Making Iced Tea Please Advise....

kitty4me · ‎03-21-2010

I need some help on making really good Iced Tea. Whether it be Pot Method on Stovetop or in a Keurig which I just bought the 2.0 K350 which also has a Carafe. How much tea per 8 oz cup of water? I have a Loose Organic Leaf Black Tea. The Packet makes two quarts then you add two quarts of water. Now should I use filtered water? How much water to tea ratio would you use? I like the Tea taste so I'm thinking may use less water. I really could use some advice please? Thank you so much.

silkyk · ‎03-03-2011

DH loves his ice tea and the BEST (IHHO) is sun tea. I have a big glass jar and buy the big restaurant size tea bags at a restaurant supply store and use 2 (DH like his tea strong). Put jar out in the sun and leave for 4 hours or more and perfect clear tea (making it with hot water it doesn't stay clear).That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. We are ice tea lovers!

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

What the Keurig makes is basically instant tea. Tea really needs to be steeped to achieve it's full flavor profile. Black loose tea needs to be steeped for no longer than 5 minutes usually in boiling water. Water should come to a full rolling boil then be poured over the tea. You are supposed to use a teaspoon per 6 oz. approximately for a cup of hot tea, so a heaping teaspoon for 8 oz is about right.

You can steep tea for longer but mostly it may simply get bitter. You can try steeping longer for stronger tea but don't stir it if you do that. You may or may not like it steeped longer.

Tea bags make good iced tea (Lipton is my least favorite, I like Luzianne and Cains) but steeps quickly because of the very fine grade of tea that is used in it. Leaf tea unfurls and steeps and gives a more complex tea flavor. There are HUNDREDS of single estate teas that have flavor differences like wines of different growers and varieties.

Green, white and some herb teas need water at lower temp than boiling. Upton Tea's website has some excellent information on steeping teas. They also have a great world of tea to try and buy.

kitty4me · ‎03-21-2010

Silky thank you for your reply. I have made Sun Tea in the past.

ChynnaBlue · ‎05-22-2012

@Sooner wrote:
What the Keurig makes is basically instant tea.

Only if you use the k-cups. Hot water is hot water and the Keurig makes hot water. I use it for tea all the time by not putting a k-cup in and just running the hot water through and over my tea and let it steep as long as I'd like.

Tea varies by type and brand, so you will need to experiment. I like to make 8-ounces of hot tea and then pour that over a large cup full of ice. That waters the tea down, so depending on the tea and the cup I use, I may use twice as much tea steeped in the 8-ounces of water.

I use a 16-oz plastic cup full of ice, but there's a lot of room between the cubes, so it's not really two cups of water. For that, I usually use two portions of tea steeped in 8-oz of hot water. For some strong teas, I may use only one portion, but generally two portions of tea in 8-ounces of water poured over ice works for me.

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kitty4me · ‎03-21-2010

Sooner thanks for replying. I was going to try again the Stovetop Method and maybe when adding water to the prepared Tea I may use less Water as I like my Tea a bit stronger and will steep about 4 minutes. the organic Tea makes a 1/2 Gallon of Steeped Tea then add 1/2 Gallon of icy Water. I plan on using Filtered Water for my Tea. I just don't want to waste my Tea by messing it up.

qualitygal · ‎10-04-2010

@silkyk, When we lived in Phoenix, 100 yrs ago., we did that too. That just gave me a brain flashback, thanks. Especially since our snow's not melting like I thought it would today.

ECBG · ‎01-08-2011

We make ours in the microwave. We use about 6 cups of water, and 3/4 c sugar stirred. Add 2 Luzianne family size tea bags. (We feel Lipton has an acidic after taste sometomes).

Microwave 10 munutes, take out and cover for 20-30 minutes.

Add cold water and ice to equal 2 qts.

kitty4me · ‎03-21-2010

ECBG I like the idea of using my Microwave for making Iced Tea. I did purchase an item and tried it out. I will share the link here. I think my problem is that I just need to add less Water. I enjoy stronger Tea taste. I have also bought yet not used the new Breville Tea Maker. http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/breville-one-touch-tea-maker/ ...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I1ZJIO/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_ag5Xwb0K82XZJ

ECBG · ‎01-08-2011

@kitty4me wrote:
ECBG I like the idea of using my Microwave for making Iced Tea. I did purchase an item and tried it out. I will share the link here. I think my problem is that I just need to add less Water. I enjoy stronger Tea taste. I have also bought yet not used the new Breville Tea Maker. http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/breville-one-touch-tea-maker/ ...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I1ZJIO/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_ag5Xwb0K82XZJ

@kitty4me*****************I have never had a strong sun tea. It actually died out in popularity because of the weak taste.

You can also use the top of your range, just don't boil the tea bags, it releases tannic acid which is a bitter taste.

Don't forget to steep, that's where the flavor develops.

I had some fantastic tea brewers in my labs.