Loose-leaf tea blends for iced tea

What iced tea is

Iced tea is tea that has been brewed and then chilled, and that is the whole trick. Cold changes the way you taste things: it mutes sweetness and it sharpens anything bitter or dry. A blend that sings in a hot mug can turn flat or tannic over ice, which is why the teas on this page lean on fruit, flowers and herbs rather than on heavy black leaf. Brew them a shade stronger than you would drink them hot, chill them quickly, and they still taste of something once the ice starts to melt.

Two ways to brew it

The quick way is a hot brew. Use a little more leaf than you would for the same volume of hot tea, steep it as usual, then lift the leaf out so it cannot keep drawing. Let the tea come down to room temperature and pour it over a glass packed with ice rather than over two or three cubes. A glass half full of ice chills the tea in seconds and keeps it cold while you drink it; a couple of cubes simply water it down.

The slow way is a cold brew, and it is the more forgiving of the two. Put the loose leaf straight into cold water, cover the jug and leave it in the fridge overnight. Because nothing is ever heated, far less tannin comes out of the leaf and the tea ends up rounder and softer, without the dry edge a rushed hot brew can leave behind. Strain the leaf out in the morning, keep the jug covered in the fridge and drink it while it is fresh.

Which teas hold up over ice

• Fruit tea – hibiscus, berries and tropical fruit keep both their colour and their flavour when cold, and most people find they need no sugar at all.
• Rooibos tea – caffeine free and low in tannin, so it does not turn bitter even if the jug stands on the table all afternoon.
• Green tea – light and grassy. Brew it cooler and shorter than you would a black tea, or the ice will make it taste dry.
• Herbal tea – mint, lemongrass and yerba mate. Mate does carry caffeine; most other herbal blends carry none.

Caffeine, or none at all

Iced tea tends to be drunk by the jug rather than by the cup, so it is worth knowing what is in it. Rooibos and the fruit blends contain no caffeine, which makes them the easy choice on a warm afternoon, for children, or late in the evening. Green tea and yerba mate do contain caffeine, closer to a light tea than to a coffee. Every product page states whether the blend contains caffeine, so you can check before you brew a full jug of it.

Sweetening, and what to add

Sugar barely dissolves in cold tea. If you want it sweet, stir the sugar in while the tea is still warm, or use a spoonful of syrup or honey that mixes in cold. Beyond that, keep it simple: a slice of lemon or orange, a sprig of mint, a few slices of cucumber, a piece of ginger. Fruit blends take well to a splash of sparkling water, and rooibos is good with orange and a cinnamon stick. Taste before you add anything, because a decent blend usually needs less than you think.

Loose leaf, and keeping it that way

These are loose-leaf teas in 100 g packs, so you decide how strong the jug gets. You need nothing more than a pot and a strainer, although a jug with a built-in filter makes cold brewing easier; have a look at our tea equipment for pots, strainers and infusers. Store the leaf the way you would store coffee beans: closed, dry, out of the light and away from anything with a strong smell of its own. Loose leaf keeps its aroma far longer than most people expect, but not next to a jar of spices.

Iced tea at Café du Jour

The blends here are Café du Jour teas chosen for drinking cold, and nothing stops you brewing them hot when the weather turns. If you would rather build your own, the wider loose tea range gives you black, green, white and oolong leaf to work with, and tea bags are the quickest route to a small jug. Not sure where to start? A fruit blend over plenty of ice is the safest first pour, and rooibos is the one to reach for when you want something cold with no caffeine in it.