With the king variety of green tea - the Sencha tea - you can conjure up not only a hot drink. The mildly sweet and slightly grassy dried tea leaves are wonderfully suited for your self-made iced tea. At the same time, it's a pick-me-up that will get you through long office days.
Make your own Sencha iced tea!
It doesn't always have to be sweet. When you make your own iced tea, you know exactly what's in it and what's not. We show you what you need for your Sencha Iced Tea and how to make it:
The preparation
You can store your iced tea for two to three days in the refrigerator and because it tastes super delicious, it is worth starting with a whole liter. For this you need about 12 g of green tea leaves. One thing to start with: the preparation depends on various factors such as water quality, tea quality and personal taste. There are many different opinions on the optimal preparation of Sencha tea.
The perfect water temperature
You can bring the water to a boil in the kettle. However, wait a moment after that, because boiling water makes the green tea bitter. The Sencha develops its typical taste better if you let the hot water cool down a bit before pouring it on. The optimal temperature is somewhere between 60 to 80 degrees Celsius. There are many different opinions about the water temperature - perhaps you will get a feeling for how the tea is best for you over time. If you don't have an automatic tea maker or kettle with a temperature setting, you can use a kitchen thermometer to measure the water temperature. Alternatively, you can use the following method:
Pour the boiled water into a cold porcelain pot. This will absorb some heat in a few minutes and cool the water down by about 10 degrees. Then pour it again into another cold pot and wait a few minutes. This way you should roughly get to the right temperature.
Infusing the tea
For the infusion of the tea you throw the tea leaves into a porcelain pot and pour the 60 to 80 degrees hot water over it. The infusion time is relatively short - about 1.5 to 2 minutes. Note: Sencha tea should not be steeped for more than two minutes during the first infusion, because after that the bitter and tannic substances are released from the tea leaves! With the help of a strainer you can pour the finished tea into another pot. Alternatively, you can pour the tea leaves into a self-filling tea bag and remove it after the infusion time.
By the way, you can infuse green tea several times. With each infusion, the water temperature should be slightly higher than the previous infusion and the infusion time can be shortened by about a quarter each time. The time between infusions is best kept to a minimum - the tea leaves should still be moist. It is said that the higher the quality of the tea, the more infusions are possible!
Allow tea to cool
To turn hot tea into iced tea, you need to be a little patient first. It's best to make it the night before and let it cool overnight. You can use this time to add a few ingredients, so that they can give their flavor to the tea.
What goes well with green iced tea?
Citrus fruits, such as lemons, limes or oranges, do particularly well. Exotic blends with passion fruit or mango juice will also spice up your Sencha Iced Tea. Mint leaves or lemon balm give the iced tea the necessary freshness. Jasmine or rose provide a flowery taste. If you want to add a little sweetness, you can use xylitol, erythritol honey, agave syrup, date syrup or coconut blossom sugar. You can add a little spice with the help of ginger, cinnamon or caramel. Some also swear by almond milk in green tea.
Once your iced tea is ready - serve with ice cubes!
Works with other teas too
Of course, you can also make iced tea with other teas, such as black tea. Caffeine-free teas are more suitable for children. Instead, use tea made from fruits or rooibos. Fresh berries go especially well with this!
