You can’t call it summer without sun, sand and, of course, sweet tea. There is no greater icon of vacation mode: the sweaty, frosted glass and the soft clink of ice cubes as you draw your first icy, mouth-watering sip. Sweet tea is both a treat and a staple of summer. In some regions of the country, it is guzzled like water. In others, it is a novelty consumed with cozy, home-style cuisine. Upon deeper analysis, we discovered that all the claims to the best sweet tea involved a secret recipe, and we delved into the ultimate mission: to crack the code of the sweet tea secret.

In 1795, the first tea plantations in the United States arrived in South Carolina. Today, there are still a few left in the state. Popping up in the 19^th Century, the first sweet tea “punches” incorporated green tea and a heavy-handed pour of booze. The switch to black tea began in the late 1800’s when the refreshing drink became more like the modern-day version, preferably garnished with a slice of lemon, sweetened with sugar, poured over broken ice.

While you can’t visit a rest stop or convenience store without being bombarded by an influx of flavored and traditional sweet tea options, this wasn’t always the case. Sweet tea came on the market in the early 20^th century, specifically the Saint Louis World’s Fair of 1904. The oppressive heat inspired the quest for cold drinks, and the complimentary hot tea being given out at the fairgrounds was served over ice. The chilled version of this “ice tea” was a smash hit for fairgoers. It soon made its way into department stores as the signature drink for shoppers nationwide!

Searching for the best sweet tea recipe, we encountered a whole lot of “secret” ingredients and brewing methods. We decided to take matters into our own hands and perfect our own recipe to put out for the whole world to enjoy! We’re here to take the secret out of this southern treat. Give it a whirl and let us know what you think!

• Use loose leaf tea – it is of higher quality than most tea bags and tastes better! Tea bags use fannings and dust, the leftover bits of tea once the good loose leaf stuff is used. Try our Iced Tea blend, Organic Keemun, or Orange Pekoe!
• Use an iced tea pitcher, such as our Mist Iced Tea Pitcher. All you have to do is add your loose leaf tea directly inside the pitcher, then add filtered water! The filter at the top of the pitcher will keep tea leaves from reaching your glass. With the Mist Iced Tea Pitcher, there are is a cold and hot brew method.
• Add 7-10 tsp loose leaf tea to the 50oz pitcher
• Gently pour 2 cups hot water first, then 4 cups cold water
• Place pitcher in fridge. Steep 2 – 6 hours.
• Voila! Pour and serve!
• Garnish with a lemon slice and mint sprig.

When the days are extra long, caffeination is so very important. In honor of today’s solstice, we thought we’d round-up our very favorite summer coffee and tea recipes.

For Coffee Lovers:

No-Churn Coffee Fudge Ice Cream

Vietnamese Coffee Popsicles

Dark Moon Cocktail

Cold Fashioned Cocktail

Affogato

For Tea Fans:

Iced Chai Bubble Tea

Watermelon Mimosa Green Tea Popsicles

Homemade Kombucha

Jasmine Honey Tea Granita

Tea Sangria

Bubble tea, also known as boba, is a Taiwanese drink with many variations. The oldest version is sweetened iced tea with milk, shaken until frothy, sometimes poured over tapioca pearls. We decided to try this basic recipe with our Spiced Chai Black Tea, which is delicious sweetened with milk. Unlike store bought bubble tea, you can add as much or little sugar as you like, and any type of milk or creamer you prefer (coconut milk would be great). Have fun with this recipe and make it your own!

Supplies (per serving)

1/4 cup dried tapioca pearls (boba) for bubble tea, such as these

3 teaspoons of looseleaf chai tea

1 cup milk (or to taste)

Simple syrup (substitute agave nectar or honey if you prefer)

extra wide straw

cocktail shaker

Instructions

Make a strong cup of tea and let it cool. We used three teaspoons of loose leaf chai, brewed for about three and a half minutes. Cook your boba according to the instructions on the package. You can find tapioca pearls in different sizes and colors (even rainbow), all of which have a pretty neutral flavor, but the cooking time varies. Once the pearls are cooked and drained, submerge them in simple syrup and store in the fridge. When you’re ready to put it all together, add a scoop of the boba with syrup to the bottom of a glass. Add the milk, tea, and a splash of simple syrup to a cocktail shaker with a few ice cubes and shake well. Strain into your glass, add a fat straw, and enjoy!

Most of the recipes we try  in our kitchen/laboratory here are a combination of ideas and flavors we love. Flavored almond milk, cold-steeped iced tea, and spiced tea lattes are things that make the world better, and we decided to bring them together to form a super-beverage: almond milk flavored with loose leaf tea, cold-steeped overnight.

We’ve tried this with flavored black and green teas. Our personal favorite for this treat is Earl Grey. Cold-steeped overnight (12 hours), the flavor is perfect. Serve right away, or strain into a second container to store. Enjoy it over ice, or steam it and drink it latte-style.

What you’ll need

Iced tea jug and strainer (we used a 34 oz Mist Iced Tea Jug which has a strainer built in for loose leaf tea)

4 tablespoons loose leaf tea

34 ounces almond milk (unsweetened or sweetened, depending on your preference)

Instructions

Add the almond milk to your jug, followed by the tea, give it a stir and refrigerate, covered, for 12 hours or overnight. Serve immediately or strain and store refrigerated.

Experiment with this recipe! Try it with rice milk, coconut milk, hemp milk — whatever you like. Experiment with honey, agave nectar, or other sweeteners. Let us know what works!

If you are a loose leaf tea fan, you probably know how to brew your favorite teas. If you don’t, we tried to make it simple on our Tattle Tea site by providing some general guidelines as well as specific brewing instructions for each tea, including amount of tea, ideal water temperature and steep time.

However, that’s per cup, hot. How does that translate to iced, especially if you’re used to throwing a bunch of teabags in a pitcher? Hot water brewing is an easy place to start. This method creates a concentrate that you can then pour over ice and can serve immediately.

Here’s our recipe for a half gallon of iced Orange Pekoe black tea.

What you’ll need:  

Large T-Sacs (we use two of the #4 size)

Two half gallon-sized containers (one should be suitable for hot liquids)

Measuring cup

Orange Pekoe loose leaf tea

1 quart water for boiling

Lots of ice

Directions

1. Fill two large T-Sacs with ½ cup of dry Orange Pekoe loose leaf black tea.

2. Boil a quart of water. We use the Ibis electric kettle.

3. Place the T-Sacs in a heat safe half gallon pitcher and add a quart of near boiling water.

4. Let it steep for 3 ½ minutes.

5. While your tea is steeping, take your second pitcher and fill it to the brim with ice.

6. When your time is up, remove the tea bags and pour your tea into the pitcher of ice slowly.

7. Once most of the ice has melted, add more ice until the pitcher is full again.

8. Pour, drink, enjoy.

Want to brew a smaller batch, or try another type of tea? The brewing instructions on our site and our packaging are for 8oz of hot tea. First, calculate how much tea you would need to brew your desired batch size normally, then double the quantity of tea. You will be pouring the hot tea over ice and adding more ice before serving, so to get the amount of hot liquid right, take your desired quantity and divide it by four. The math gets confusing to some, so just trust us on that.

One very important thing to remember: the steep time and water temperature is the same as for regular hot tea, regardless of strength desired or quantity of tea and water used. The best way to adjust the strength without getting a bitter cup is to adjust the ratio of tea to water, not the steep time.

If you want to try our whole leaf tea bags, English Breakfast tastes great iced. Use 13 bags for a half gallon, and the same steeping instructions.