Tea comes in two basic varieties: black and green—green has a more delicate flavor. Actually, all tea starts out green; black tea is simply green tea that’s gone through various stages of processing and fermentation, explains author and former Gramercy Tavern managing partner Nick Mautone. For iced tea, use approximately 1 tablespoon of tea per 5 to 6 ounces of hot water and let it steep for up to 10 minutes. Drinking it cold reduces the tannin pucker, and ice will dilute it.
Game plan: You’ll need to make our Rich Simple Syrup before you begin. Or, add Lemonade for a homemade Arnold Palmer drink.
For extra layers of flavor, try our Mint and Lime Iced Tea recipe and our Asian Iced Tea cocktail recipe too.
- Yield: 8 cups
- Difficulty: Easy
- Total: 30 mins
- Active: 5 mins
- 8 tea bags of any good-quality black tea
- 1 medium lemon or orange
- 8 cups simmering water
- Ice
- Rich simple syrup (optional)
- Place the tea bags in a large heatproof glass pitcher. Use a vegetable peeler to strip the peel from the lemon or orange, avoiding as much of the white pith as possible, and add the peel to the pitcher.
- Pour the simmering water into the pitcher and let it steep for at least 5 minutes. Remove the tea bags and discard. Refrigerate the tea until cool.
- To serve, fill iced tea glasses with ice and pour the tea over the ice. Sweeten with simple syrup, if desired.