In the summer, there are very few things more refreshing than a cold, fresh, homemade iced tea with lemon. Here is a very easy recipe made with loose-leaf tea.

Brew the tea

In a smaller mug or tea cup, get ready to brew double to triple strength tea with half as much water. You only want to use as much hot water that is required. In this case, less is more. I like to use a strong loose-leaf black tea, such as an English Breakfast or Irish Breakfast.

You can use a French Press or a tea steeper.

Sweeten

I like to use raw wildflower honey to sweeten my homemade iced tea. Add about half to one teaspoon of honey or your sweetener of choice. Add a wedge or two of lemon, to taste.

Chill

If you’re not in a rush, let your hot tea cool a bit. The longer the better, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. The longer you wait, the less you’ll dilute your iced tea.

Fill a glass with ice cubes and pour the sweetened tea on top of the ice cubes. Stir well so that the tea chills and frosts up the glass. You’ll notice that a significant amount of ice has melted and watered down the iced tea. To avoid this in the future, you can adjust the amount of hot water used to steep the tea, or let the hot tea sit and cool longer.

Enjoy!