Favorite teas to drink iced?

I tend to use cheap Uva-grown Ceylon teas, and occasionally assam for iced tea.

Jasmine iced tea is very interesting. My wife can't stand it, but I rather like it, made with yellow box jasmine.

--scott

My local tea shoppe started selling something called Smoothies. Basically it is a chai of the day with puree ice that is creamy as any thick malt. Yum. Everyday Liptons makes a good iced tea. That is the US version claim to fame. I find with any iced tea I add lemon or lime so the tea doesn't matter that much. Whatever it is make it strong and drink in big glasses with lots of ice.

Jim

Debbie the Dogged wrote:

I'm very fond of China lychee black iced. This is a keemun base tea which has been soaked in lychee (a Chinese fruit) juice, and then dried. The lychee flavor imparts a unique sweetness. And this tea is usually very reasonably priced. Yes, I add a little sugar, but particularly with lychee tea this is not necessary. Whenever we serve it to guests, they go berzerk (in a good way).

Whatever tea you drink iced, try making it with the cold steeping method - just put the leaf into cold water, and steep overnight (8-12 hours) in the fridge. Simple, and produces a beautiful clear tea that never gets cloudy.

Randy

That sounds amazing.

For iced tea I usually just drink peppermint, brewed overnight or for a very long time, with a little honey if I feel like it.

My college roommate used to take empty wine bottles, put in about half an inch of cheap gunpowder tea, a lot of fresh mint, and a couple tablespoons of honey, then pour in boiling water to fill and leave the whole concoction in the fridge for about a week. The end result was fluorescent green and very rich in caffeine and fructose, and we drank it very cold out of very small glasses. Good after a long bike ride.

I've been using up some older Morrocan Mint green tea bags the last few days. I tried hot steeping the first batch the other day and it's not too bad, using hot water and about 6 tea bags and then pouring it over ice in a pitcher when it was done steeping. I sweeten my iced tea, if I do, with Splenda, I save real sugar for my hot cuppas, I'm very particular about those.

The chai thing sounds good Jim, I think I'll try that here soon here at home.

Melinda

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I have a pitcher of iced Teavana Emerald Princess

sweetened with a bit honey, in the fridge, and I'm really enjoying that. Plus, I ordered some teas from Davidson's (what do you all think of their quality overall?) and am currently enjoying a hot cup of Russian Caravan (thanks to whoever recommended I try that). Last night I tried their "Sun, Moon and Stars" - a combination of Oolong, Gunpowder and Jasmine - and didn't like it very much hot, but poured it over ice, added some honey and loved it.

So far, I'm discovering that I like different teas for drinking hot and iced. Do you all find this also?

Yes, mostly. I drink a lot of green teas hot that have delicate flavor nuances that seem to get lost when the tea is iced. The China lychee black I recommended iced is also good hot, but as a change of pace rather than a staple. I drink it sometimes in the winter along with a sweet snack like cookies.

Randy

Why not try tropical flavors that infuses really well. There's black tea in mango peach, passionfruit or other such blends that are popular. Even a Jasmine tea tastes great over iced. Of course you'll need double the amount of loose leaves for steeping before pouring your brew over ice. I would then as a touch of mint & sweetner to the glass. Check out

for some tropical island blends.

This isn't tea, technically, but when I lived in the South, the best iced drink after real iced tea was iced Red Ziner (a hibiscus tisane from Celestial Seasonings). It was both cold and just slightly tart.

My personal favorite is 2/3 Yunnan Gold and 1/3 dry spearmint leaves, use less spearmint leaf if using fresh, no sweetener needed for this blend IMHO.

Mike

I use a "Japanese Lime Tea". That is a green tea flavoured with lime. I don't think I ever tried it hot but is yummie cold.

Lars Stockholm

Pai Mu Tan is my favorite iced so far. I can also tell you that cheap Da Hong Pao is terrible iced...

Usually, though, any tea that I end up hating hot I make into iced tea to make it drinkable. I'll take Pai Mu Tan either way though.

--Debbie the Dogged wrote:

Where'd you find Japanese Lime Tea?!? I would love to try that, hot or iced.

My favorites are Yellow box Jasmine Green tea with Chinese rock sugar, Sencha, Lusianne, and these big (like 10x normal size) McDonalds teabags I got from a friend who works at a distribution center. I experiment with all kinds of teas though. Lichee black is good, strawberry sencha, ginger peach black tea, etc.

The only one I can't handle is Oolong iced tea.

- Dominic

Here;

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Lars Stockholm

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Thanks Lars, unfortunately when I tried to purchase some the cost was over $40.00 US due to shipping and currency exchange for 3.5g. I'm not able to pay that for this tea, but I will keep hunting for another source or a way to obtain some.

- Dominic

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3.5 g? I never buy less than 100g, and that would cost me abt $10 for fine quality teas.

The teas I drink regularly I buy 250 grams at a time, which gives a

10% discount. No doubt shipping costs would hit you bad though.

Lars Stockholm