How to Make Loose Leaf Iced Tea – The Perfect Summer Drink

Looking for a delicious summer beverage that’s refreshing, tasty, visually appealing, and nutrient packed? Iced tea is so much more than adding some stale black tea bags to water. The world of loose leaf tea just might surprise you with its robust taste and variety of flavor options. And once you know how easy it is to make loose leaf iced tea, you’ll be making it for yourself and your guests over and over! Although loose leaf tea offers way better flavor (and often more health benefits from a higher-quality product), it hardly takes any more effort than using tea bags. 

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Why Drink Loose Leaf Tea?

Is loose leaf tea really that different from using tea bags? Absolutely! If you’ve ever met someone who doesn’t like tea because it tastes boring or bland, it might be because they’ve only tried low-quality, dusty tea bags. Although tea bags can be more convenient, the taste and quality of brewing fresh, loose leaf tea is hardly comparable. And when you want the most tasty, refreshing drink on a hot summer day, loose leaf iced tea is definitely the way to go!

Unfortunately, tea bags are usually full of low-grade leaves that have often been sitting on the shelf for months. In many cases, it’s more like “tea dust” compared to rich, full leaf tea. 

And interestingly, tea bags aren’t always even the least expensive. Sometimes, loose-leaf tea can actually be the most cost-effective way to go. (Keep reading for some of our favorite tea sources!)

Additionally, teas (both traditional tea made from the Camellia sinensis and herbal teas and blends) are full of health benefits. It’s hard to go wrong with a delicious, refreshing, and hydrating drink that’s also good for you! (If you’re interested, just start Googling the health benefits of different teas! Each one has its own strengths.)

Once you know how to make loose leaf iced tea, you can also make delicious, refreshing glasses of the best iced tea using your own herbs. We love to collect mint leaves, chamomile, clover flowers, and nettles to dry and make our own collection of loose leaves to keep on hand.

Before going any further, though, I should probably define what tea actually is and how I’m using the word for the purpose of this blog post.

What is Tea?

Tea is made by adding water to the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. Yes – all true teas are made from this one plant! 

Tea is categorized into four basic types. They are:

1. Green Tea/White Tea
2. Oolong Teas
3. Black Tea
4. Pu-erh Tea

While all of the different tea types are made from Camellia sinensis leaves, each type of tea has different oxidation levels. While a shorter oxidization process produces white and green tea, the longest oxidation period produces pu-erh tea. 

While Camellia sinensis plants make traditional tea, many people also think of herbal drinks (or herbal teas) when they hear the word “tea”. Herbal teas are made from other plants such as herbs, dried or fresh fruit, flowers, and spices. 

Since you can follow the same process to make traditional iced loose leaf tea or iced herbal teas (or an herbal blend), I’ll just refer to it all under the umbrella of “tea” for the purpose of this post.

Is Loose Leaf Tea Harder to Make? 

While it’s not difficult, making loose leaf tea can require slightly more time and usually one or two more dishes than using tea bags. This is because, after brewing, you’ll need to strain the loose tea leaves from your infused water, rather than simply pulling the tea bag out and tossing it. 

Still, the taste and health benefits of making loose leaf iced tea are well worth it! And once you have your favorite brewing method down, you’ll be able to make loose leaf tea with your eyes closed.

Favorite Loose Leaf Iced Teas and Flavors

When you hear “iced tea”, does your mind automatically go to black tea (sweetened or unsweetened)? While I love an ice cold class of black, unsweetened iced tea on a hot day in the summer, there are SO many more flavors of iced tea to try! 

Any tea that you can make hot can also be made iced. 

Not sure where to start? Some of the most refreshing and delicious iced tea flavors to try include:

• Peach iced tea
• Watermelon and basil iced tea
• Hibiscus iced tea
• Mint iced tea
• Black tea or black tea blend

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different teas and find your favorites!

You can also get creative with adding other flavors, herbs, fruits, or sweeteners to your tea. A few lemon slices or some fresh mint or basil leaves in a pretty glass pitcher can go a long way in making a regular half gallon of tea look fancy. Homemade iced tea is an inexpensive but delicious and beautiful way to treat your guests in the summer.

You can also create a sweet tea by adding honey, maple syrup, or agave syrup, or by making your own simple syrup. 

Where to Buy Loose Leaf Tea

• Harvest and dry your own. My absolute favorite way to get loose leaf teas and herbals is to harvest and dry them myself. Some favorites include mint, chamomile, clover, and nettles. Once you know how to identify these plants, it’s a breeze to harvest them and make the freshest tea possible! You can make teas using fresh leaves, or you can dry your harvest and store the dried loose leaves for enjoying all throughout the year. (You can read more about my favorite, easy method for drying herbs in my blog post, How to Dry Mint Leaves for Tea. Pro tip: it works for nearly any herb or leaf.)
• Frontier Co-op/Amazon. Once of my favorite sources for organic, loose leaf tea is Frontier Co-op. You can buy their teas at many health food stores, but they’re also available on Amazon! Some favorites that I’ve tried are their Red Raspberry Leaf Tea and Gunpowder Green Tea. And the best part is that they’re incredibly cost effective. At the time of this blog post, a 1-lb bag of Red Raspberry Leaf costs about $18 and makes approximately 500 servings. That’s $0.036 per serving! That’s about a tenth of the price (per serving) of buying a box of tea bags from the grocery store – for a way higher quality product.
• Mountain Rose Herbs. Mountain Rose Herbs is another well-known, credible source for buying high-quality teas and herbals. They offer dozens of different flavors and blends for affordable prices, as well as other tea-related products.

What You’ll Need to Make Loose Leaf Iced Tea

You don’t need a lot of fancy tools to make your own loose leaf iced tea. Here’s what you’ll need to have on hand to brew your own refreshing summer drinks.

• Loose tea leaves
• Water
• A saucepan or tea kettle to heat your water
• Something to strain your leaves: you can use a tea infuser, french press, tea ball, or a fine strainer
• Ice cubes and cold water
• Iced tea pitcher or glass jar
• Any other sweeteners or flavors, such as honey, maple syrup, or a lemon wedge

How to Make Loose Leaf Iced Tea

To Make 1 Serving:

1. Use your saucepan or kettle to heat 8 oz of water to just boiling. 
2. Add 2-3 teaspoons of loose leaf tea to 8 oz of hot water. There are plenty of ways to do this depending on what tools you have on hand. If you’re using a saucepan, you can add the tea leaves directly to the water in your pan. Alternatively, you can combine them in a mug or glass jar to steep, then strain with a fine mesh strainer (my preferred method). You can also use a tea ball or french press.
3. Let your tea steep for approximately 5 minutes. The ideal extraction time will depend on the type of tea leaves you use. While 2-3 minutes is an ideal steep time for white and green teas, black, oolong, and herbal teas tend to taste best closer to the 5-minute mark.
4. If you want to add any sweeteners, such as syrup, honey, or sugar, it’s easiest to add sweetener while your tea is still hot. This will allow it to effectively mix in to the water.
5. Strain your tea from the leaves. 
6. Add 8 oz of ice and/or cold water to chill the tea.
7. Enjoy!

For Larger Batches:

1. For a half gallon of tea, start by heating up 4 cups of water to just boiling. 
2. Next, add 8 teaspoons of your loose leaf tea of choice to your hot water (you can add it directly to the saucepan or combine them in a tea infuser or a quart-size jar). For a stronger brew, use up to 12 teaspoons (equal to 4 Tablespoons) of tea.
3. Steep for approximately 5 minutes, adding any sweeteners before straining.
4. Strain the tea and pour it into a half gallon pitcher. 
5. Fill the pitcher to the top with cold water and ice. (If you’re using a larger pitcher, just add 4 cups of cold water and ice.)
6. Optional: Add lemon slices and fresh herb leaves for extra flavor and visual appeal before serving.

Note: If you’re not a fan of heating up water just to cool it down again, you can also make cold brew tea by combining your leaves with cold water and letting it steep for 6-12 hours before straining. While the cold brew method requires less steps, it definitely does take some planning in advance!

More Favorite Tea Recipes

Looking for more ways to enjoy your tea? Try these recipes!

• Homemade Spiced Apple Cinnamon Tea
• Sun Tea
• Dried Mint Tea
• Fresh Chamomile Tea