Kitchen Gadget: Iced Tea Maker

by Tara

While some of you northerners are basking in delightful 70-80 degree weather, those of us in the middle and southern states are still sweating every day. Here in Oklahoma we're still expecting triple-digit temperatures in the next few weeks.

I've been beating the heat by drinking approximately 100 million gallons of iced tea daily. Okay, I'm exaggerating. But I have been drinking at least a pitcher a day. I'm too impatient for a slow-steeping recipe like the one Jen posted back in May. So a few years back I bought an iced tea maker. 

It truly changed my life, y'all.

This is my iced tea maker, all ready for my tea to brew. (I have an old school iced tea maker, the newer ones are much sleeker and more compact.)

Just fill the pitcher to the water line, pour it in the maker, fill with ice to the ice line*, add your sweetener of choice if you want it, put your tea bags in the filter (for a full pitcher use four regular-sized bags or two family-sized bags), and push the on button. In about 5 minutes you'll have iced tea! 

It's so easy. And so good. Highly recommend. 

A freshly-brewed pitcher of deliciousness.

*I use honey to sweeten my tea (I like it really sweet, so about 2/3 cup), which gets all sticky and doesn't mix if you brew cold tea with it. So I brew the tea hot, then mix in the ice afterward.

 

Do you have an easy way to make your favorite beverage?

Comments

[Kristabella]

You need to get yourself to a tea store and brew tea from loose tea. It will change your life. I have an iced tea pitcher that you can use with loose tea and it is SO good!

[ellbeejay]

We have an evil iced tea machine that's even older than that... it occasionally hisses and barfs water all over the counter, it killed the toaster, and it's got no spout to speak of on the pitcher itself (aww... I just realized it's the Voldemart of our appliances!) but I'm not allowed to get rid of it. I tried to get my husband a new, sleek machine for his birthday a few years ago, and we used it twice before reverting back to old Voldy... apparently my husband will take any amount of abuse from a machine that takes 3 bags to make 3 quarts, when the new machine used 6 for 2.
I found it was hella easy to make sweet tea by putting 3/4 C sugar in the basket with the tea bags...it dissolves as it steeps! (then my husband found out and I was banned from using his darling tea maker. Those two have an unhealthy relationship, I swear!)

[Kate]

I have been tempted to get one of these for a while now -- you may have convinced me to pull the trigger.

[Jesabes]

I love that thing so much. We store ours in a low cabinet and Paul broke it a few weeks ago:( I need to find a new one. I suppose it had a good run, though, we've had it for 5 years.

[Carrisa]

I use this exact tea maker. And because I like my tea strong, I've found that using Lipton's gallon sized tea bags works best. And then I just sweeten each glass with Splenda packets as my husband prefers his iced tea unsweet. We are serious iced tea addicts.