In 1904, English tea plantation owner Richard Blechynden set up a booth to sell hot tea at the St. Louis World Fair. It was a sizzler of a day, and fair visitors didn't want anything hot. Rather, they needed something to quench their thirst... something cold. He dumped some of his hot tea into ice and served it cold. It was an immediate hit. This was the first known use of iced tea.


Since ancient times, people have believed that tea has a wide range of medicinal uses. Modern research has given credibility to many of these beliefs and identified more In some cases research is not conclusive. Regardless of the final determination as to it's value over time, drink and enjoy because there is no research to suggest that it can hurt you and it just tastes good.

Here are some of the known or suspected medicinal applications:

   Avoidance of heart disease
   Cancer and tumors
   Stomach ailments
   Sore throats and colds(often flavored with honey)
   Soothing, relaxing

http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/June/icedteaday.htm


Lipton Iced Tea: Regardless of where you are in the country, here's a freebie you can sign up for. The first 100,000 people to visit www.liptonicedteaday.com Sunday will get a postcard coupon for a free 20-ounce Lipton Iced Tea.


Help permies celebrate Ice Tea Day!    Let's share photos, recipes and just comments if you want.  

Is it possible to make ice tea with loose leaf tea?

Absolutely.   You can really make iced tea from any kind of tea.  As I seldom make just plain iced tea, even with bags of tea I have some loose herb leaves brewing at the same time.

If you grow your own herbs you can have a lot more variety in your tea.  Lemon balm, any kind of mint, and even several of the basil varieties make fantastic additions to iced tea.  I like some of the purple basils as a tea by themselves.

If you want even more variety try mixing your tea with other drinks.  For instance mint tea is actually pretty good as a base for lemonade.
I like the lemonade recipes that start with boiling the lemon slices so it's any easy addition for me.

As long as I am out it, one of the older traditions of deep south sweet teas is to have a jug of simple syrup prepared to add if there's not already enough sugar. It's a great way to cater to mixed tastes at a large gathering. Put out a jug of unsweet tea with a selection herb flavored syrups.  Your guests can mix their drinks exactly as sweet as they like and you can show off some of the unique flavors your garden provides.

This thread is about favorite tea blends and has a great picture of loose teas from herbs:


https://permies.com/t/43981/kitchen/favourite-homemade-tea-blends

My husband drinks hibiscus (jamaica) tea for blood pressure health, and also because he loves it.  He only likes tea iced.  He makes his hot brew, then cools it in the fridge, then strains it and adds stevia to sweeten.

Here is an article about making hibiscus tea as an overnight cold brew, which the author claims tastes better.  I'm going to tell him to try it out, since it would also take less energy and make no heat. (We're in the desert.)

Cold brew hibiscus/jamaica tea

And a pic:  

One thing to consider - the medicinal qualities might be different form a cold brew.  But it's so worth trying.

My mom used to make "sun tea" while we were growing up.  She's put tea bags in a closable jar filled with water, out in the sun.  End of the day, she'd stick it in the refrigerator, and that was tea for tomorrow.  Here's a "recipe" for that... it's so simple I don't think a recipe is needed because you can't really go "wrong", but in case you want one:  Sun Tea

Here is an awesome drink called Switchel: a natural version of a sports drink:

https://permies.com/t/57424/kitchen/Switchel-natural-version-sports-drink

Here are some pictures from that thread:






From that same thread here is another great drink:

I know I'm replying late and missed "the day" though iced tea season is just getting started around here!

We have several of these glass pitchers (Amazon affiliate link here) which fit in a crowded refrigerator ever so politely.



Though in the past, I had one like this one (Amazon affiliate link here) which is more expensive, though if my recollection serves, it also seems sturdier than the first one which seems to have thin glass.



We also have often used gallon jars like this one (Amazon affiliate link here), though they are so rarely empty, that it's been really helpful to have the glass pitchers that don't get usurped into food storage!



One of the favorite, simplest herbal (no caffeine) iced teas we've made was just rooibos. For some reason, when cold-brewed in the fridge, and served cold or iced, it was determined VERY refreshing on a hot day. Rooibos is not my favorite, but out of almost a dozen people here one summer, it was that group's favorite by far.

I buy teas in bulk, so I'll often just put the bulk tea in with the water overnight, then strain as I pour from one pitcher to another, and voila!

What kind of container do you all use for your iced tea?

Jocelyn, Thank you for sharing about Rooibos tea.  I put it on my shopping for the next time we go to the big city.

I make my tea in a big jar that I recycled that originally contained salsa. I usually make sun tea.

Today is the first sunny day since Ice Tea day.  Unseasonally cold here - but at least we missed the SNOW last weekend.  This is really good because people here don't know how to handle snow in the winter, snow in June would have completely shut down the city.

I got some jars and put tea leaves, water and some sugar in each.  In one jar I put a splash of lemon juice, in the other kombucha because that's somewhat sour.  I put them on the windowsill.  Now I'm wondering if I should have looked up some directions or something.  The results will be 'interesting' if nothing else.  Can't imagine anything bad can grow in there as tea is a natural antiseptic and antibacterial or whatever.  So is sugar.  Looking forward to the result.  

How many days do I have to wait?

r ranson wrote:Today is the first sunny day since Ice Tea day.  Unseasonally cold here - but at least we missed the SNOW last weekend.  This is really good because people here don't know how to handle snow in the winter, snow in June would have completely shut down the city.

I got some jars and put tea leaves, water and some sugar in each.  In one jar I put a splash of lemon juice, in the other kombucha because that's somewhat sour.  I put them on the windowsill.  Now I'm wondering if I should have looked up some directions or something.  The results will be 'interesting' if nothing else.  Can't imagine anything bad can grow in there as tea is a natural antiseptic and antibacterial or whatever.  So is sugar.  Looking forward to the result.  

How many days do I have to wait?

Until it's as strong as you like it! That's my opinion, any way. I think it depends on how sunny and warm that location is, how strong you like your tea, how quickly your tea leaves release their goodness.

Glad you're not so worried about anything bad growing. Refrigerator tea or a cold brew, in my experience, generally takes overnight (6-8 hours) for a good strength, so if it's a lot warmer, it will of course be quicker than that.

Edited to add Nicole's awesome thread about making sun tea, or refrigerator tea, and the stuff that could go bad (or not) in doing so:  https://permies.com/t/58331/kitchen/Making-Tea-Sun-Tea-Refrigerator.

We make sun tea most of the summer months, one of the things about living on the top of a mountain, if the sun is out, you can make tea in a few hours.
There should be a universal rule that if you are working outdoors, tea must be provided on an hourly basis.