If you love to order delicious, sweet iced tea at fast food joints but find your homemade attempts fall flat, we're here to validate you. It turns out that making iced tea just right is pretty tricky. But tea expert Jordan G.
L. Hardin , Director of Food & Beverage for Alfred , has some tips to help you ensure your tea is flavorful and smooth, just like at your favorite restaurant, every time. Brewing your tea to perfection will depend on many factors, ranging from the size of the tea leaves to the method of brewing to the temperature of the water you brew your tea in .
If you're using tea bags, the good news is that you can typically follow the brewing instructions on the box specifically listed for iced tea, or even buy tea that's intended to be brewed cold . If you're using loose-leaf tea, Hardin says you'll want about 4 tablespoons of tea — but that it varies . "There are teas where that wouldn't be enough because the leaves are so large, and there are teas where that would be far too much because the leaves are very small, or rolled up tightly," Hardin said.
"So weighing [10-15 grams of loose tea] is a foolproof method." If that's not enough flavor, and you want stronger iced tea? Add more tea to your cup rather than steeping it longer to get more flavor without the bitterness introduced by increased steeping time. Best methods for brewing strong iced tea There are three main ways you can make iced tea.
First, you can steep tea hot, and then put it in the fridge until i.