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Iced Strawberry Green Tea

Iced Strawberry Green Tea

This iced strawberry green tea proves that a genuinely refreshing homemade drink requires nothing beyond ripening strawberries, a few tea bags, and thirty minutes of patience in the fridge. You follow this iced strawberry recipe with a properly steeped tea base, a strained puree, and the full chilling time, and the pitcher rivals anything sold at a cafe for a fraction of the cost. Whether you garnish with mint or basil, this drink turns overripe fruit and stale coffee fatigue into something worth making again the next hot afternoon.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American
Calories: 55
Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients
  

  • 4 cups water
  • 4 green tea bags
  • 1 pound fresh strawberries hulled and sliced
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 2 cups ice cubes
  • 4 fresh strawberries sliced for garnish
  • Fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)

Equipment

  • Medium saucepan
  • Blender
  • Fine mesh strainer
  • Large pitcher

Method
 

  1. Brew the tea
    You bring the water to a gentle boil in a medium saucepan, remove it from the heat, and steep the green tea bags for three to four minutes. You set a timer for this step, since leaving the bags in for ten minutes turns the tea aggressively bitter and undermines the whole pitcher.
  2. Make the strawberry puree
    You add the strawberries, honey, and lemon juice to the blender and blend until completely smooth. A few surviving chunks at this stage stay between you and the blender, since nobody inspecting the finished pitcher will notice.
  3. Strain the puree
    You pour the puree through a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl, pressing the mixture through with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Skipping this step out of laziness works fine functionally, though the finished drink carries noticeably more seeds as a result.
  4. Mix the tea and puree
    You pour the cooled green tea into a large pitcher and stir in the strained strawberry puree until fully combined. You hold off on adding ice at this stage, since ice added too early waters down the entire batch before it even reaches the fridge.
  5. Chill the pitcher
    You place the pitcher in the fridge for a minimum of thirty minutes. Warm iced tea technically qualifies as an oxymoron, and skipping this chilling step produces something closer to sad, lukewarm soup than a refreshing drink.
  6. Serve
    You fill individual glasses with ice, pour the chilled tea mixture over the top, and garnish with a slice of fresh strawberry and a few mint leaves for a presentation that looks far more resort-worthy than the five minutes of actual effort behind it.