Easy Chamomile Iced Tea
How to make refreshing iced chamomile tea in under 15 minutes (including steeping and cooling time!)
While chamomile tea is a very popular and affordable choice, it’s typically served hot, so many people are unaware of how delicious iced chamomile tea is.
Let’s change this!
This chamomile iced tea recipe is very easy, caffeine-free and incredibly invigorating when you’re in need of refreshment.
Can you drink chamomile tea cold?
Absolutely! While I personally enjoy my tea hot, there’s nothing quite as refreshing as iced tea on a hot day.
And as it turns out, chamomile tea is just as tasty when served cold.
Chamomile’s subtle, naturally sweet flavor makes it a perfect choice for creating a healhty and refreshing iced tea that doesn’t need added sugar to taste delicious (although you can also sweeten it).
Plus, it is naturally caffeine-free, making it a great alternative to traditional iced tea for kids and those who are sensitive to caffeine.
Can you cold brew chamomile tea?
Despite being a big fan of cold-brewed tea, I wouldn’t recommend cold brewing chamomile tea.
In case you’ve never heard of cold brew tea: it consists of letting it steep tea in cold or room temperature instead of using hot water.
This is a great method to make iced tea because there is no hot water involved, so there is almost no risk of oversteeping your tea (something that happens often with green tea).
But in my experience (backed up with some studies), cold brewing might not be as recommendable when it comes to herbal tea.
Why?
I’ve explained the reasons in-depth in my blog post “Can I Cold Brew Herbal Tea?“, but to summarize:
herbal tea, such as chamomile, doesn’t undergo the same thermal treatment as real tea (i.e., tea from the tea plant like black tea or green tea).
As a result, there is a risk of pathogens if the herbal tea isn’t brewed in hot water. Therefore, it’s best to always prepare herbal tea according to the instructions on the package, which typically call for using rolling boiled water.
But don’t worry, in this post I’ll show you how to prepare iced chamomile tea very easily (and I promise you, it’s even quicker than cold brewing!)
How to make iced chamomile tea
This is a quick overview of the ingredients and steps. For the exact amounts I usecheck please recipe card at the end of the post.
What you’ll need
Instructions
Time needed: 15 minutes
How to make iced chamomile tea
- Brew chamomile tea
Steep chamomile tea in fresh boiled water.
Usually, you’ll need to steep it for around 10 minutes, but in case of doubt, follow package’s instructions.
The trick is to make this tea using less water than you would normally use to drink the chamomile tea, so that it doesn’t tastes watered down when you cool it down in the next steps.
- Cool down with water
Once the steep time is over, remove the tea solids (remove tea bag or strain the flowers).
If you want your tea sweet, this is where you’ll sweeten it.
Then, add room temperature or cold water.
- Serve over ice
Your tea will now be lukewarm, so if you would like it chilled, serve it over ice.
Tips
- Make sure you steep your chamomile tea concentrated.
This will ensure that the flavor remains strong even when you add ice and water to cool it down. - In my opinion, iced chamomile tea has a very agreeable taste even without sweetening it.
But if you want sweet tea, add your sweetener of choice while the tea is still warm.
This way, even granulated sweeteners will easily dissolve.
Trick to cold brew your chamomile iced tea
While I typically prepare this recipe by brewing chamomile tea with hot water (as mentioned above), there’s also a way to safely cold-steep it.
When using loose chamomile tea (or high quality tea sachets), you can usually steep it twice.
So, for the first steep, I use hot water, and then for the second steep, I cold steep it (by covering the tea with room temperature or cold water and leaving it in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight).
Just note that the second steep may have a slightly weaker flavor, so I recommend using 2 tea bags per serving.
Iced Chamomile Tea Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tsp. chamomile tea or 1 chamomile teabag
- ⅓ Cup fresh boiled water
- sugar or sweetener to taste (Optional)
- ⅓ Cup room temperature or cold water
- 3-4 ice cubes
Instructions
- Steep your chamomile tea for around 10 minutes in the fresh boiled water.
- Once the steep time is over, remove the teabag or strain the chamomile loose tea.Add the room temperature or cold water.
- Serve over ice. If desired, serve with some fresh mint.
Notes
But if you prefer sweet tea, you could add some simple syrup or just add your preferred sweetener when the tea is still hot (after removing the tea and before cooling it down with water).
Such a refreshing and lovely ice tea recipe! Thank you for sharing this great idea!