Home brewed Iced Tea

I found out recently that I'm right on the cutting edge of a trend. Imagine that!

I went to this little coffee shop called Mocha Lisa's Cafe. They also have Iced Tea there. I can't drink coffee (it gives me heartburn) and I don't generally like warm beverages anyway, so I ordered iced tea and watched how they made it.

They made it almost exactly how I make it at home. That's how I knew I was part of this trend!

Here's how they made it: They brewed hot tea, using my choice from a whole tray full of different flavored teas. I picked Apricot/Peach flavor. The only difference from how I make tea at home was that they didn't use a tea bag, but used some sort of thing similar to a coffee filter to put the loose tea leaves in.

After they had the hot tea, they poured it over ice and served it to me.

Here's what I do at home: I make one cup of tea. Often I do it in an oversized cup that I know will hold up to hot liquids. Then I add sweetener and, often, a little fruit juice. I buy Kern's Apricot Nectar and put in several tablespoons of that per cup of tea. Then I just add ice and stir, that's why I start with an oversized cup.

I'm a label-reader and I've found that iced tea mix is not nearly as good for you as regular tea. Even Lipton tea bags that are meant for iced tea don't have nearly the amount of antioxidants that regular tea has. That's why I add the fruit juice rather than buy flavored tea bags. The flavored ones don't have the large quantity of antioxidants, either.

So, that's a great an inexpensive way to make your own healthy and tasty iced tea, and save money versus the cost of buying it at an expensive coffee or tea shop where they make it the same way.