This past weekend, my husband and I made a few batches of iced tea, using some Organic Gunpowder green tea puchased from Upton tea. I use the cold-brew refrigerator method to make iced tea (put some loose leaves in some water, put it in the fridge for 24 hours, strain before drinking), because I like it nice and clear and I find this method to be almost fool-proof in that regard. The only trick is figuring out the proper tea-to-water ratio.

For the Organic Gunpowder, we made two batches: one with 1 teaspoon of tea per cup of water, and another with 3/4 teaspoon of tea per cup of water. The first batch was too strong, and the second batch was a bit too weak. When I make this again, I’ll aim for something between the two. This tea is somewhat open, and the leaves unwound all the way in the fridge. The tea was probably about 75% whole leaves, and the rest were torn in half or thirds — they were all big pieces.

The resulting iced tea was quite good. It needed no sweetner, and had full, vegetal flavors — but it did not taste like grass. While a bit weak for my taste, it did have a nice “tea” flavor.

Just for kicks, I made a cup of this hot. The hot tea was harsher than the cold tea — I think I liked it better cold, it had a bit of natural sweetness. I reinfused this about 4 times.

Good news for our continuing iced tea experiements: iced tea — even cold-brewed — has plenty of antioxidents