Homemade ice tea: very refreshing easy recipe to beat the heat (for adults and for children)

Iced tea is quick and easy to prepare. On hot days it is a healthy and refreshing refreshment. We present two delicious iced tea recipes.

When the heat tightens one feels the need to cool down inside and out. Teas and cold infusions are a very good alternative for those who do not want to drink only water and for those who pull soft drinks full of sugar, sweeteners and artificial flavorings.

We present two very simple recipes for a cold tea for adults and a fresh infusion for children. Do not miss in these hot days.

ICE TEA: CLASSIC LEMON ICED TEA RECIPE

Ingredients (for 1.5 l of tea):

• 3 sachets or 8 grams of loose black tea (can be regular tea or destein tea)
• 1 lemon
• Approximately 500 ml of ice cubes
• Stevia powder
• Boiling water
• 500 ml cold water

Elaboration

1. Make a tea concentrate. To do this, put three tea bags or loose tea (in the filter or mesh) in a cup or glass.
2. Add the sweetener of your choice. The amount you use depends on how sweet you want the iced tea to be later. Put a little less at first, you can always sweeten more later.
3. Pour boiling water carefully until the cup is full.
4. Let stand for 3 to 5 minutes until it acquires a very intense color.
5. While you let the tea sit you can put the ice cubes in a stable container, for example, in a pot. Don’t skimp on ice, because the tea has to cool all at once. Otherwise, it will be bitter.
6. After the infusion time, pour the tea over the ice cubes and stir the tea mixture and ice well.
7. Add the juice of a lemon, stir again and add half a liter of cold water. Your iced tea will be ready and you can put it in a glass jar to serve it.

Remember that iced tea is particularly good if you garnish it with half a slice of organic lemon.

“ICE TEA” WITHOUT THEINE FOR CHILDREN

Since black tea and green tea contain caffeine, they are not suitable for children. Instead, you can make an iced infusion infused with fruit and mint. A final touch of juice can refine the infusion.

Elaboration:

1. For infant frost infusion, you must first prepare a tea concentrate. Take four bags of mint for it. If your little one likes the fruity taste more, you can take two bags of mint infusion and two bags of fruit infusion. Attention, due to the menthol contained in mint tea, you should not use it for children under three years old; With the little ones it uses only fruit infusions.
2. In principle, sweeten the infusion as little as possible, especially if it is intended for children. The more fruit infusion you include, the less sweetener you need.
3. Next, pour the mint concentrate over the ice cubes to cool the infusion instantly.
4. The juice of a lemon should not be missing at this point, then stir the whole mixture well.
5. Add about half a liter of water. You can refine the iced infusion with a pinch of apple juice or grape must.

Tip: If the infusion is for children over 3 years old, but they do not like a very intense mint infusion, you can add a handful of mint to the initial fruit infusion concentrate and let it sit for three minutes.

WHY SHOULD YOU MAKE ICED TEA YOURSELF?

Classic iced tea is brewed with black tea and a sweetener. Unfortunately, many black teas contain harmful substances or are not marketed fairly. Workers are not paid properly and forests are cleared for tea cultivation.

For your homemade iced tea, we recommend that you always use fair trade tea, organic or biodynamic tea.

The second sticking point with iced tea is the sweetener used. Ready-to-drink iced teas from the supermarket are sweetened with conventional sugar or sweeteners suspected of harming health, such as aspartame and acesulfame. If you make it yourself, you can sweeten it with stevia powder, coconut sugar, honey or maple syrup.

The taste changes depending on the sweetener. Stevia and coconut sugar are best suited for classic iced tea, and honey from regional beekeepers or maple syrup, which is usually imported from Canada, are also suitable for infant fruity infusion.

Of course, the healthiest thing to do is to avoid sugar. While cold, unsweetened black tea is unlikely to appeal to most people, you should try fruity infusions without it, you’ll see how many don’t need it.