"easy ice tea" news and stories

In summer, iced tea is an excellent choice of beverage. It's cool, refreshing and easy to make. While some may like sweet tea or even sun tea the best, I prefer to make mine fairly plain and start it on the stovetop.

One of the most common mistakes with iced tea is that the tea leaves are brewed for too long, which causes the tea to become bitter. The best brewing strategy is to increase the amount of tea or the number of tea bags you use, while keeping the steeping time the same as you would for one cup.

Start on the stovetop with only a cup or two of water. Once it comes to a boil, turn off the heat and add in three or four times the normal amount of tea leaves/bags you use for a cup or two. Once they have steeped for several minutes, remove the bags and stir in your desired amount of sugar (or other sweetener). Using hot water will allow the sugar to dissolve quickly and easily, not to mention that a small amount of water will both heat up an cool down faster than boiling a whole pitcher's worth. Add cold water after the sugar is dissolved to dilute the strong tea and cool the drink down. Top of with some ice and refrigerate until ready to drink - or enjoy right away, since it should be a nice, cool temperature already.

If you're in a time crunch, Lipton's Iced Tea Teabags - which brew in cold water in minutes - are always nice to have on standby.