Iced Tea & Summer...David's Teas Version

Summer is hot. Iced Tea is cold. Natural fit.

Also, because I am trying to cut down on espresso and the dreaded Sugar Free Red Bull, I have decided to move on to Iced Teas. Within the last year or so, a David's Tea opened on my street. I had not yet stepped foot in the place, but did so today and was pleasantly surprised!

I purchased several teas, an iced tea pitcher, and some agave syrup. Here is what went down:

The hauling. Summer obviously called to me in the color department. Knowing that I mostly wanted teas that would provide caffeine and could stand up to steeping for up to 24 hours in the fridge, I went for three mate varieties, and one herbal tea for when I am drinking later in the day.

Organic Guayusa is a simple mate tea that is much like you would expect from a black tea. The Organic Lemon Myrtle is the one herbal tea I purchased, and it smells like the definition of refreshment. I can't wait to try this one on a hot summer night. The girl at the shop also let me know that this is an excellent tea to mix in with something like the Organic Guuyusa to brighten it up a bit.

The other two varieties I picked up are the Jungle Ju Ju and the Queen of Tarts. These are two tart and somewhat fruity teas that are mate teas, bringing the caffeine.

While these instructions look great, the reality is that they will not work in an apartment like mine. We have an old fridge. Why does this matter? It means that we have no ice maker, and regardless of how clean the freezer is, how much baking soda we put in it, and how often we replace the ice trays, it always makes funky smelling/tasting ice. So, unless I have a bag of ice on hand (which takes up half of the freezer space), it is refrigerated beverages here, sans ice. So, see below how I adapted it to apartment living...

Going for the Jungle Ju Ju. If I am staying in to work on this stunning day, I may as well pretend I am in a tropical jungle...

This step remains the same. I steeped the tea in hot water for the length of time suggested by David's.

Rather than adding ice, I simply added cold water to the pitcher, and placed in the fridge to steep for another 10 minutes. The result was great and I can't wait to try the rest.