Iced tea makes an awesomely healthy, easy to make, and infinitely cheaper alternative to the unhealthy cola soda junk that you are used to gulping down on a hot summer day. In case your taste is more of a super healthy person’s, and you totally shun caffeine, you can try green tea instead of black or pekoe tea that is usually used to make a glass of iced tea. Iced tea is thoroughly refreshing and forces your creative juices to flow, so that you actually experiment a lot more and come up with many different and peculiar, but tasty and refreshing things (this is exactly what led to creation of this site). Below are the ingredients that you will need to make the classic iced tea (you can also go through other exotic iced teas that we have thought of, and come up with):

1. 6 to 8 tea bags (preferably green tea, but black and orange pekoe are equally good)
2. 4 cups of normal water
3. 4 cups of chilled water (you can try sparkling water or soda for pure awesomeness)
4. ½ cup of sugar (optionally, you can use ¼ cup of honey instead of sugar, for some difference in taste)
5. Optional: Juice of one large lemon (about 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice)

This is how you are to make the iced tea:

1. Pour the normal water in your favorite saucepan and boil the water. Turn off the heat.
2. Add the tea bags into the hot water after you have turned off the heat. Allow it to steep for about 10-20 minutes (according to how strong you want your tea to be). Just don’t let it steep for way too long, else you will find your iced tea bitter in taste, and adding more and more sugar won’t exactly help. But again, if it does not steep long enough, you are not going to get the proper taste, not the “caffeine jolt”, a marked quality of iced teas. So do it wisely. Steep it well.
3. Remove the tea bags after you have steeped them. Stir in the sugar or honey, as you would like. Do it while the tea is still warm, since it would be easier to mix in the sweetener of your choice. Now strain the tea mixture into another bowl, to remove any tea residue and leftover sugar in the bowl, for better consistency and presentation.
4. Pour the chilled water in a large pitcher, and stir in the warm tea you just prepared (it must have become warm now, due to steeping for so long). You can also squeeze in a squirt of lemon if you prefer. Put it into your refrigerator for an hour or two, to chill it.
5. Fill tall glasses with ice cubes, and pour the chilled iced tea over the cubes. Garnish with a wedge of lemon, and/or mint leaves. Enjoy the hot summer, because this is the only time that you get to drink this awesome cold drink.

Some points to keep in mind:

1. Use enough tea bags (but just enough, in case you like it light)
2. Don’t over or under-steep
3. Add sugar into hot water, instead of cold. It mixes well
4. Cool the tea before refrigerating (this is why the recipe involves 4 cups of cold water)
5. Do not use artificial ingredients, such as artificial lemon juice
6. Always drink your iced tea fresh
7. Always keep some sugar syrup handy, in case a guest asks for more sugar. Adding plain sugar makes the tea grainy and also makes it difficult to dissolve in presence of all those ice cubes in the glass. For doing this, warm a cup of water and add half a cup of sugar in it and blend it well. Store it in a glass bottle and use it quickly.

Long island iced tea is a highball (not the glass; it’s a family of drink mixes composed of alcoholic spirit base in a larger proportion of a non-alcoholic flavor: tea, in this case). It is usually made with equal mixes of vodka, gin, tequila, rum and triple sec (or any other orange flavored alcohol) with some cola. It contains a relatively less concentration of the “mixer”, that is, tea flavor. You might be astonished (or maybe not) to learn that most variants of long island iced tea actually do not contain any actual tea in the recipe (of course, you know it). Some people also use brandy instead of tequila. As you can see, a long island iced tea has 4 whites in it. The overall flavor is rather sour, and that makes it somewhat unpopular in many places. But we all know that it is awesome, nonetheless. For this reason, it sits in the top 5 popular cocktails of all times. If you are used to drinking beer during summers, you can actually try this one. Try using the best brands of alcohol (especially Cointreau for the triple sec and Green-Apple vodka). You will love it.

This drink dates back to the 1970’s and was named after the United States’ largest island, Long Island, in New York. You can make this drink by following the instructions below.

The ingredients that you would need:

1. 1 oz triple sec: If you leave this out, you have Texas tea
2. 1 oz light rum (white)
3. 1 oz gin
4. 1 oz vodka
5. 1 oz tequila (or Cointreau): You might omit it if not desired
6. 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
7. ½ cup of cola (according to your taste): For a berry flavored version, use cranberry juice instead of cola; it is called Long Beach Iced Tea.

This tea contains ginger, which is actually a wonderful way of calming sickness and soothing your throat while you have throat issues. So the ginger actually partially offsets the effects of the ice in this cold tea, so you have an excuse to drink this one when you are sick. Besides, ginger has been said to soothe you during pregnancy, and it is a great way to enjoy a hot summer afternoon.

This tea has a very crisp taste, and the sugar and ginger do not overpower you. Rather, they actually comfort you.

Here is what you have to get to prepare this tea:

1. 6 canned peach halves
2. 1 ½ cups of peach juice
3. 1/3 cup of sugar
4. 1 tablespoon grated ginger
5. 6 cups of water
6. 5-6 bags of English breakfast tea (a rich blend of various black teas, such as Assam, Darjeeling,

Thai iced tea is a cold tea, originally made in Thailand, from strongly brewed black tea (usually Darjeeling tea: the best black tea). Other distinguishing ingredients include orange blossom water, star anise, food colors or crushed tamarind seeds. Sometimes, spices are also added, to spice it up. It is sweetened with sugar (or powder), condensed milk, and is served chilled. Toppings of this tea include rich evaporated milk, coconut milk, etc along with ice cubes and some garnishing in form of lemon slices and shredded coriander or mint leaves. All around the world, it is served in tall glasses, and usually drunk with a straw. It is usually mixed through pouring the tea repeatedly from reasonable heights to make froth. Traditionally, Thai tea is orange in color, and has a different flavor from other teas.

It is usually replaced as bubble tea, but these two are not the same in essence. Besides, this is also not same as “Chai Tea”. Thai tea is popular in Southeast Asia and many American restaurants as well. Learn how to make the Thai Iced Tea right at your home with this recipe. It is not that difficult, provided you have some time and the required ingredients at your hand. See the ingredients needed and the method to make it:

Ingredients (for one tall glass of Thai Iced Tea):

1. 4 cups of plain or sparkling water
2. 6 black tea bags (or three teaspoons of tea leaves if you are planning on brewing it completely at home)
3. 2 small pieces of orange peel
4. 4 star anise pods
5. 4 whole cardamoms
6. 2 cinnamon sticks for taste
7. 4 whole cloves
8. 1 can sweetened condensed milk
9. Ice cubes
10. Mint leaves to garnish

 What you need to do to make this tea:

This is an iced tea with a tang. With some grape juice and mint leaves in the ingredients, you can expect the final product to tingle your taste buds all the way to your stomach. The amazing feeling is the least of the reasons you would wish to try this awesome tangy iced tea.

The ingredients are:

1. ¼ cup water
2. ¼ cup sugar (you can also use powder, instead)
3. ¼ cup mint leaves, along with mint sprigs for garnishing
4. 2 cups of grape fruit juice
5. 4 cups of water
6. Atleast 2 tea bags, or 2 spoon-fulls of tea leaves
7. Optionally, you can use 4 ounces of rum too, for added awesomeness.

What you need to do to make this tea:

Boil the water in a saucepan, add tea leaves and all ingredients except grape fruit juice and mint.

As we all know, apple forms a wonderful addition to any cool watery drink. It adds awesomeness to almost everything. Here is a recipe for making apple iced tea, which you are going to love.

Here are the ingredients needed:

1. 6 cups of water
2. 6 sweet apple tea bags (I recommend you to go for Celestial Seasonings Sweet Apple Chamomile. In case you do not find it, you can also go for 6 regular black tea bags, and add in a pint of apple juice: It will give the same results; even better)
3. 1 small apple, sliced in thin slices
4. ½ lemon, thin sliced
5. Ice
6. Vanilla syrup, which I will describe below (read it first)

The Vanilla Syrup for this Iced Tea

You will need the following things:

1. 1 cup of granulated sugar
2. 1 vanilla bean, cut into half, lengthwise and seeds removed (or half a teaspoon of vanilla extract will do too)
3. 1 cup water

Here is what you have to do:

1. Over medium heat, in a saucepan, combine all the ingredients and simmer for a while.
2. Boil the mixture, and simmer again for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar completely dissolves.

This strawberry iced tea is red in color, and can be served normally, or with a shot of light vodka or rum in a glass. This makes it a perfect beverage for a party which included people who consume alcohol, and those who do not. Here are the ingredients required:

1. A 10 ounce can of frozen strawberry diluted with an equal amount of cold water; or a 20 ounce can of strawberry juice
2. 2 cups of chilled green tea (you can go for Matcha green tea as well, since that would make the drink very healthy): I will tell you how to make it using 2 cups of water and 2 green tea bags (you can also use black Darjeeling tea)
3. 2 tablespoons of black currant, strawberry or raspberry syrup for a variation in taste
4. Ice cubes
5. Chopped strawberries (or very small strawberries), and mint leaves for garnishing

You need to do the following for this sweet and awesome red iced tea:

1. Put the frozen strawberry mixture in a medium sized pitcher and stir until it is thawed. Add water to dilute it.

You can make this spicy iced tea on a hot summer day for a memorable evening with friends or family or even alone. You might want to drink every last drop of this spicy iced tea. It is that tasty. So you might also want to double or triple the recipe in case you have to serve a lot of people. Besides, you can make this delicious and refreshing drink even better by using peach tea bags, or some other flavored iced tea mix (you can also add some peach schnapps to it or use a shot of rum or light vodka to reduce the spiciness and make it even better). Here are the ingredients:

1. 4 orange pekoe tea bags (you can also use black or green tea, but orange pekoe really blends in well with the overall taste)
2. 3 cups of boiling water (heat it over a medium saucepan)
3. 1/3 cup fine sugar (you can vary it according to taste)
4. 1 lemon, juiced
5. 1 orange, juiced
6. 1 cinnamon stick
7. 10 whole cloves
8. Lemon wedges, mint leaves, light rum/vodka, ice cubes: the essential parts of an iced tea

Here is what you will have to do for this one:

1. Place the tea bags in a thick glass bowl (or any heat proof bowl) and add in the 3 cups of boiling water. Let it steep for about 15-20 minutes according to how strong you want your iced tea to be.

Now I will write a series of iced tea with some peculiar flavor or something with a twist: a noticeable difference. Here is the first of that series: raspberry iced tea with a tang of lime. We will divide the preparation into two parts according to the products made. The tea, and the sugar syrup to be used. Here are the ingredients:

For the tea:

1. 5 bags of raspberry zinger tea
2. 6 cups of water

Alternatively (in case the raspberry zinger tea is not available), you can also use 5 normal tea bags and half an ounce of raspberry juice.

For the sugar syrup:

1. 1 cup of sugar
2. 1 cup of water
3. ½ pint of raspberries
4. 1 lime, cut into wedges
5. Fresh mint sprigs, as in all my recipes of iced tea: mint makes the tea awesome

Here is what you will need to do to make this peculiar, but awesome tea:

1. Put the tea bags in an 8-cup measuring cup or a thick glass (heat safe) bowl (you know what to do in case you are using raspberry juice, if you have been doing some reading on this site).
2. Boil the water in a saucepan and pour it over the tea bags in the bowl. Allow it to steep for at least 10-15 minutes. Let the mixture cool off. Now remove the tea bags.

Here is what you are to do for the sugar syrup:

Iced tea becomes completely awesome with added honey. The remaining ingredients need to be customized a bit to suit the added ingredient. In this recipe, I will direct you to make a couple of cups of “tea concentrate” and store in your fridge, so that you are able to make instant honey iced tea for all the guests that come over to your house in the summer. Here are the ingredients you would need to make the honey iced tea concentrate (to be used for every glass you are to prepare):

1. ¼ cup of honey
2. 2 cups of water
3. 2 tea bags
4. 2 ¼ ounces of bourbon (per glass)
5. 1 ounce of lemon juice (per glass)
6. Sprigs of fresh mint
7. A shaker to shake

Here is what you will need to do to make this sweet iced tea:

1. Bring the honey, water, and fresh mint sprigs to boil. Keep stirring.
2. Turn off the heat, add the tea bags and steep for 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can keep the heat on and use tea leaves or tea powder for a couple of minutes and let it stand for about 20 minutes.