“Ice tea! Nothing is half so refreshing as a glass of black tea piled high with ice! More than a quencher of thirst, it is a tamer of tempers, a lifter of lethargy, and a brightener of smiles. It is a taste of Winter’s chill, magically trapped in midsummer’s glass.” 
― Paul F. Kortepeter, Tea with Victoria Rose

What better way is there to describe this sweet, refreshing drink? There is nothing more satisfying than a big, cold, sugary glass of iced tea to accompany you through a hot, summer day. Bottled or freshly made, iced tea is always a perfect idea when you feel a little too warmish.

This tasty drink is often served with lemon or lime (In the South-West of the US). It is common for the iced tea to vary depending on the countries where it is made. For example, in America, they use black or fruit flavored tea. In Thailand – Ceylon tea is favored and Hojicha is more popular in China.

The recipe of how to prepare iced tea firstly appeared in cookbooks around 1876 and 1877, but this drink had already been known throughout the USA since the 1860s. At the beginning, this sweet, delicious tea was not very widely spread. This was the case up until it was featured on hotel and railroad station menus. During the 1904 World’s Fair, Richard Blechynden made it even more popular.

The Drosselmeyer Ice Tray Set. Visit our Shop.

Brands like Lipton, Nestea, and Honest tea are extremely popular manufacturers of Iced Teas. Since they are produced in mass quantities they are also very easy to obtain in most of the shops in the western part of the world. An iced tea is made by adding sugar to a tea brew while it is still hot. Next step – water in order to delude the mix and is topped with a slice of lemon. Iced tea can also be made by adding tea bags in a jar full of water. Then you can leave it under the sun, so it can naturally steep. This type of iced tea is called also – Sun tea.

Thai Iced Tea

Cha Yen or “cold tea” is usually prepared with Ceylon tea, but due to the higher price of this type of tea, sometimes it is made with Bai Miand (a type of black tea). To elevate the taste, orange blossom, water and spices like tamarind seeds and anise are added. Sugar and condensed milk are also obligatory. An interesting and authentic way to serve the tea is to pour it over crushed ice and into a plastic bag. Sometimes it is topped with evaporated or coconut milk. Variations of the Thai Iced tea include Cold Dark Iced Tea made with Indian tea, served with sugar and without milk. And Lime Thai Iced Tea – it has lime and often mint added to the brew.

Bubble Tea

Known as pearl milk tea or boba milk tea, this Taiwanese drink has become very popular due to its interesting nature. It was created during the 1980s in Taichung in the Chun Shui Tang Teahouse. The owner – Liu Han-Chieh was inspired by the Japanese technique of serving cold coffee. He decided to try with tea and it was a hit among the Taiwanese people. The teahouse manager – Lin Hsiu Hui took it even further when he decided to add some tapioca to the iced tea. It did not take long for the new, exotic drink to become famous and well loved. Even though there are many ways to make bubble tea, the most popular ones are to use milk tea and fruit teas. In the beginning, this type of tea was made with black tea, tapioca pearls, condensed milk, and syrup or honey. But it became clear that the most preferred ones were bubble teas with jasmine tea. Aromas of peach, plum, and other fruit flavoring became popular, but at some point were substituted for the real thing. It wasn’t just the brew that evolved, the little tapioca pearls did as well. Soon they were available in different tastes, sizes, and textures as well. Today bubble tea shops are very popular and there you are able to find an endless array of taste.

Teh Tarik

Regarded as the national drink in Malaysia this black tea and milk – literally, translates as “pulled tea”. The name comes from the technique used for pouring it that resembles “pulling”. What this means is that the liquid is poured from high, back and forth so it can become frothy. This unique way of preparing the tea, takes almost a theatrical form, as the servers often try to make the length of the poured tea as big as possible. Teh Tarik has been made known by immigrants from an Indian- Muslim descent.

Hong-Kong – style milk tea

As the name suggests this version of iced tea comes from Hong Kong where it is an often accompaniment to their lunch. It is prepared with several types of black tea and milk or condensed milk and depending on the preferences sugar is added. In order to intensify the caffeine inside the brew, it can be brought to a boil a couple of times. An interesting detail is that they use sackcloth to strain the tea because it is considered that this method gives a better flavor to the tea. When a condensed milk is used, the milk tea is called Cha chow. It is sweeter in taste and is often drunk by people with congestion in the throat. The mix of milk tea and coffee is known as yuan yang.

Terere

Originating in Paraguay (and considered their national drink), this version of iced tea is prepared from yerba mate (boiled and strained), ice and sometimes fruits or herbs. It is called ka’ay by the Guarani people, which translates like herb (ka’a) and water (y). It was made know by dwellers around the region. Drinking this brew is very meaningful for the people in Paraguay as the tradition of drinking it represents trust. It is very common to consume it around the country due to the fact that it is very refreshing and the temperature there could reach 40- 45 °C, so it is much needed. In Argentina and Brazil people add fruit – lemon, oranges and other citruses, peaches and mango. When Terere is mixed with fruit juices it is called “terere ruso” or Russian terere due to the fact that this is the preferred way of drinking it among immigrants of Slavic descent.

Ice Tea The Drosselmeyer Way

We at Drosselmeyer developed independently two products. The Drosselmeyer Ice Tray and the Drosselmeyer Infuser. We never thought about using them together, but it only seemed logical to prepare quality loose tea with the tea infuser and then add ice cubes to make some ice tea. Enjoy!