The Perfect Iced Tea

As previously noted, summer is a great time for cold drinks. As such, I decided I'd share the special iced tea making technique passed down the Hildebrandt line for generations. Well not really, I just stumbled across this sometime last summer and now I'll only use the powdered iced tea mixes if I have to.

Anyway, as every good recipe always starts with the ingredients, here are the ingredients in iced tea:

• Ice
• Tea

You'll also need something to make the tea in. I usually use a small Pyrex measuring cup. Not only because of the ability to precisely measure out the water, but because of the convenient spout which makes pouring much simpler. Plus when you're only making one glass, using a big teapot is overkill. When I make iced tea at work I have to use a mug, and as a result I always have to pour carefully to avoid making a mess.

Boil up some water, and select your tea. I've found that the specialty flavours like black current, apple-cinnamon, or strawberry make excellent iced tea. Green tea also works great, particularly the ones that also include some sort of fruit or berry. I haven't personally tried this yet with Rooibos or "normal" teas like Orange Pekoe or Earl Grey but if you do, be sure to post a comment and share what you thought! I just remembered I still have some saskatoon berry tea (which, not surprisingly, I purchased in Saskatoon, SK from a restaurant called The Berry Barn). I bet that would make awesome iced tea. Saskatoon berries have to be the best berries on the planet.

Here's the key to the whole thing. Make the tea twice as strong as you would when making a normal cup of tea. For myself, I use one tea bag for 6 oz of water. Let it steep for however long you normally let your tea steep for. I'm one of those people who likes to get as much flavour as possible so I usually steep it for 3-5 minutes. I've seen some people make tea where they literally just pour the water over the tea bag and remove it right away. I'm sorry, that's not tea, that's mildly coloured water.

While the tea is steeping, get a glass, approximately twice the size of the amount of tea you're making, and fill it with ice cubes. Once the tea has completed steeping remove the tea bag and stir in as much sugar, if any, as you'd like. I've personally found that iced beverages need a little more sugar than when they're hot, but of course your tastes may vary. And even if you add lots of sugar, I bet you'll still end up having less sugar than from a glass made with the mixes! A 12 oz glass of iced tea prepared from a mix as per directions will contain about six teaspoons of sugar [CORRECTION - Actually, it's 7½ teaspoons].

Pour the steeped tea into your glass of ice. Most of the ice cubes will melt right away, having the effect of both diluting the tea to regular strength and instantly cooling it down. You will want to give it a good stir though, to ensure it's all equally cooled and diluted. Then just add a straw and enjoy! I've also seen iced tea made by making a pot of tea and putting it in the fridge, but the benefit of this way is that you don't have to wait for hours for the tea to cool down.

I also tried an experiment this evening using coffee instead. I thought it turned out quite well. It's especially easy if you have a coffee press as it's much easier to make 6 oz of strong coffee in there than with a conventional coffee maker.