Some Iced Tea History
Iced tea recipes began appearing in America around the 1860s. Its popularity increased after it was sold at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 by Richard Blechynden as the perfect beverage to beat the sweltering heat.
Did you know that all tea comes from the same plant? It’s called Camellia sinensis. The drying process determines the different variety of tea.
Green tea is more lightly processed than black tea, and is often dried in the shade and then lightly heated in a pan or with steam. The heating process stops the oxidation of the leaf, preserving its earthy green color.
How to Make Cold Green Tea: The Cold Brew Way
Check this out: The best way to make a batch of cold green tea is to cold brew your tea. If you’ve never made a cold brew then you’ll be pleased to learn that this technique is super easy. Cold brewing your green tea ensures that you get smooth flavor without any bitterness.
To make a cold brew, add your tea leaves to a pitcher or container and fill it with fresh, cold water. Let the tea steep that way for a minimum of four to six hours while the cold water slowly and gently coaxes the delicious flavors from the leaves. You can prepare your green tea cold brew before you go to bed at night and it will be ready for you when you wake up.
Plum Deluxe staff favorite Abundance Blend makes a wonderful iced tea. It’s a delicious, organically harvested sencha green tea with a light dash of pure passionfruit extract for a fruity, healthy flavor infusion. Brew it according to the instructions on the package.
How to Make Cold Green Tea: The Steeping Hot Way
If you’re starting with a hot brew, remember that delicate green tea doesn’t like boiling water. Let your boiled water cool a bit before pouring it over your loose green leaves. Some electric tea pots have a setting to determine the ideal water temperature for steeping your green tea.
Green tea requires only two to three minutes of steeping time; over-steeping it with hot water can cause the flavor to turn bitter. The Plum Deluxe green tea blends, such as the Citrus Mint Green Tea – a delightful dance of lemon and orange paired with hints of lemongrass and spearmint – come with a suggested brew time on the label.
Allow the tea to cool a bit, then pour it over ice.
Steep – Drink – Repeat
Whether using a cold or hot brew technique, loose leaf green tea is flavorful enough to provide you with two or even three steeps. My late mother in-law would always make me some green tea when we visited her home. She would steep it so lightly that the color would be almost a pale yellow, and then save the leaves for a second pour-over later.
Serve It Up
Once you have your batch of prepared green tea – either from cold brewing or a hot steep that has been cooled to room temp – select the glassware in which to serve your cold green tea. Place a few ice cubes in the glass and pour in the brewed tea.
At this point, you are ready to enjoy your cold green tea without any add-ins. However, you may choose to dress it up with a sweet dollop of honey. One of these neat honey sticks provides just the right amount of pure and simple orange blossom honey.
Another sweet option is delectable honey dust, which will easily dissolve in your cold green tea. It’s a combination of dried, pulverized raw honey and raw cane sugar (nothing else – no preservatives or other nefarious ingredients).
A squeeze of lemon or lime plays up the acid profile in your cold green tea. Citrus juice is said to preserve the antioxidants in the tea, making them more available to your body for absorption. It’s also said to increase the level of catechins in the tea, which are compounds that help lower inflammation. Cold green tea gets bonus points for its amazing healthy benefits!
Now you know how to make cold green tea, a perfectly crafted summertime brew and a refreshing iced beverage to sip by yourself or share with friends.
