. Bencheley I cannot find locally and have to order online. I know I prefer black tea and have yet to find a green tea I like.

My question is - what is your favorite tea brand & flavor for ice tea? And how do you make it? Any other ideas of things I should try based on my likes?

Thanks!

[Alyantavid]

I use Lipton's for iced tea. And sweet tea makes me gag, dh loves it that way though.

For hot tea, we drink an organic green tea from a local place. Sweetened with raw honey and whole milk.

[staceychev]

I love Earl Grey for iced tea. I make it with mint. I also like Rooibos for iced tea... I like the Tazo Red tea version of it.

And, for all iced tea, I love lemon. I think that makes it better to drink without sugar.

Oh, and Tazo's Passion tea is good for iced tea if you're trying to get off sugar. It's a naturally sweet tea.

[cristeen]

We only drink herbal teas. Lately DH has really been enjoying Celestial Seasonings Peach Passion. He also really likes the CS Lemon Zinger. The one he's drinking right now is from their Christmas collection (Gingerbread).

I make it hot though (rather than cold brewing), and stir a spoonful of honey into each quart of tea before chilling it. It's just enough to give a hint of sweetness without being enough to really raise BS levels.

[Bri'sgirl]

DH makes all the iced tea in our house and he uses one of those iced tea makers. They really do make the tea better than making it on the stove! He uses Luzianne black tea and 1-2 mint tea bags with it. It's so good! Even Meemaw (from New Orleans) didn't need to make it sweet...and she only drinks the very sweetest tea at her home.

[lil_earthmomma]

I can't drink iced tea without a ton of lemons!!! Why don't you try slicing some lemons and squeezing some lemon juice in, and then slicing some oranges and squeezing some orange in for a subtle sweetness.

[Magelet]

I love chai iced tea with lots of milk. (I like to brew the chai extra strong, because the milk and the ice dilute it). I also make it sweetish with honey, or maple syrup, but you don't have to.

[goldfinches]

I use Lipton Decf for my tea, but add a flavored tea bag, (usually a mango/passionfruit blend), to give it a sweet flavor.

[Savoir Faire]

For ice tea, I'm a fan of the berry flavors. We've had Celestial Seasons and Tazo flavors....little bit of Agave Nectar and you're good to go.

[SeekingSerenity]

I love Bigelow Fruit & Almond. You will have to order it online, though, they don't sell that variety in stores anymore. It's a lightly fruity tea, naturally tasty.

For loose teas, when I was pregnant, I craved a blend of red raspberry (which is good even if you're not pg), chamomile and mint. Throw in some lavender or red clover for more flavor and it's even better.

Usually lately, for general ice tea consumption, I've been making sun tea with Luzianne bags. I always do unsweetened.

[kaliki_kila]

I usually keep a Ziploc bag of sliced peaches in the freezer. You can substitute them for ice in your tea and they will add a lot of flavor and sweetness.

[organicmidwestmama]

Originally Posted by kaliki_kila

I usually keep a Ziploc bag of sliced peaches in the freezer. You can substitute them for ice in your tea and they will add a lot of flavor and sweetness.

oh yummy idea!

[BetsyS]

I only like Luzianne. Every time I buy something different (like Lipton), we end up turning up our noses and wondering what is wrong with the tea. And we drink it like syrup.

[SeekingSerenity]

Originally Posted by kaliki_kila

I usually keep a Ziploc bag of sliced peaches in the freezer. You can substitute them for ice in your tea and they will add a lot of flavor and sweetness.

Wow! What an awesome idea! I never thought of slicing and freezing peaches, let alone adding them to tea. I wonder if that would work with something like blackberries... I love blackberry tea.

[Teenytoona]

MY favorite Iced Tea to make is Hibiscus. I just put hibiscus blossom in my tea pot and let them steep. Then I pour it over ice and drink. It's really tart (and a gorgeous burgundy-red color) and yummy unsweetened. The kids and DH like theirs sweet (it's called Jamaica), so I sometimes make two batches, one for each of us. DD seems to like it either way.

If it's really hot, I like to use spearmint, or a spearmint/peppermint mix for tea. This too, is good sweetened or not.

I've been drinking Nettle Tea iced too, but I need a tad of sweetener in it.

[phatchristy]

I make iced tea out of every kind of tea you can imagine, and like you I was used to sweetened tea when I was a kiddo...but I switched cold turkey in my 20s.

I'd suggest some 'peach, or mango' teas to start off with if you still want some natural sweetness. A while back I purchased a few cases of organic tea from amazon when they had a deal (it was crazy cheap), I now have a lot of mango darjeeling (sp?), vanilla apple white and their peach white. I make those both hot and iced, and the flavor is so nice.

I also have an apple cinnamon herb tea from lipton, that one is REALLY nice. My daughter in particular loves it. I also have been known to steep it in hot apple cider to make spiced cider.

Hope those are some ideas. I plan on trying stevia...I can't believe I haven't yet, but some people have told me the enjoy that.

[Llyra]

I love the peach idea. Never thought of that before.

I like putting some overripe raspberries or some strawberry tops in cheesecloth and squeezing. You get a nice thick juice, and I add that to my iced tea. I would guess you could make ice cubes out of it, too, and have them on hand to add to the tea. Yummy!

But if you do try freezing peaches, be aware that they will naturally darken (like an apple does if you slice it and leave it out.) If you don't want that to happen, dunk them in lemon juice before you freeze.

[kaliki_kila]

Originally Posted by SeekingSerenity

Wow! What an awesome idea! I never thought of slicing and freezing peaches, let alone adding them to tea. I wonder if that would work with something like blackberries... I love blackberry tea.

I think you could try blackberries. I don't know if they would fall apart as they thawed. Or you could try putting them in a food processor and then pour into ice cube trays and freeze that way. Or just freeze cubes of any kind of juice and add them to your tea. I slice lemons into disks/circles and freeze them for my dh and he puts them in his water. You could probably experiment with all kinds of fruits.

Originally Posted by Llyra

But if you do try freezing peaches, be aware that they will naturally darken (like an apple does if you slice it and leave it out.) If you don't want that to happen, dunk them in lemon juice before you freeze.

I don't know if it makes a difference, but I use white peaches and they don't darken. Although I use them up within about a week and so maybe they don't have time to darken.

[Princess ConsuelaB]

Originally Posted by SeekingSerenity

Wow! What an awesome idea! I never thought of slicing and freezing peaches, let alone adding them to tea. I wonder if that would work with something like blackberries... I love blackberry tea.

I've done this with blackberries, I also like frozen blueberries in my tea. I agree peaches are a great idea, I never thought of that!

I like Earl Grey or raspberry herbal tea for my iced tea. I prefer mine unsweetened but when I do take it sweet I use stevia and it works great for this purpose, it only takes just a very little.

[Sol_y_Paz]

Mint, lemon, and lime are all flavors I use : Sometimes peach tea.
I can't stand sweet tea, but did come to like tea on sweet tea, then weaned myself to plain with tons of ice.