What's your preferred method for making iced tea?

Sun tea is my favorite. You just put a bunch of teabags in a tightly sealed jar of water and leave it in direct sunlight for a few hours. Best tasting iced tea in the world.

I’m with @Austinlad.That’s how I make it with black tea.

Yep, what Austinlad said.

BTW, is iced tea still pretty much a Southern regional thing, or has the rest of the world finally caught up? Heck, growing up I thought that serving iced tea at any sort of picnic was mandated by law.

Actually, I think even sweet tea has caught on elsewhere. It’s fairly common now at fast food restaurants in Albuquerque.

For the record, I’m currently doing Luzianne (following the box recipe) sweetened with agave syrup.

My aunt does some kind of blend with black or green and an herbal, but I haven’t asked her what she uses.

Sun tea in season. Otherwise I have an ice tea maker that does an amazing job in 5 minutes!

@YoBob We’ve made sun tea for generations here in Wis…it’s not just a southern thing.

It depends on the tea for me. If it’s a rooiboos, I brew it, then chill it. Same with chai.

@YoBob I think the Southern thing is Sweet tea….and it is available some places now in the North.
As for my tea, I prefer suntea and add sugar disolved in hot water.

I love Trader Joe’s brand of Earl Grey tea. I usually just heat water in a glass measuring cup in the microwave (a big or a small measuring cup depending upon if I’m making one glass or a pitcher) So I boil the water, add the tea bag/s and let them steep for about 3 minutes. In the meantime I fill my single glass or pitcher with crushed ice about ⅔ of the way up, add cold water (so that you still have about ⅓ of the glass or pitcher empty). After the tea has steeped, then pour it into your glass or pitcher. Voila. No sugar, ever!

Tazo Om and Tazo Awake are also very good tasting teas.

I love to put a cinnamon stick leaf of mint, in pot of water, bring it to a boil, then put in 6 bags small bags or 4 large bag, let it steep, then cool and put in your sweeteners of preferences. Serve with a tall glass of ice, mmmmm. Great anytime!!!

First I have to explain…the only thing I drink, all day every day, year round (even in -20F weather during the dead of winter in the tundra where I live)..is Iced Tea. I’m kind of…fanatical about it. I have very few splurges in life (I don’t dig jewelry, I don’t spend money on clothes or shoes if I can help it..) but my husband never questions what I spend ordering/brewing/toting my iced tea. I order it online – bulk – about every other month.

I order two kinds of specially blended teas (specifically made for making iced tea) and alternate (one pitcher of one kind, then the other) so that I don’t get overly used to the flavors.

One is Paradise Iced Tea – in the Original Tropical flavor.
The other is the China Mist Passion Fruit flavor iced tea blend.

Both come in large bags that can brew a large pitcher (1 Gallon?) of tea.

I boil water, put it in the pitcher, and then add the in one of the BIG tea bags. I steep the bag carefully (only 5–7 minutes for China Mist, more like 10 minutes for the Paradise Iced Tea) – remove the bag and then put the pitcher in the fridge. I typically go through nearly a pitcher per day—so it’s essentially part of my nighttime routine to brew the tea and make sure it’s in the fridge for the day ahead.

I even travel with my tea and a tupperware (smaller pitcher) to brew it at hotels (in a pinch, if there is no fridge, I use ice to chill it and keep it cold).

I do love sun tea (plain ol’ Lipton for that)—but for everyday, I drink the above two teas (alternating flavors) and love them passionately.

@geeky_mama – that’s hardcore! I too drink it all day, everyday and I will look into buying it in bulk like you do.

Otherwise, right now I have a dedicated saucepan that I use to boil water in for tea. Two of the big bags and cut the fire off just as it boils, nice and strong. I don’t dilute it ‘cause I make a tart lemonade by using a third of a cup of sugar, KoolAid Lemonade, and not quite 2 qt of water. Pour equal amounts of each over ice, and I am one happy puppy.

The purists are going to shun me, I know, but here goes. I have to avoid stimulants and have to watch pennies, so I use 2 bags decaffeinated Lipton’s tea, 2 Lemon Lift bags, 5 sweeteners (what ever you like) in 2 quarts very warm water. Put it in the fridge overnight.
If the timing is wrong for over night in the fridge, I use the same ingredients and just below boiling point hot water (heated in the microwave). Brew 10 minutes. Put ice cubes in pitcher and add tea. It satisfies me.