There’s nothing better than cooling down with a classic iced tea at home in the summer.
You can easily make iced tea at home, no matter what tools you have – you don’t even need a kettle!
Here are 5 completely different ways to make iced tea at home. Each iced tea recipe will make slightly different tasting tea, so try them all to see which one you like the best!
Psst! This blog post contains affiliate links in it which sends me a bit of extra money if you use them… at no extra cost to you!
What Tea To Use For Iced Tea At Home
You can use any tea with all of these iced tea recipes.
For the best results, I recommend using loose leaf tea (my favourite is Black Beauty #8 from Tealyra).
The classic tea choice is black tea from Lipton or Luzianne. Both brands offer specific teas for iced tea. The main difference between regular tea bags and iced tea bags are the strength and size of the bags.
You can find Lipton iced tea bags in family and gallon sizes – the same goes for Luzianne. I didn’t notice a huge difference, other than a stronger flavour when I used the regular tea bags.
Shop iced teas on Amazon.
Lipton Tea Bag Size Comparison
| Grams / Bag | Caffeine / Cup | Cups Of Tea | Cost / Bag | Shop | |
| Lipton Black Tea | 2.5 grams | 50 mg | 4 Cups | ~.04¢ (use 2 = .08¢) | Walmart.com |
| Lipton Family Size | 7.2 grams | 42 mg | 4 Cups | ~.11¢ | Walmart.com |
| Lipton Gallon Size | 28.8 grams | 42 mg | 1 Gallon (16 cups) | ~.32¢ | Walmart.com |
How To Make Iced Tea From Tea Bags: 5 Ways
There are 5 different ways to make iced tea at home, with each giving you slightly different flavours.
At the end of the day, it really depends on what works best for you!
| Taste | Strength | Time | Difficulty | Jump To… | |
| Quick-Chill | 3/5 | 3/5 | 7 mins | Easy | Read More |
| Stove Top | 3/5 | 4/5 | 10 mins | Moderate | Read More |
| Cold Brew | 5/5 | 1/5 | Up to 10 hours | Easy | Read More |
| Sun Tea | 5/5 | 2/5 | 2-4 hours | Easy | Read More |
| Instant Pot | 3/5 | 5/5 | 30-45 mins | Easy | Read More |
1. Classic Iced Tea: The Quick-Chill Method
The classic way to make iced tea is the quick-chill method.
This iced tea recipe is the best when you don’t want to make a huge batch, but rather an individual cup just for you to enjoy in the moment. Although, you can still use the quick-chill iced tea recipe for making larger batches as well.
What You’ll Need (for 4 cups of iced tea)
- 2 regular sized tea bags
- 2 cups boiling water
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 cup ice cubes (you might need more!)
Instructions
- Boil 2 cups water
- In a heat proof glass (I like using a glass measuring cup for easy pouring after – like this one on Amazon) add 2 tea bags and 2 cups of boiling water
- Let your tea steep for 3-5 minutes (or recommended time based on your tea)
- Optional: once steeped, remove the tea bag and stir in desired sweetener
- Once steeped, add 1 cup water and 1 cup ice cubes (keep adding ice cubes as needed to cool down your tea. You can also use all ice cubes instead of cold water)
Quick Chill-Method Quick Guide
Pros: Best for individual portions of iced tea, quick!
Cons: Can taste more bitter, requires more ice to cool it down
Total Time: 7 minutes
My Iced Tea Amazon Essentials
2. Brew On The Stove
If you have a bit more time and want to make more iced tea at once, or try an even stronger brew, make your tea on the stovetop.
The stovetop method works well for any amount of tea – it just depends on the size of your pot!
If you like making sweet tea, the stove top method is the best for adding in sugar. Because you’re adding it at a constant simmer, your sugar will be able to dissolve completely in the hot water.
What You Need (Makes 4 Cups)
- 1 family sized tea bag
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup(+) ice cubes
P.S. if you don’t like sweet tea, see my tips for making delicious homemade unsweet tea that actually tastes good!
Instructions
- Add 2 cups of water to a pot with 1 family size tea bag
- Cover, and bring water to a simmer (about 3 minutes)
- Optional: add sweetener of choice, if using sugar it will dissolve in hot water.
- Keep water at a simmer for 5 minutes
- Remove tea bag
- Pour your tea into a heat proof pitcher (like this one from DavidsTea). Add 2 cups of cold water.
- Enjoy immediately: fill up glass with ice cubes, pour tea over ice
- Enjoy later: put pitcher in the fridge to cool down for an hour. Enjoy over ice!
Stovetop Iced Tea Quick Guide
Pros: Easy to scale to make as much or as little as you want! Best for adding raw sugar so that it dissolves
Cons: Makes VERY strong tea – you might have to water it down!
Total Time: 10 minutes (depending on how quickly your stove boils water!)
3. Smooth But Slow: Cold Brew Iced Tea
Making cold brew tea is exactly like making cold brew coffee (in fact, I even make it in my a French press!). Because you don’t use any hot water for steeping, you won’t risk burning your tea leaves giving you the smoothest iced tea… but it is the slowest method.
Cold brew tea uses cold water to tea steep over a duration of time (like 8-10 hours!), and uses double the amount of tea. If you’re able to plan ahead, this is one of the best ways to make iced tea at home though!
If you can, try to get into the habit of making cold brew iced tea the night before, this way you’ll always have a fresh batch every morning the following day.
You can use an iced tea pitcher (like this one from DavidsTea) or even a French Press (like this one on Amazon) to make cold brew tea.
Read my full post on how to make cold brew iced tea.
What You Need (Makes 4 Cups)
- 2 family sized Lipton iced tea bags
- 4 cups water
- ice cubes for serving
Instructions
- Cut open 2 family sized tea bag and empty tea into a French press or pitcher with a fine strainer.
- Add 4 cups of water.
- Place container in fridge, let it sit for 8-10 hours.
- Remove strainer from pitcher, or press down the French press.
- Pour tea over ice to chill! Enjoy!
If you want a stronger flavour, feel free to add an extra bag or two!
Cold Brew Iced Tea Quick Guide
Pros: Really smooth iced tea that lasts the longest in the fridge
Cons: Takes longer, uses a lot of tea to make it strong, hardest to sweeten (you have to use a liquid sweetener)
Total Time: 8-10 hours
Bonus Cold Brew Hack!
If you love cold brew iced tea but can’t wait 10 hours, Lipton has your back! They’ve made a cold brew iced tea bag (see it on Amazon).
You can have cold brew tea in only 5 minutes! And honestly, it’s one of the best Lipton iced tea bags!
It comes with a few caveats however… in order to make a cold brew in 5 minutes, they’ve added tea extract to the tea bag, which is where all the flavour is from. And! It has the least caffeine compared to Lipton iced tea bags. But, it tastes pretty good!
My Cold Brew Iced Tea Amazon Must Haves
4. Sun Tea Iced Tea Recipe
Now that we’ve brewed tea with both hot and cold water, it’s time to brew tea with room temperature water!
Sun tea is when you leave tea leaves in water in the sun for a few hours to steep over time. It’s slower than the quick-chill method, but still faster than the cold brew iced tea recipe.
Like cold brew tea, sun tea doesn’t use boiling water, so your iced tea will be a lot less bitter. But because there is some heat involved, it’s much faster at extracting the flavour than cold brew.
I like this method when I’m making a larger amount of tea as well, so I use the gallon Lipton tea bags in a large glass jar (like this one on Amazon!). The downside to this method is that there are some risks if not done properly, and it is weather dependant…
What You Need (Makes 16 Cups – 1 Gallon)
- 1 gallon sized Lipton iced tea bags
- 16 cups water
- ice cubes
Instructions
- Add 1 gallon sized tea bag to large glass jar, fill it with 16 cups of water.
- Let it sit in the sun (can be indoors or outdoors) for no more than 2 hours.
- Serve immediately: fill cups with ice and pour tea over
- Save it for later (and get stronger tea): Place jar in fridge to cool down. If you want it stronger tea, leave the tea bag inside to steep for another hour or two.
See my full sun tea recipe.
Sun Tea Quick Guide
Pros: Great for infusing other flavours, quicker than cold brew for smoother tea.
Cons: Dependant on the weather, some risks, hard to sweeten with sugar, weaker
Total Time: 2-4 hours
My Sun Tea Recipe Amazon Must Haves
5. Instant Pot Iced Tea For A Strong Large Batch Of Tea
Instant pot iced tea is probably the most unique way to make iced tea at home. Although it’s a bit unconventional, you’ll get a very large, very strong batch in under an hour.
This is the strongest and yet still smooth tasting tea.
Making iced tea at home in the Instant Pot takes longer than I would’ve expected because it takes time for each step even though you’re only technically cooking it for 4 minutes.
But as with any recipe for the Instant Pot, it needs time to pressurize and release… altogether, the whole process takes about 30 to 45 minutes. The exact time will depend on your Instant Pot though.
My instant pot has a non stick pan inside, so I made sure not to use any tea bags with a staples in them.
You’ll also need a way to strain your tea afterwards. I’ve never managed to make tea in my Instant Pot without my tea bag breaking during the process… And they’re very fine leaves inside so you need a very fine strainer (I use the strainer from my DavidsTea Perfect Pitcher).
What You Need (Makes 16 Cups – 1 Gallon)
- 1 gallon sized Lipton iced tea bags
- 16 cups water
- ice cubes
Instructions
- Add 1 gallon sized tea bag to Instant Pot, fill it with 8 cups of water.
- Set your Instant Pot to HIGH, let it pressurize and cook for 4 minutes.
- Let it natural release for at least 15 minutes.
- To speed up the process, after 15 minutes, do a quick release (which takes about another 2 minutes)
- If your tea bag broke, use a ladle to scoop out the tea into a strainer to filter the leaves.
- Option: For sweet tea, add any sugar while your tea is hot!
- Add to a large gallon jar (like this one on Amazon), fill the rest of the jar with cold water and ice.
Instant Pot Iced Tea Quick Guide
Pros: Can make A LOT of tea at a time. For smoother tasting stronger tea
Cons: Requires an Instant Pot, doesn’t last long in the fridge, tea bag breaks… can also stain your Instant Pot.
Total Time: 30 to 45 minutes
Shop Instant Pots On Amazon
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Check Out My Tea Tasting Bundle To Compare Each Recipe
Interested In Tea Tasting? Get The Tea Tasting Bundle!
Refine your tea palette with my Tea Tasting Guide and take notes on every new tea you try to remember for next time in my Tea Tasting Journal.
My Iced Tea Amazon Essentials
Read More Related Posts
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- How To Make Sun Tea: Stay Refreshed All Summer Long
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Last update on 2024-05-01 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API