Bottled iced tea is having a moment. The shelves are full of different versions - jasmine, peach, lemon, mango, cold brew, green and oolong. There's a reason for that: iced tea is one of the most delicious and refreshing drinks around.
No need to buy the bottled stuff, though. Iced tea is a cinch to make and you can add whatever flavour combination takes your fancy. You can make it super easy on yourself by starting your brew with a flavoured herbal or green tea, or start from scratch with only your tea leaves and your imagination.
Brewing your own iced tea is good for you, too. Unsweetened iced tea has all the benefits of drinking a hot cuppa - including theanine, polyphenols, catechins, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Not to mention your daily hit of caffeine - drinking tea cold has the same concentration of caffeine as drinking it hot.
The kombucha craze is probably what started the iced tea craze... given that it's technically an iced tea itself. In this case, a SCOBY-fermented iced tea has some serious gut-healing potential.
Sweet iced tea is the drink of America's South. Lance Rosen reports that it's so sweet it could liquify your teeth. "You go into a caffeine shock, quickly followed by a diabetic meltdown and once the caffeine starts to wear off, the cravings start," he says. Fortunately, you can easily adjust the amount of sugar you add to your brew.
You can turn your sober iced tea into a cocktail to rock your socks by making it a julep. This one is best made for a party, which could, of course, be a party for one on a random Wednesday night. You do you.
While we get that technically a herbal or medicinal 'tea' isn't really tea as they don't contain the leaves of the tea plant, let's not let the facts get in the way of a good brew. Especially not this one with its promises of some pretty enticing health benefits...
A tepache falls into the same 'but is it really tea?' as the marvellous elixir above. So we are ruling a line under this nonsense immediately by deciding that any brewed drink qualifies as an iced tea. With this kind of flavour and suggested health benefits, it's only fair.
Fizzy jun has a similar vibe to the more well-known kombucha. Rather than kombucha's black tea and sugar base, jun is made with green tea and sweetened with honey. It's refreshing, satisfying and thought to be medicinal (especially when made with added ginger and galangal as here).
When served cool, this chilli elixir ticks both the 'cold drink on a hot day' and 'eat spice to cool down' boxes. it's made with calming chamomile tea as well, which will do wonders to help you keep your cool.
If you can't get enough of iced tea, you'll be rapt about green tea ice cream. Matcha is the tea added to the mix, it's a bright green powder made from young green tea leaves. It results in a splendidly coloured (and flavoured) ice cream.
SBS Food is a 24/7 foodie channel for all Australians, with a focus on simple, authentic and everyday food inspiration from cultures everywhere. NSW stream only. Read more about SBS Food
Have a story or comment? Contact Us
