Iced Tea Recipe

Hey guys. It's me again.

N'duh.

I'm bored - I'm waiting for this beauty video to load, so whilst I'm waiting I'll put a recipe on my blog!

Why? Because I'm bored.

INGREDIENTS:

Enough tea leaves/tea bags for about five people
375ml of your favourite soda, or clear juice
Water
5 teaspoons of sugar
Tea strainer - if you don't have one use a fine linen cloth

Other stuff:

Kettle
Spoons
Funnel
Heatproof jug
1.25 litre bottle
Teapot

Notes:

It doesn't matter what tea you use. Seriously. Chai tea, green tea, English tea, Chinese tea - it seriously doesn't matter. If you're using packet stuff that has added sugar (most of them do), reduce how much sugar you add to the iced tea.

Citrus sodas are good - as in, lemon squash or lemon and lime. Plain lemonades and club sodas work good as well.

Any non-opaque juice works really well with this recipe - but if it has added sugar or if it's super dooper sweet, reduce how much sugar you add. Orange, mango, cloudy apple juices and apricot nectar don't really work.

If you don't like juice or soda, you can add honey or sugar to water, or just use plain or mineral water.

It doesn't really matter what kind of sugar you use - white, raw, brown, whatever - you can also use sweetners like Splenda, or honey. You can add more or less sugar - as a rough guide, I love sugar and five (Australian) teaspoons is enough for me.

I actually don't measure how much water I put in - roughly I put about 1/8 of a cup, but that was just a guess. You don't have to put water in at all, or you can dilute it quite a lot - but that means you'll need a bigger bottle.

Recipe:

1. Put tea bags/tea leaves in a teapot with 1 cup of boiling water and leave to infuse.
2. Put sugar into a heatproof jug and add a little hot water. Stir to dissolve.
3. Once sugar is dissolved add just under 1 cup of cool water and pour sugar mixture into the bottle. (A funnel will help)
4. Pour the tea into the heatproof jug through a tea strainer and add 1 cup of cool water. Pour this into the bottle as well.
5. Pour 375ml (one average soft drink can) of chilled juice or soda into the bottle, top up with water.
6. Making sure the bottle is tightly sealed, gently tip upside down for a few seconds and then pull it upright again. Do this a few times. (note: DO NOT SHAKE!!! especially if you used soda...)
7. Put in the freezer until as cold as you would like - I normally do mine until there are tiny bits of ice floating in it, but if it's half frozen and you shake it up you got yourself a slushie - before transfering to the fridge. Alternatively, you can chill overnight in the refrigerator, or serve unchilled tea on the rocks.

Enjoy!