One of the best ways to keep healthy and help your body is running efficiently is to make sure you are drinking enough water during the day. They say you’re supposed to be drinking half your weight, in ounces, of water each day. That means, if you weigh 140 pounds, you should aim to be drinking 70 ounces of water each day. This number goes up if you are exercising, but it’s a good way to have a baseline.
Most people struggle with drinking plain water each day, so they end up not meeting their daily water requirements.
One tasty way to increase the amount of water you’re drinking is to make healthy iced tea recipes — this allows you some more flavour, but also keeps you hydrated. You can also choose if you want the added caffeine, or not.
Is Iced Tea Good For You?
One big question I think a lot of people have is whether or not iced tea is good for you. Well, this depends on individual factors.
What does it depend on?
- Are you adding a ton of sugar into your iced tea?
- Did you already have 6 iced teas and want another one in the same day?
- Did you use clean, simple, and fresh ingredients?
- Is it helping you reach your daily water intake minimums?
Here’s the deal. Overall, if you’re limiting the amount of caffeine in a day, you’re not adding a ton of sugar or highly processed ingredients, and you’re just enjoying a refreshing iced tea recipe to change up your pace of drinking plain water to keep you hydrated, iced tea is a perfectly healthy choice.
How To Make Iced Tea?
There are tons of different ways to make iced tea, from using cold brew tea bags, loose leaf tea, setting it out in the sun for sun tea, and pouring hot water over the tea bags, among others. We prefer using the hot water method because it is quick and efficient. That being said, there’s no wrong way to make iced tea using the recipes we have shared below.
For storage, it’s probably best to keep your ice teas in 1 quart mason jars in the fridge – not only are they pretty, but they’re easy to grab and perfect for both the hot water and then the cold drink. Remember not to store the teas for too long with the tea bags in the water — the longer the tea bag is in the water after it has steeped, the stronger the flavour your tea will have, eventually turning into an overly bitter flavour. After you have let the teas steep in the hot water, remove and discard the tea bags, but keep the fresh fruit and herbs in the mason jars. This works great with fresh fruit, but the herbs do need to be removed within a few hours, or they start to deteriorate.
Iced Tea Without Sugar
If you’re used to drinking iced tea with artificial or real sugar, having iced tea without sugar can come as a bit of a shock to your tastebuds. The fresh fruits and herbs in these three healthy iced teas helps naturally sweeten the iced teas, which is awesome.
However, if you want to add a little sweetener to your iced tea, try using raw honey (or pure maple syrup for a vegan option) right before you place it in the fridge to chill. Try to keep the sweetness level just under what tastes perfectly sweet to you so that, next time, you can add a little less honey and then even less the next time. Over time, you’ll train your tastebuds to like the natural flavours and sweetness of the iced tea, rather than the honey.
3 different ways to stay hydrated this summer. Which one will you choose first?
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
15 mins
Total Time
20 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 1 iced tea
Ingredients
Lemon Basil Iced Tea
- 1/2 lemon, thinly sliced
- 6 fresh basil leaves
- 2 green tea bags
- 3 cups hot water
- raw honey,optional
Iced Peach Ginger Tea
- 1 peach, pitted and sliced
- 2 green tea bags
- 4 ginger coins
- 3 cups hot water
- raw honey,optional
Blackberry Mint Iced Tea
- 1/2 cup fresh blackberries
- 6 leaves fresh mint
- 2 bags green tea
- 3cups hot water
- raw honey,optional
Instructions
Lemon Basil Iced Tea
- Add the lemon slices, fresh basil leaves, and green tea bags to a 1 quart mason jar or pitcher.
- Pour hot water into the mason jar and allow to steep for 15 minutes. Then, remove the tea bags.
- Place into the fridge to completely chill for 3-4 hours for the flavours to release.
Iced Peach Ginger Tea
- Add the sliced peach and green tea bags to a 1 quart mason jar or pitcher.
- Skewer the sliced ginger coins on a toothpick, if desired, to make them easier to remove later, and then add them to the jar.
- Pour the hot water into the mason jar, and allow to steep for 15 minutes. Then, remove the tea bags.
- Place into the fridge to completely chill for 3-4 hours for the flavours to release.
Blackberry Mint Iced Tea
- Add the fresh blackberries, mint leaves, and green tea bags to a 1 quart mason jar or pitcher.
- Pour the hot water into the mason jar, and allow to steep for 15 minutes. Then, remove the tea bags.
- Place into the fridge to completely chill for 3-4 hours for the flavours to release.
Recipe Notes
Nutritional information provided is for one serving of the Lemon Basil Iced Tea without optional raw honey added.
Nutrition Facts
3 Healthy Iced Tea Recipes for Summer
Amount Per Serving (3 cups)
Calories 0
Vitamin A 125IU 3%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
