Cold Brew Iced Tea
Super simple, refreshing cold brew iced tea without the tannic, bitter flavors found in regular tea! Plus, it stays fresh tasting for days.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on October 22, 2024
My mom made sun tea when I was little. She would fill up the same clear plastic pitcher with Lipton tea bags and water and set it out in the sun to steep. I’d go out there and marvel at the process. As an experiment, I filled cans with water and macaroni noodles and set them next to her sun tea to “cook.” Never worked, no matter how long I left them out there.
Fast forward a few years, and my mom let up on her soda-once-a-week rule. I started guzzling Dr. Pepper like she guzzled unsweetened iced tea, and I squealed every time I grabbed the wrong cup from the cup holder. Yuck!
Nowadays, I’ve given up the soda in favor of good clean water. I’ve always wanted to understand my mom’s iced tea thing, and I’ve finally found a way to really, truly enjoy it—cold brew!
The cold brew method reminds me of sun tea, since you’re just steeping tea in water for hours, but cold brew takes place in the refrigerator instead of the back porch.
Heat brings out the tannic, bitter flavors in tea. In the absence of heat, you’re left with perfectly refreshing, super smooth tea for slow summer sipping. It isn’t bitter in the slightest. The same is true for coffee, which is why I love cold brew coffee so much.
How to Make Cold Brew Iced Tea
The method itself is incredibly simple. Just combine loose-leaf tea or whole tea bags and water in a pitcher and let the tea infuse the water for 6 to 12 hours in the refrigerator (see instructions below for specifics). Strain, and you have cold-brew tea that will taste great for days!
Bon Appetit suggested that they have best results with loose-leaf tea, so I used loose-leaf here, but I’ve since been making lazy cold-brew tea by soaking whole bags in water, which tastes almost as good and is much easier to make.
Another option? Steep your loose-leaf tea in a clean French press—just press down the filter to remove those loose tea leaves and pour!
Watch How to Make Cold Brew Ice Tea
Cold Brew Iced Tea
Super simple, refreshing cold brew iced tea without the tannic, bitter flavors found in regular tea! Plus, it stays fresh tasting for days.
Ingredients
- 1 tea bag (or 1 teaspoon loose-leaf tea) per 6 to 8 ounces of water, depending on desired strength
- Optional add-ins: sliced lemon, sweetener of choice, fresh mint leaves, sliced cucumber
Instructions
- For the best flavor, if you’re using tea bags, snip off the corners and dump the loose tea into your pitcher. Or, just put the whole bags in the pitcher for tea that is *almost* as awesome and way easier to make. Pour in room temperature or cold water.
- Cover the pitcher and refrigerate. Steep white or green tea for 6 to 8 hours; steep black or oolong tea for 8 to 12 hours.
- Once your time is up, strain the loose-leaf tea out of the pitcher by pouring the tea through a fine mesh sieve (for best results, cover the sieve with a cheesecloth or paint-straining bag used exclusively for food products) or just pull out the tea bags. Discard the tea or tea bags.
- Serve tea as is or with any add-ins of your choice. Tea will keep well, covered and refrigerated, for 3 to 5 days.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit May 2015.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This looks so refreshing – perfect for summer! I’m always looking for healthier ways to replace sodas and fruit juices – this seems a great alternative.
Whataburger makes the best iced tea with a restaurant tea maker(works kust like a coffee maker) and I’ve seen them time stamp it for 12 hours. I’m using Walters Bay 1 gallon bags but doesn’t come out strong enough when cold brewing. I like the benefits of cold brew but going to have to work on getting it stronger.
I REALLY want to make homemade iced tea, I live in Switzerland now and there is SO much Iced Tea around, but nothing like the good homemade stuff. Think I might need to get some of this brewing in the fridge stat!
Never tried this recipe before but am excited to try it :) I like my sweet things and loveee my ice tea so have grapefruit popsicles I’m going to semi thaw and add in the bottom before adding in the cold brew tea, hoping it turns out nice!!
I hope you enjoyed it, Renee!
Wait what ? Switzerland has THE best iced tea, the Migros ice tea…
This looks wonderful and so refreshing! I’ve never thought of cold brewing to get rid of the bitterness! Thank you for sharing your recipe! H x
Hi Kate,
What’s your theory on dumping the loose leaves out of the bag, then restraining them? I’m thinking maybe so they don’t “clump” together and you get more of the tea? I’ve been wanting to make my own Iced Jade Citrus Mint (SB’s green tea). It’s painful paying 3.00 for glass of tea :-)
Hi Dani! Yes, that’s right. I experimented, though, by soaking a tea bag in about six ounces water overnight. That tea came out pretty well!
Sounds so refreshing! I’m an occasional tea drinker, but my husband is obsessed. I’m sure he’ll enjoy when I make this for him!
I hope you both enjoy it! Please let me know!
This looks amazing! I normally hate iced tea but this looks awesome!
I have brewed my iced tea this way for years. It truly is the best iced tea ever, never bitter!
Yes! Glad you agree, Robbi.
me too, Robbi. Cold brew never gets cloudy, either!
Cold brew is the only way I do ice tea – its the best! And I use to marvel at my mom’s sun-tea while growing up too! Your macaroni experiment made me laugh. Happy summer Kate!
I’m glad you’ve experienced the joy of cold-brew tea! Thanks, Jessie! :)
I love iced tea….I drink a couple of glasses of iced green tea every day. But…I’ve never made cold brewed. Making a pitcher today!
Hope you enjoyed it, Deborah!
These photos are too stunning for words! I can’t wait to make this.
Well, that means a lot coming from you! Thank you, Alanna.
I’m a fan of cold brew coffee and why cold brew tea never crossed my mind is beyond me because this sounds so good! Refreshing without the bitterness, perfect for summer. I’ll be giving this a try!
Thanks, Jordan! Hope you love it!
Lipton makes an excellent Cold Brew Tea. I use one Family Size bag and make a whole gallon of it. If fact I make two 1 Gallon milk/spring water jugs from tap water and rotate them and keep 2 in refrigerator at all times. Helped me kick my Diet Coke habit!
Hello Kate!
I’m one of those “boring ppl you hate to entertain, because you can’t offer anything since they only drink water and are SOOOOOOOO difficult to entertain!!!”. :P
I HATE soda, and i can’s stand anything with the taste of sugar in it, it makes me chill down the spine and make that “bgleeeeeaaaah!!”-face.
But THIS … opened a new wold for me! Im hooked!
I’ve had some nasty result with soaking the leaves for too long, though. I use 1 tbsp of tea leaves and 2 tsp stevia “sugar” (i use a type of stevia product that looks like table sugar), for each 1 l water. And only 1 hours soaking for green tea.
My “Grand Jasmine Monkey King” (Green tea from China) feels literally like smelling the flower when sipping to it. Or like drinking the flower…!
Now I just tried the same recipe with “Fleur De Geisha”, and the cherry blossom taste is just … WOW! This IS then best drink I’ve ever had! (Except from water…hehe )
I put the leaves directly into the mug, fill with cold water, soak in the fridge, and run through a strainer. Putting the tea back to the mug and adding the stevia and stirring well!
Thank you so much for posting this recipe, Kate! :-)
(btw, here are the ones I enjoy the most: Palais des thes: http://us.palaisdesthes.com)
Thank you, Ole-E!
Thank you, thank you! I was looking for how to cold-brew all our loose-leaf teas, and this was exactly what I needed to know. Before this, I would hot-brew (is that a phrase?) the tea in the regular fashion, take out the tea ball, and then put it in the fridge overnight in order to have cold tea in the morning. This looks much easier, and I love that it’s less bitter. Can’t wait to experiment. And just in time for summer, too!
OMG this way is so much better and quicker and tastier than the way I was doing it,I keep my tea bags in mason jars in the fridge filled with water so there is always one ready ,I take the bags out and pour in a pitcher add more water and lemon juice .Redo the jar and put it back .I have 2 in there at all times. Thanks
I know hope comment is a few years old, but I justice this idea! My husband and I are tea drinkers. On a hot or busy day we can easily go through a half gallon in a day. I usually brew half black tea half green tea (he won’t drink pure green tea, but doesn’t notice if I sneak it in half and half with regular tea. And I can’t count the number of times I get distracted doing other things and boil the tea over onto the stovetop. I have lots of mason jars, so I’m going to try your method of always having tea bags steeping in the fridge. Thanks for the tip!
I was so excited to try cold brew tea. I am currently pregnant and love having a cup of decaf tea but the acidity in the hot tea bothers me. Cold brew is so gentle on my acid reflux and it tastes so refreshing!
Cold brew is my only way to brew tea from now on. Thank you for the recipe!
I’ve been trying this since I read your blog, and I am so happy with the taste. It’s smooth and almost sweet. I started to make ice cubes with the same tea for an undiluted brew. I always have so much tea on hand, and now I can cycle through my stash and keep it all fresh.
Really liked the macaroni connection. I tried the same thing with a solar cooker I made only with Great Northern beans. No matter how often I moved the focus of the sun the beans never cooked. Could burn wood but just never cooked the beans. I was going for the sun tea concept and proved it did not work for me.
What about using a gallon jug (plastic) of purified water from the grocery store with the appropriate ratio of tea to water? I almost want to ask this privately to you, as I fear there are cold brewed tea snobs out there who would shudder at this idea.
karen – love that idea of water jug ! will try it !, thanks !
I lived off of this cold brew last summer, and am making my first batch tonight for this season. So excited! Thank you!
I’m so glad it’s finally iced tea season again! Enjoy. :)
Does the container need to be lid-sealed completely? I have a blue plastic pouring pitcher…would that work alright?
That should work well!
I love this method! I like to get green tea that’s flavored with blueberry, put it in the fridge overnight, then I take it to work with me the next day instead of coffee! It’s light and refreshing, never bitter.
Yes! No more bitter iced tea. Thanks, Kayla.
This is definitely the best method for making iced tea because you retain all the antioxidant properties without the additional tannins you get from hot tea. I brew in mason jars overnight and make sure I give it a good Shake to get all the antioxidant out. I’ve had my best luck with the Prince of Peace organic Oolong tea bags. in addition to adding lemon, I highly recommend a little bit of orange juice as well or sliced oranges. The combination is irresistible.
I’ve recently realized I a tannin sensitivity is causing me many issues. I’ve cut it out things like tea and red wine and things are getting better. But it sucks not having green tea and red wine! I understand that cold brewing the tea has much lower tannin levels. But what if you like the tea hot? Can you cold brew the tea in half the water to make it strong and then dilute with hot water to drink it warm?
Hi Stakan, I’ve not heard of tannin sensitivity before, but I’m glad you figured out what was causing your problems! I think that would work, just haven’t tried!
Hello! I’d like to know if it is important to put the tea into the fridge to brew, or if it can also be left out at room temperature (or little more than room temperature)? It’s hot in Sri Lanka and I have no fridge. Thank you & blessings.
Hello! I think you could leave it out at room temperature. I just haven’t tried to be sure!
I was looking for a way to make ice tea in college. Thank you for this post. I will try this soon.
Let me know how it goes, Gideon!
I have been making green tea like this for a while.When the weather is hot, I find mixing green and mint teas particularly refreshing, and cooling. I fill a 2-litre pitcher with filtered water and add 6 tea bags. Every time I take a glass full I refill the pitcher with water. I leave the bags in and never have any problems with it. I change it all up every couple of days. I hardly ever drink water now.
One caveat, apparently herbal and floral teas may harbour bacteria, so they need heat to destroy it. In that case, I may just make the tea like I used to: Put the bags or leaves in a cup, and add just enough hot water to cover. Let steep 5 minutes, squeeze bags, and add lquid to a pitcher of filtered cold water.
Hmm, I haven’t heard of the bacteria connection to herbal teas, but I’ll look more into that.
I recently went to Disney World with my sons HS Band. While in Epcot I had my first sip of cold brewed tea and it has haunted me ever since. ;)
I was searching for a good technique when I found your post. I just spent the morning working in my veg garden and came inside to a perfect glass of cold-brewed green tea sweetened slightly with honey. Heavenly!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Great! I hope this was a close approximation. :)
I use a 24 oz. glass jar with lid. 3 green tea bags overnight. Great refreshing drink and also use in smoothies.
Perfect!
Thanks for the post. Was looking at different recipes for cold brew to compare. I have been using St. Dalfour organic peach tea and it’s delicious but I can’t seem to get it just right in strength so I wanted to see what ratios others used. Anyhow…do you reuse the teabags?
This sounds delicious and easy. Question: If it’s inconvenient to strain the black tea after 12 hours, is there a downside to letting it continue to steep, in the refrigerator, til, say, the next morning?
If it’s anything like cold brewing coffee, and I suspect it is, brewing too long will release more tannins and could concentrate that bitterness in the tea. Worth a shot tho…tea is so cheap it wouldn’t break the bank to test that.
Just started cold brewing my coffee and was astounded at the improvement — less bitterness and acidity. Yesterday it hit me that maybe there’s a way for tea, too. Found you, glad I did, the tea came out fantastic. Incredibly smooth, a beautiful amber color, rich flavor — and the starchy coating tea usually leaves in my mouth didn’t happen here. I even used more tea than called for to make it more concentrated. Then I’ve got more tea to go around with each batch. (Add water to glass when serving) I may never hot brew anything again…
YES cold brewing is the way to go! No bitterness here. I’m glad you came upon this, Christine! Thanks.
Lemon ice tea is my favourite and I am exited to try this soon, especially with lemon, I might even start experimenting with which fruits are better in this than lemons
I actually tried to make my own cold brew ice tea around a year ago but I wasn’t sure about what to do and so I made the mistake of making cold tea, letting it steep for a very short time (about a minute or so) and then immediately added double concentrate juice drink. If anyone wants to know, it wasn’t *terrible* but it wasn’t great either. All I can say is that, “if you want to make great ice tea, start with a recipe and build off of it”
I always encourage experimentation with recipes. :)
Would white tea require a shorter brewing time? I know it does when using hot water. Thank you!
Hi Shelley, I have details on that in step 2. Enjoy!
Great stuff. Thank you for this recipe. Anybody tried brewing this method with either dairy or non-dairy milks?
Thank you, for your review!
Tannins are only released when tea is brewed with hot water. That’s why cold-brewing has the best flavour, without any bitterness. I use a recycled 1/2 gallon glass bottle that has a metal screw-on lid and a wide opening (approx 3″). I use cold tap water, add 6 bags of tea, then add about 2 tbsp of bottled lime or lemon juice (sold in the plastic fruit shaped bottles). I screw on the lid real tight, flip it upside down and shake it a bit, to mix in the citrus juice and submerge the floating tea bags to saturate them, then I place it in the fridge, in a dedicated spot in the bottom of the door. I haven’t removed the tea bags up until now, but I will try removing them with the current brew that’s been soaking for several hours (anywhere between 8-12 hrs total is the perfect brew time). I’ve kept the batches of cold brew tea for up to 5 days with the bags left in and have only noticed mold on one occasion, which I tossed and sanitized the glass bottle before making another batch. I think it’s important to mention that the tea should be stored in a tightly-closed glass container to avoid it’s tendency to absorb fridge flavours. I noticed that plastic containers give off a plastic taste that gets stronger, the longer the tea is stored. I will only use glass from now on. I love taste of cold-brewed tea. Cheers!
Please edit the last sentence. I meant to say I love THE taste of cold-brewed tea. Thanx for the excellent article!
I placed a cheesecloth in a pitcher filled it with ice dumped loose tea in and filled with water then steeped overnight about 10 hrs (4 peach tea 2 green tea bags) first thing I did was pull the cheesecloth out and the tea leafs and any ice remaining out. Then added homemade ice cubes of sugar mixed in agave water so it gained a sweetness as the ice melts. I found it so refreshing I started turning the tea into ice cubes for hot days so the tea gets pretty strong or for people like my mom who like it weak she added the teacubes to regular water to flavor it
Thank you, Danielle for sharing!
I’m normally a coffee drinker, but it’s been messing with my stomach lately. While in Philly, I picked up a pound of loose leaf oolong (that being one of my favorites before coffee came into my life) at the Reading Terminal Market. Now that it’s hot out (and I don’t feel like making tea at 4am before work) I decided to give this recipe a try. It is truly the best iced tea I’ve had. Yes, it takes a while compared to making a huge pot of hot tea and putting it in the fridge, but the taste is so much better. So, now I can say goodbye to the coffee and hello to tea!
I’m glad you gave it a try, Matt! I appreciate the review.
When someone refers to loose-leaf tea, they mean the high quality whole tea leaves that usually come in a container where you need to measure the tea yourself because it doesn’t come pre-bagged. Pre-bagged tea is generally just the low quality tea dust that is left over after processing tea. Pouring the tea dust from a tea bag into a larger container doesn’t make it loose-leaf tea.
Thanks for sharing!
On my way to the store right now to buy some tea bags (okay…so I’m lazy, too!). Just had some marvelous, best-I’ve-ever-had iced tea in San Antonio, TX (at Soluna Restaurant) and can’t wait to see if this will measure up! They wouldn’t give up what kind of tea they use, nor how they make it. Fingers crossed!
What did you think, Sandy?
Was really easy (5 star easy!) and great tea. I used Earl Grey black tea, think I brewed it too long tho (overnight, about +12 hrs). This time I’m going for perhaps 8 hrs. It still had just a hint of “bite” at the end, but was so much better than hot brewed & easier too. Will keep experimenting with some of the teas mentioned above. So glad to have found you, Kate!
Hi, for adding lemon slices, is that something you do at the beginning and let it brew for the 8 hours with the lemon slices inside, or do you add them after straining?
Add them when you serve, see step 4. Hope this helps!
hi! what about herbal tea? how long should i let that brew for?
I like flavored tea but not too much flavor, but herbal teas don’t have nearly enough flavor for me.
I used to fill a tall skinny quart-size pitcher with cold tap water then I added a variety of single-size tea bags. I started with regular tea, green or otherwise, then added flavored herbal teas. Raspberry, pomegranate and lemon showed up frequently.
I put it together in the evening, left it on the counter top and took out the tea bags and put it in the fridge in the morning. I poured it over ice and it lasted the day, or maybe two. Thanks for the reminder. I’m drinking way too much Coke these days. I need to cut out some of that sugar.
Jan
Thank you for sharing your version, Jan! I appreciate the review.
Hello! I want to start making cold brew iced tea to kick my soda habit, and need to know what type (material) pitcher to buy. I want to infuse the tea with lemons and keep hearing how plastic leaches into lemon water. Would you recommend a glass pitcher, or an acrylic one?
Glass is a great option, Trisha!
I have been making cold brewed ice tea for years. I have two tea pitchers with teas infusing inserts. I can put loose tea in the infuser, or tea bags. I also buy packs of tea bags from Amazon and use those for loose leaf tea. Much easier than straining tea out of the pitcher. Takeya makesa pitcher where the infuser screws into the lid so loose leaf tea cannot float out, or you can put tea bags right into the infuser. Easy peasy. You can also use the infuser for cucumbers or fruit to make flavored waters.
Thanks for sharing your method, Lizzy!
Thank you for this guide! Tonight will be my 5th round making it, and I think I’ve got it down. For just over 2L of water, I use 10 green tea bags, slice up a lemon, and a good gloop of honey. I aim to have it in the fridge between 7 and 9 for my 5am wake up call. It’s PERFECT when I mix it with my greens powder.
I love that! Thank you, Meghan.
what kind of tea do you use? black? green? I know nothing about tea.
Hi Ann, I used green tea. But, you can use the tea of your liking!
I will start by saying my grandmother was English and we observed no stirring, squeezing, or boiling of tea neither did we steep longer for stronger tea. Humbly I can say I make a nice cup of tea, my grandma would be proud.
I, however made the worst iced tea. This method is a game changer! Presently, I am working on the amount of sugar, number of sprigs of mint and how much lemon juice suits our preference… but it is already so much better
So happy I chanced upon your recipe,
Melissa
Thank you, Melissa! I’m happy to hear it.
I love iced tea and in the midst of my experiments. I have made cold brew with loose leaf Twinnings Earl Gray and separately with a local loose leaf flavored tea (8 rounded teaspoons per 1/2 gallon reverse osmosis water in a canning jar) result was fantastic! Tonight I am trying cold brewing 4 Luzianne family sized tea bags in the same sized glass canning jar and another with my previously method of making iced tea (2 family sized tea bags steeped for 5 minutes in a quart of boiling water and 1 quart of ice added after steeping. I will report on the results of my experiment soon. Thank you for your article on cold brew tea, it’s getting me out of my box!
Thank you for sharing Sharon!
I’ve used this recipe several times with a variety of loose teas. Each time the tea is perfect!
process of making this ice tea is really awesome
im loving it…
keep writing more blogs like this
I love this article. It is full of great information. I feel better when I drink green tea. It gives me a sense of well-being and seems to energize me. Just taking time for tea and it makes my day go better. The fact that it may inhibit fat retention in the body is a bonus! Since we have been living back in the “South” I have discovered “Iced Green Tea”!