Iced Lemon Tea (Summer Family Jug) Recipe

The recipe

Exact quantities, then the method.

This is the no-kettle, no-bag version of iced lemon tea: three heaped teaspoons of Lift Instant Lemon Black Tea powder stirred into 1.2L of cold water, with sliced lemon, a good bunch of mint and a few cucumber wheels dropped in. Lift is made to dissolve in cold water, which is the whole point of it, so the jug is ready in five minutes and keeps in the fridge for a couple of days. It is the easy family-table jug for hot weather, with the lemon, mint and cucumber doing the work of lifting a soluble base into something that tastes made.

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for the Iced Lemon Tea (Summer Family Jug) recipe. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/recipes/iced-tea/iced-lemon-tea-summer-family-jug/

Use cold water rather than boiled-then-chilled, and shower the powder slowly over the surface while you stir, about thirty seconds, or it clumps. Put the lemon, mint and cucumber in at the start so they scent the jug as it sits, and keep the ice in the glasses rather than the jug, since ice in the jug just waters it down over a day in the fridge. It pours four large glasses or six smaller ones.

⏱ 5 min + 30 min chill 🍽 Makes 1.2L (about 4 to 6 glasses) 📊 Easy 📚 Iced Tea Recipes

You'll need

3 heaped teaspoons of Lift Instant Lemon Black Tea powder
1.2L cold filtered water
1 unwaxed lemon, sliced into 6 thin wheels
1 large handful of fresh mint sprigs (8 to 10 sprigs)
1/4 long unwaxed cucumber, sliced into thin wheels
1 sealed 1.5L glass jug or carafe with a tight lid
For each glass at service: plenty of cubed ice, a fresh small mint sprig and a thin lemon wheel

Method

Pour 1.2L of cold filtered water into the clean glass jug. Use cold filtered water rather than chilled boiled; the dissolved oxygen helps the powder dissolve cleanly and gives a fresher cup.
Spoon the 3 heaped teaspoons of Lift Instant Lemon Black Tea powder over the surface of the cold water (do not dump it in; a slow shower over a spread surface dissolves cleanly). Stir slowly with a long spoon for about 30 seconds until the powder has completely dissolved and the water has turned a clear pale gold-amber. A few crystals will sit on the bottom for a minute; another stir clears them.
Add the 6 thin lemon wheels, half the fresh mint sprigs (reserve the others for garnish at service) and the cucumber wheels to the jug. Stir once to distribute.
Seal the jug with its tight lid. Refrigerate for 30 minutes minimum to chill properly; the jug now holds for two days in the fridge.
To serve: pour into a tall glass over plenty of cubed ice. The cold-brewed-feel iced tea is already at fridge temperature so the ice does not shock-chill it; the ice keeps the temperature down through the drinking. Tuck a fresh small mint sprig among the ice and lay a fresh lemon wheel on the rim.
The lemon, mint and cucumber stay in the jug across the two-day fridge life and keep perfuming as the jug empties. Each pour stays bright across the two days; beyond two days the cucumber softens and the brew goes slightly muddy.
Drink within ten minutes per glass. The jug pours 4 generous 300ml glasses or 6 smaller 200ml glasses.

What you'll end up with: A 1.2L glass jug of clear deep-gold iced lemon tea with lemon wheels, cucumber slices and mint throughout, sealed in the fridge door: lemon and mint on the nose at each pour, a clean lemon-tea base through the middle, a long cucumber-and-mint summer finish.

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