Iced Tea made from quality loose leaf tea leaves is not only extremely refreshing, but it's literally a 1-2-3 step process to prepare! Here we share four easy-to-make loose leaf iced tea recipes to beat the sweltering summer heat.
The photo above shows Eco-Cha's Small Leaf Black Tea that we brewed a double serving of, using a 1:20 leaf to water ratio — in this case, 20g of tea leaves in 400mL of boiling temp water for 5 minutes on the first brew, and 6 minutes on the second brew. We combined these brews, chilled the brewed tea, poured it over a cocktail shaker of ice, shook it up, and voila! A frothy, sugar-free, extra satisfying pint of freshly made iced tea!
And you can make it as simple or as elaborate as you want in terms of mixing it up. Above is our Bi Luo Chun Green Tea, using 25g of tea leaves in 1L of 90°C water for 10 minutes. We poured the brewed tea into a pitcher, stuck it in the fridge until it was cool, and shook it up in a cocktail shaker of ice, adding just a teaspoon of honey and one lemon juice ice cube. This mix was a winner! And you can make a fresh glass in whatever size you want. We have two sizes of cocktail shakers. Our smaller size makes the perfect "short"!
We brewed Eco-Cha's Wenshan Baozhong Tea similarly to the Bi Luo Chun Green Tea. 21g of tea leaves in 1L of water for 10 minutes. We kept this one pure, as Baozhong has such a unique flavor profile to it. The frothy head and icy cold tea is truly the most refreshing kind of thirst quencher we know of!
Here is our Eco-Farmed High Mountain Oolong Tea made in the same way as a single serving. 20g of tea leaves in a 400mL French press, brewed for 6 minutes twice, chilled, shaken, and poured. This tea had a mild, naturally sweetened honey quality to it — as a result of being organically grown, and hence bug bitten. It also packed a hidden punch! Given that it's iced tea, it doesn't taste strong at all. But in the end, if you drink a brew that was made with 20g of organic High Mountain Tea, chances are you will feel like flying over the mountain yourself! (We actually needed to take a power nap after this mug!)
For a quick video tutorial, watch us making iced Red Jade Black Tea in the video below. Red Jade is a great choice if you are looking for a bold character, similar to an IPA craft beer!
So, these are just some examples of what we have been playing and experimenting with in recent days. We encourage you to do your own exploring. If you don't have a cocktail shaker, but you have a blender device, get creative with that! It's the same basic idea: Hot brewed tea, chilled, and made frothy by shaking or blending. Add your own flavors when you like, but the degree of refreshment to be had from an unflavored quality loose leaf iced tea is hard to beat!
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