Ilse Wouters Send Message

The hot weather has arrived, and then I like to make iced teas.
Normally, I brew a pot of a dried fruit based tea to cool it then overnight, which I have started to do again now. In the last couple of years I´ve been very pleased with the teas I use for this reason, so I ´ve just bought more of the same blends. But my last order at The Kent&Sussex Tea&Coffee Co also included a few specific iced tea blends, which I hadn´t tried before. This is one of them.
On its website K&S says “Pomegranate White Iced Tea is a delicate infusion. When used as a base ingredient for an Iced Tea blend, it creates a wonderfully fresh taste with tart, fruity notes. Aside from pomegranate, other ingredients include the finest quality Chinese Pai Mu Tan Tea, Rose Petals and Cranberry pieces. Combined, these flavours create a brew well-suited to days out in the garden.”
It also gives brewing instructions : “Using 2 tsp of Tea per person, pour over water of 80 degrees in temperature so that it just covers the loose leaf. Following this, brew for 2 minutes, strain the leaves, and top up with cold water and ice cubes with any personal additions and decoration.”
I use an individual tea glass with glass filter which makes the process easy. The first time I prepared the iced tea this way, I think I added a bit too much hot water, which strangely resulted in an overall weaker iced tea. The second time, I just barely covered the tea leaves and the result was much better. Cranberries and pomegranate make for a beautiful and fragrant dry leaf, once steeped the tea gains in finesse and the iced tea is elegant and less subtle than might be expected. I think there´s no need to use ice cubes as you don´t want to drink this too cold (you wouldn´t taste anything).
As an experiment, I used the strained tea leaves for a hot brew, and this works as well, although one must be careful not to steep them too long, as the tea tends to increase in astringency quickly.