Homemade Iced Tea
Published 7/6/2021
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Cheers to the best homemade iced tea on the internet! This 6-ingredient iced tea recipe is as easy as it is delicious. Make a pitcher today!
Ahh So Refreshing!
Is there anything better than a refreshing glass of iced tea on a warm summer day? We think not! Which is why we’re thrilled to share this oh so delicious homemade iced tea recipe. All you need are 6 ingredients (one is water!), and you’re a few steps away from a glass of iced tea.
Iced Tea – What You Need
This iced tea recipe comes together in 6 simple ingredients. You’ll need:
Water: You’ll steep your black tea bags in hot water after bringing to a boil over the stove.
Black tea bags: This iced tea recipe calls for black tea, but should you prefer another variety of tea — go for it! This recipe will work with any tea variety.
Simple syrup: We used our honey simple syrup for this iced tea, but any simple syrup variety will work just fine.
Lemon: Fresh lemon slices are such a perfect complement to the black tea flavors in this iced tea.
Fresh mint: Jazz up your iced tea with sprigs of fresh mint.
Pinch of salt: A pinch of salt is all you need to bring out the flavors of black tea + lemon + mint.
How to Make Iced Tea
Making homemade iced tea is easy peasy as long as you have enough time to let it chill! We’ll walk you through it:
Boil Water
Bring 5 cups of water to a boil and then remove from heat.
Steep Tea
Add the black tea bags to the hot water and let them steep for 7-9 minutes depending on your desired strength of tea. The longer you steep, the stronger the tea will be.
Remaining Ingredients –> Pitcher
While the tea bags are steeping, add the honey simple syrup, lemon slices, and pinch of salt to a large pitcher and whisk.
Remove Tea Bags
Remove the tea bags from the water and pour the tea into the large pitcher. Be careful as the tea will still be hot.
All Together Now
Whisk all of the ingredients together until combined.
Chill & Serve
Add the fresh mint to the pitcher and place the tea into the refrigerator for 1-2 hours or until chilled.
Before serving, add 2-3 handfuls of ice to the pitcher, mix, and serve.
Honey Simple Syrup
This homemade iced tea calls for a honey simple syrup to use as a sweetener. And don’t you worry, making your own honey simple syrup is extremely easy.
Start with a 1:1 ratio of honey to water. Place honey and water into a small pot and bring to a boil over medium/high heat.
Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and let simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove simple syrup from the heat and let cool completely. That’s it!
Looking for a more traditional simple syrup? Make our sugar simple syrup.
Don’t want to make your own simple syrup? Feel free to use a store-bought simple syrup, just sub our honey simple syrup for that 1:1.
Want it sweeter?
If you’re looking for a sweeter iced tea, you can always add more simple syrup to sweeten things up a bit! We suggest adding a tablespoon at a time and going from there to sweeten to your liking.
Fun iced tea add-ins
This homemade iced tea has a short (but flavorful!) ingredient list, so if you’re looking to jazz up your iced tea and truly make it your own, let us recommend some delicious add-ins:
Spike it: Once you’ve made your homemade iced tea, add a shot of vodka or make it a spritzer by adding some bubbly. Cheers!
Add fresh fruit: You can slightly change the flavor of your iced tea by adding other slices of fresh fruit besides lemon. We recommend: smashed raspberries, strawberries, cucumbers, or or blackberries to your lemonade and letting everything sit for a while. Pour the lemonade through the sieve to avoid seeds for a fruitier lemonade.
Garnish makes everything prettier: Whether you add sliced fruit to your iced tea or not, we love serving it with a beautiful garnish of fresh herbs, or just ice and frozen berries.
Make a Large Batch
This is an amazing recipe to double or triple to your heart’s content as long as you have a large enough pitcher or glass drink container. Simply multiply each of the ingredients and follow the same recipe instructions below.
How to Store Iced Tea
Store this iced tea in an air-tight pitcher or container the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Pro tip: if you’re planning to store this iced tea in the fridge and enjoy throughout the week, remove the fresh lemons and mint from the pitcher after the initial steeping and chilling period and add fresh slices before serving.
make it easy
Print Your Own
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Homemade Iced Tea Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 cups water
- 5 black tea bags
- ½ cup honey simple syrup*
- 1 small lemon, sliced
- Pinch of salt
- 2-3 sprigs of fresh mint
Instructions
- Bring 5 cups of water to a boil and then remove from heat.
- Add the tea bags to the water and let them steep for 7-9 minutes depending on the desired strength of tea.
- While the tea bags are steeping, add the simple syrup, lemon slices, and pinch of salt to a large pitcher and whisk.
- Remove the tea bags from the water and carefully pour the tea into the large pitcher.
- Whisk all of the ingredients together until combined.
- Add the mint to the pitcher and place the tea into the refrigerator for 1-2 hours or until chilled.
- Before serving, add 2-3 handfuls of ice to the pitcher, mix, and serve.
Tips & Notes
- *Feel free to use whatever simple syrup you would like. Regular simple syrup works, too!
- You may have to pour the iced tea through a fine sieve if any tea bags broke during the steeping period.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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