Enjoy this summer version of a green tea made with ice. Perfect for a summer picnic and all day sipping by the pool. It’s also a great alternative drink to a regular tea any time of the year.
Why make this recipe?
- Green tea is healthier than regular tea or coffee as it’s less processed and retains more vitamins
- It’s a refreshing drink
- Great to keep in fridge (no need for ice cubes if you don’t like your drink too cold)
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Ingredients
Water
Use less water (like 1/2 of the recipe) if you want to make a stronger flavoured concentrate tea, which you then cool down with a lot of ice cubes.
Green tea
I prefer to use green tea leaves, but green tea teabags are absolutely fine too. You might need to adjust the amount of tea in this recipe, depending on what type of green tea you use.
Ice cubes
Personally, I prefer to make my green tea as if it was a regular tea (not concentrated) and then leave it to cool down by itself. Once cold I put it in the fridge and then I have cold green tea any time I want.
I know that some people prefer to have the ice cubes in (and it does make it into a lovely-looking drink), so just make sure you make the tea with less water than in the recipe to make the tea a bit more concentrated (the ice cubes are going to dilute it a bit).
Sugar
This is completely optional, but you can add sugar or honey (or any other sweetener of your choice) to your green tea to add flavour. Green tea can be a little tart and bitter on it’s own, so adding some sugar help to keep the tea flavour strong and taking away that bitterness.
As well as regular sugar, you can also use homemade flavoured sugar syrups with flavours that compliment the green tea, such as my Earl Grey Simple Syrup Recipe or fruit flavoured Pear Sugar Syrup.
Lemon juice
Whether you are using sugar or not, I think a little bit of lemon juice makes this iced green tea recipe extra special. If you are using sugar, you’ll need more lemon juice than if you are not.
Iced green tea flavouring ideas
You can add flavour by adding herbs, spices, fresh fruit or fruit juices. If you are after a bit more of an adult drink, gin or vodka goes well with the green tea flavour.
- Fresh mint leaves – use them to infuse the green tea when it’s hot and add fresh leaves to decorate
- Strawberries – add a few slices of fresh strawberries to top up your drink
- Lemon – use lemon juice or add a few slices of lemon
- Lime – use lime juice or add few slices of lime
- Peach juice – puree about 1/2 peach per cup and add in when the green tea is cold, add lemon juice (leave out sugar)
- Pineapple – use fresh pineapple to puree and add to cold green tea instead of sugar, add lime juice
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How to make iced green tea
Boil the water either on the hob in a large saucepan or using electic kettle. ring 1 cup of water to a boil on the stove. Measure the temperature until it reaches 190°.
Once the water has boiled let it to cool down for 1 minute. If you have a thermometer you can check that the temperature (at this point) is about 87C or 190 F.
Add your green tea bags (or leaves) and leave to infuse for 4-5 minutes (depending on how strong you like your tea, but don’t leave the tea in for too long otherwise the tea will be bigger.)
Pour the tea through a sieve into another suitable container (if using a leaves) or just remove the teabags.
If you are using any sweetener (like sugar or honey) add it now, stir and taste.
Once you are happy with the flavour and the level of sweetness add lemon juice. Start with 1 teaspoon and add more as you taste the tea. The more you add the sharper the flavour is going to be.
Leave to cool down if you have the time overnight in the fridge or use ice cubes to cool down your drink.
Serve with extra lemon slice, mint or few slices of strawberries.
How to make concentrated green iced tea
If you want to have an instant iced green tea, use about 2 cups of water (instead of the 4 cups) and add more ice to cool down your drink. The ice will dilute the green tea, so make sure that the flavour (honey or lemon) is strong enough.
I also often make concentrated green tea and keep it in the fridge to make cold drinks diluting it with just water. The only difference is to use much less water, say just one cup of water, but keep all the other ingredients the same. This way, you’ll make concentrated green tea, that you can dilute with water any time for a refreshing drink.
Iced Green Tea
Equipment
- Fridge or freezer (ice cubes or to cool down your tea)
Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- 4-5 green tea bags or 4-5 teaspoons of leaf green tea
- 3 cups ice cubes or chill in fridge overnight
- 2-3 tablespoons sugar or honey optional
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice or to your taste
- lemon or lime slices or fresh mint
Instructions
- Boil the water either on the hob in a large saucepan or using electic kettle. ring 1 cup of water to a boil on the stove. Measure the temperature until it reaches 190°.
- Once the water has boiled let it to cool down for 1 minute. If you have a thermometer you can check that the temperature (at this point) is about 87C or 190 F.
- Add your green tea bags (or leaves) and leave to infuse for 4-5 minutes (depending on how strong you like your tea.)
- Pour the tea through a sieve into another suitable container (if using a leaves) or just remove the teabags.
- If you are using any sweetener (like sugar or honey) add it now, stir and taste.
- Once you are happy with the flavour and the level of sweetness add lemon juice. Start with 1 teaspoon and add more as you taste the tea. The more you add the sharper the flavour is going to be.
- Leave to cool down if you have the time overnight in the fridge or use ice cubes to cool down your drink.
- Serve with extra lemon slice, mint or few slices of strawberries.
Notes
This blog post was originally written on 24 June 2021 and last updated on 6 November 2022
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