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Copycat Starbucks Black Iced Tea

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  • Author: Jill Levenhagen
  • Total Time: 15
  • Yield: 1 gallon 1x

Description

Fresh, clear, strong black tea. This tea is as purely refreshing as it gets! Make a gallon…it stays clear for two days! Or, see the bottom for how to make a 44oz thermos to get you through the day!


Ingredients

Units Scale

1 gallon filtered or purified water

1/2 cup Loose Black Tea

Sweetener

You will need this large tea infuser:

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Instructions

  1. Fill a 2-qt pot with Purified Water.  Bring to a boil.
  2. Put 1/2 cup dry loose tea into the tea infuser.  This fills the infuser only about 1/3 of the way, leaving room to expand.
  3. Turn off the boiling water pot and insert the tea infuser.  You want the water to cover the infuser.
  4. Set a timer for 5 minutes.
  5. Remove the tea infuser and let it drip into the pan of steeped tea.
  6. Add sweetener to this pan of warm steeped tea.  We like Splenda and we use exactly 43 packets of Splenda for a gallon of tea.
  7. Dump steeped tea into a gallon pitcher.  Add Purified water to make a gallon.  Refrigerate.


Notes

Update: how I make one big 44oz thermos for daily fresh tea!

I’ve become so particular about my tea freshness that I have evolved into making it fresh daily in my 44oz. thermos. You may have a different size drink thermos than me. Adjust as needed. I purchased a few things to make this easier. Check back to the post on my site for the special mug and infuser I purchased for this.

Instructions: (1) Fill the mug 2/3 full of filtered water. (2) Microwave it for 4 minutes. (3) Put a heaping tablespoon of loose tea in the infuser. (4) Infuse the tea for 4 minutes. (5) Remove infuser and add sweetener. (6) Fill the thermos 2/3 full of ice. (7) Pour hot infused tea over ice. Stir. Fill the rest of the thermos with filtered water. Stir.