Although June is officially National Ice Tea Month, June 10th is National Iced Tea Day; a day to celebrate the most refreshing summer drink of all time. The very first recorded version of iced tea was published in a cookbook in 1879 by Marion Tyree. The recipe stated that one should boil green tea and steep it throughout the day, then “fill the goblets with ice, put two teaspoonfuls granulated sugar in each, and pour the tea over the ice and sugar.” However, Iced Tea wasn’t commercialized until 1904,
when an English Tea Plantation owner Richard Blechynden sold hot tea from a booth at the St. Louis World Fair. It was sizzling hot that day and sales were impeccably low, so Blechynden dumped the tea into some ice and began serving it chilled. Historically speaking, this is when tea went national.
Here are some great free tea samples and delicious recipes to help celebrate National Iced Tea Day…
Here are several Fabulous Ice Tea Recipes:
- MYO Copycat Arizona Green Tea
- MYO Copycat Iced Tea Syrup Concentrate
- Copycat Lipton Citrus Green Tea
- MYO Copycat Snapple Ice Tea & Various Flavors of Snapple
- More Delicious Iced Tea Recipes
Tips for great Iced Tea
- Darker Teas will yield a stronger flavor
- If you’re a Southerner, chances are you already know you should add a tiny pinch of baking soda to your tea to get the best flavor.
- Water Quality Counts- use clean, filtered water and be sure to use quality ice that hasn’t had time to absorb freezer flavors!
- If you’re using store brand tea bags, use the string on the tea bag to tie the ends together. This will keep the bag from breaking and leaf pieces from floating around in your tea
- Freshly brewed tea is good for you! Did you know that tea is rich in antioxidants (more specifically, flavonoids) and it is most potent when freshly brewed.
- For best flavor, store your tea in a GLASS pitcher or Large Mason Jar. Plastics have a tendency to absorb and release flavors and use of a metal container will give off an unpleasant metallic taste.
- Avoid Over brewing the Tea- 10-15 minutes is sufficient. Any longer than that and the tea will likely take on a bitter aftertaste.
- Add sugar while the tea is still warm to ensure fully dissolved sweetener and avoid graininess.
- Did you know that the temperature of the water should be altered depending on the type of tea you’re brewing? Use boiling water (212°F) for darker teas such as black tea, oolong or herbal teas. For green tea, white tea and light oolong teas, use cooler water temps (170°-180°F) for best flavor.
- Adding a squeeze of lemon prior to refrigerating the tea will help prolong the life of the natural flavonoids in the tea; The citric acid and vitamin c act as a natural preservative.
Freebies, Deals, Samples:
Since it’s national Iced Tea Month, many companies are offering deals and promotions, here are several you can enjoy:
- Free Snapple Iced Tea- Free Snapple at Walmart
- Free Iced Tea at La Madeleine Country French Cafe
- Teavana–Free Pineapple Berry Blue Ice Tea
© Can Stock Photo Inc. / Biitli
happy national iced tea day everyone! i really love all these new “national food holiday” posts, they’re fantastic. my favorite iced tea recipe is for boston iced tea.
ingredients:
Boil the water, then add the sugar and stir until it dissolves. Add the teabags and steep until it’s as strong as you want it.
Shut off the heat, Stir in the frozen cranberry juice. Cool Completely and serve over ice! You can use splenda instead of sugar, sometimes if I’m making it for myself I’ll reduce the sugar by about half.
we have both “sweet tea” and “not-so-sweet tea” drinkers in our house. to cut down on the amount of sugar used by the sweet tea drinkers, i make a simple syrup and keep it in a syrup jug in the fridge. each person can then use as much or as little as they like.