How to brew iced tea, brought to you by Smith Teamaker. For all our iced teas, take a look at our Iced Tea Collection.
How to Brew Iced Tea
The following instructions are specifically applicable for the teas in our Iced Tea Collection. To learn how to make iced tea out of any of our tea sachets, find our guide here.
Brewing Exceptional, Hibiscus Mango & Ginger Peach
- Bring spring or freshly drawn filtered water to a boil (212 degrees).
- Pour 2 cups boiling water over the sachet to make a concentrate.
- Allow the tea to steep for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, remove and discard the tea. Top up to one quart with cool water to lower the temperature.
- When ready to serve, pour over ice and enjoy.
Brewing Blackberry Jasmine, Mediterranean Mint & Pineapple Green
- Bring spring or freshly drawn filtered water to about 185℉.
- Pour 2 cups of water into your steeping vessel first, then add the tea sachet. This method is called bringing tea to water (as opposed to bringing water to tea for black teas and herbal infusions).
- Allow the tea to steep for 3 minutes.
- After 3 minutes, remove and discard the tea. Top up to one quart with cool water to lower the temperature.
- When ready to serve, pour over ice and enjoy.
Adjusting the Strength of the Brew
We recommend keeping iced tea at room temperature until ready to serve and then pouring over ice to keep a consistent strength. If the brew is too strong, dilute with filtered water. If the brew is too weak, you can steep an additional sachet and add that tea concentrate. When in doubt, err on the side of making it stronger as you can always add more cool water.
How to Store Iced Tea
We recommend keeping iced tea out at room temperature and covered until ready to serve and then pouring over ice to keep a consistent strength. We do not recommend storing your iced tea in the refrigerator, as it can become a bit cloudy. This, however, is an aesthetic preference, so if you don't mind your black tea becoming a bit cloudy in the fridge then you can store it in there. We recommend discarding any remaining iced tea at the end of the day to maintain freshness.
Sweetened Iced Tea
To make a sweetened iced tea, add a sweetener to the tea concentrate after steeping (to not distract the steeping process) and before adding the cooler water (to allow the sweetener to fully dissolve). For black teas, we recommend cane sugar to produce that caramelized sugar flavor. For green teas, honey works best to add floral and vegetal notes. Feel free to experiment with your other favorite sweeteners.