Drives me crazy when people say you need hot water to make iced tea

I was at a BBQ last weekend and this guy insisted you have to boil water first to make sweet tea, then cool it down. I told him you can just use cold water and let it steep in the sun for 4 hours, it tastes way smoother. Why do so many people think heat is the only way to get flavor out of tea leaves?

3 comments

3 Comments

sullivan.finley2mo ago

Hot take? Nah, you're right and that guy was clueless. Cold brew tea is legit and way less bitter because you aren't scorching the leaves. All that boiling just to wait for it to cool is a waste of time and electricity. Sun tea is the move for summer, no debate.

the_ray2mo ago

Man, I feel this so hard! My grandma made sun tea every summer and it was the smoothest, sweetest tea I ever had. All that boiling just makes it bitter and then you gotta wait forever for it to cool down. I tried making cold brew tea in a mason jar last week and it was perfect by the afternoon, no hassle at all. People get stuck on that "hot water extracts flavor faster" idea but they miss how much gentler the cold method is. It's like they think heat is the only tool in the box, you know?

fisher.adam1mo ago

My buddy Tim from work tried making sun tea last summer for the first time and his wife laughed at him, said it would be watery and weak. He put a gallon jar out on the porch at 9am, by 2pm it was dark amber and tasted like honey without any sugar. She drank two glasses before dinner and admitted she was wrong. Her whole family had been boiling water for iced tea for like thirty years and never once thought to just sit it in the sun.