ice ice tea

Let's keep the July 1st post light and refreshing. (And aren't you terribly excited that there will be one post every. single. day. all through July...? I kind of am. It's a plan, something to focus on, but with a light heart. Perhaps I'll even get to tick some old backlogs, like the Schwarzwald trip, nearly four years later...) Let's talk ice tea, cold brew ice tea.

During the recent heatwave I decided to get serious about ice tea. And as I find it totally weird and wasteful to boil water (in a country with delicious, healthy tap water available) to cool down, I decided to try the cold brew method.

It's brilliant. Fill a 2 L jug with tap water, add 2-3 teaspoons of your favourite tea, put in fridge for 6-8 hours. Great if you have a jug with a built strainer, when you pour the tea into a glass with ice cubes (and maybe favourite fruit of choice) the next day. But I realised the loose tea managed to find its way out and into the tea anyway, thus I always ended up using an extra tea strainer when I poured it.



When you try a proper homemade ice tea you realise THIS is how it should taste, light and refreshing and nothing like those sugary nasty bottles you get at supermarkets and cheap cafes. If you'd like a hint of sweetness I guess a dollop of healthy agave syrup would work though.

The top glass is filled with orange-cactus rooibos from tea shop Tehuset Java. One of my favourite tea shops, and when things are as they are currently, I co-order with one of the neighborhood dog ladies, for free shipping. Time to get a new delightful order placed, because the amount of tea drunk these past months...

The pretty jug is from Löv tea, I first spotted it in the fab flagship store in Berlin in 2015, decided not to get one. Regretted that deeply. Shipping from France was very expensive, but then they had a special deal a couple of years ago and I got one. It's Lövely. However it also makes me wistful, and reminds me of how much I miss Berlin.

As does the second Berliner Weisse coupe glass. I actually have a few bottles left from 2015, but I want to save them for a time/times when there is truly something to celebrate. So I use it for other fine drinks. And soak my brain in melancholy memories instead.

The glass contains mango passion-fruit rooibos, also from Tehuset Java. One of my favourites. Excellent ice tea flavour.



Cold brewing tea also means you get fuller flavour and no tannin acid, so it works great on green teas too. I was sceptical but it worked. This glass is a joy of organic green rooibos Mirabelle from Kaffetheket in Västerås.

What's your favourite ice tea?

PS Remember to drink plenty of water when you drink lots of tea, not doing that and you'll be prone to constipation. I know too well, after my tea calendar bonanza in 2018, when I wasn't aware of that fact.