As the temperatures start to rise, many of us look for ways to stay cool and refreshed. One of the best ways to do so is by sipping on a glass of iced tea. Iced tea is a classic summer drink that has been around for generations. However, there are so many different types of tea to choose from, and it can be challenging to know which one is the best for making iced tea. In this article, we will share with you the best tea for iced tea, how to infuse them, and some delicious recipes to try out.

What is Iced Tea

Iced tea is a refreshing and flavourful drink that is perfect for hot summer days. It's made by brewing tea and then chilling it with ice. Iced tea can be served plain or with added flavors such as lemon, honey, or mint. Iced tea is a popular and healthy drink, and there are many different varieties to choose from.

The Best Tea for Iced Tea - Black, Green, and Herbal Infusions

The best tea for iced tea is a matter of personal preference. However, there are three types of tea that are commonly used. These are black tea, green tea, and herbal infusions.

Black tea is the most popular tea used to make iced tea. It has a robust flavour and can hold up well to the addition of sweeteners and other flavours. Some popular black teas for iced tea include Ceylon black tea, Darjeeling, and Earl Grey.

Green tea is lighter and more delicate tea than black tea. It has a slight vegetal flavour and is often used to make iced tea that is a bit more refreshing. Some popular green teas for iced tea include Jasmine, Sencha, and Dragonwell.

Herbal tea is not technically tea, but rather an infusion of herbs, fruits, and flowers. It's a great option for those who want a caffeine-free alternative to traditional tea. Some popular herbal teas for iced tea include mint, chamomile, hibiscus and various fruit teas.

Benefits of Drinking Iced Tea

In addition to being a refreshing drink, iced tea also has several health benefits. Fresh brewed iced tea is always better than carbonated drinks and processed juices. It will keep you hydrated and it’s a great source of antioxidants, which can help boost metabolism. Iced tea also contains less caffeine than coffee, making it a great alternative for those looking to reduce their caffeine intake. Additionally, the goodness of fruits in the tea and garnishing helps keep the immune system and skin healthy.

Infusing Iced Tea with Fruits and Herbs

One of the best things about iced tea is that it's incredibly versatile. You can infuse it with fruits and herbs to create a unique and flavourful drink. Some popular fruits and herbs to add to iced tea include lemons, oranges, strawberries, raspberries, mint, and basil. To infuse your iced tea, simply add the fruit or herbs to the tea while it's steeping. You can also add the fruit or herbs directly to the glass for a more intense flavor and as beautiful garnishing.

5 Delicious and Creative Iced Tea Recipes

Southern Sweet Tea: This is a classic iced tea that is sweet and refreshing. To make it, brew our South Melbourne Breakfast black tea and add sweetener of your choice. Add lemon slices and chill with ice.

Green Tea with Mint and Lemon: This is a refreshing and healthy iced tea that's perfect for a hot summer day. Brew Japanese Sencha green tea, add fresh mint leaves, and stir in honey. Chill with ice and add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Lemongrass and Ginger Iced Tea: This iced tea is packed with flavour and antioxidants. Brew Lemongrass Ginger tea, add fresh apple slices, a cinnamon stick, and a handful of mint leaves, and sweeten with honey. Chill with ice and garnish with a slice of orange.

Strawberry Basil Iced Tea: This iced tea is fruity and herbaceous. Brew English Breakfast black tea, add fresh strawberries and basil leaves, and sweetener of your choice. Chill with ice and garnish with a strawberry and a sprig of basil.

Peach Iced Tea: This is a classic iced tea with a sweet and fruity twist. We use oolong tea for this recipe. Brew Sweet Peach tea, add sliced peaches, and sweeten with honey. Chill with ice and garnish with a peach slice.

How to Make Iced Tea with Fruit Infusions

• Brew your tea using your favourite method.
• While the tea is still hot, add your preferred fruit or herb. You can also add sweeteners of your choice at this point.
• Let the tea steep for a few minutes until it's cool enough to add ice.
• Pour the tea into a glass full of ice and garnish.

Tips to Make Perfect Iced Tea Every Time

• Use loose leaf & brew it twice as strong. Eg: If you normally use 1 tsp of Lemongrass Ginger for a hot tea, use 2 tsp for your cold tea. And if you use a standard 230 ml of hot water, drop that down to 150 ml of hot water.⁠
• Go beyond standard green or black teas. Try fruit teas, rooibos teas and flavoured teas. Try different flavours. You never know what you will enjoy. ⁠
• Sweeten with juice or lemonade. Great alternative to sugar.⁠
• Go wild with fruit. ⁠
• Play with herbal infusions. Like fruit, herbs bring a lot of flavour. ⁠
• Just experiment. Unlike coffee, with iced tea if there’s a flavour you like, you can replicate it. You can have fruity, floral, savory, sweet, umami.

Your Perfect Iced Tea Recipe Awaits You!

Iced tea is a classic summer drink that is perfect for staying cool and refreshed. Whether you prefer black, green, or herbal infusions, there's a perfect iced tea recipe out there for you. Try infusing your tea with fruits and herbs for a unique and flavourful twist. Remember to use high-quality tea leaves and fresh ingredients for the best results. Cheers to a refreshing summer ahead!

Try out one of our iced tea recipes and let us know which one is your favourite!

 

 

We wait all year long to decorate our Christmas trees, unwrap presents and engage in some festive baking. Since medieval times the scent of cinnamon along with cardamom, nutmeg, ginger and cloves is how we know its Christmas.  

So if you are obsessed with cinnamon rolls as we are and love the flavours of chai, with this recipe you can taste Christmas all year long.

What you need:

Dough

• 580g all-purpose flour
• 100g granulated sugar
• 6g fine sea salt
• 84g butter
• 235ml lukewarm milk
• 7g instant yeast
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk

Filling

• 190g powdered brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons Tea Drop Traditional Chai Latte Powder
• 84g butter

Frosting

• 115ml Heavy cream
• 90g powdered brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons Traditional Chai Latte Powder

How to rock and roll?

1. In a large bowl add flour, salt, softened butter and eggs.
2. In a separate bowl warm up the milk and add sugar and yeast and stir till it dissolves. (Warm milk not hot -  we do not want to kill the yeastlings)
3. Begin mixing the flour mixture by slowly adding the milk mixture to it. You can use a standard mixer bowl to speed up and the process but we did it the old fashion way and used our hands to knead the dough. (this takes time and can get messy)
4. Knead the dough till it loses its stickiness and doesn’t stick to the surface.
5. Roll up the well kneaded dough into a ball and let it sit in the bowl covered with a plastic wrap. Let it rise for an hour or until doubled.
6. Now whisk together the brown sugar and the Traditional Chai Latte powder
7. Lightly flour a work surface and roll the dough out into a large and thick rectangle with even edges.
8. Spread the softened butter evenly over the dough.
9. Sprinkle evenly the chai sugar.
10. Tightly roll up the dough, forming a thick log and cut into 12 evenly sized pieces. Each about 2 inches thick.
11. Lightly grease a baking dish and fill it with the rolls. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 30 minutes.
12. Remove plastic wrap. Bake the rolls in a pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown at 170 ˚C.
13. In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together heavy cream, Traditional Chai Latte powder and powdered sugar until smooth.
14. Go ahead and drizzle on your chai cream frosting over the freshly baked rolls while it’s still warm.

        Happy Holidays! 

Caution tea enthusiasts!  You will enjoy this recipe so much; you will want to have it every day. It’s so easy to make and so delicious.

What is an iced tea cube latte?

An iced latte made strongly with brewed tea cubes topped with hot milk. It will have the frothy, creamy consistency that you know and love from a hot tea latte but is cool and refreshing. It’s the summer tea hack you need.

Iced tea lattes are very easy to make. Can be crafted with your favourite teas and milk combos for endless flavours and varieties. For this recipe we have used our My Melbourne tea.

What you need

• 15g Loose Leaf My Melbourne Tea
• 1 tbsp Kithul Treacle (or sweetener of your choice)
• 200ml water

How to 

• Brew 15g of My Melbourne Tea in 200ml hot water at 99°c and let it steep for 2 - 4 minutes.
• Once tea is brewed pour into an ice cube tray and freeze.

To Serve:

• Pop out the My Melbourne cubes and add to a glass and pour milk and sweetener of your choice.

 

My Melbourne Tea

Our My Melbourne is a fruity tea that highlights overtones of creamy vanilla. Crafted from a unique blend of single origin black tea, rose petals, rosehip, strawberry, and vanilla flavour, this is Melbourne tea.  

We would love to see you try this iced tea cube recipe and let us know what you think – share them on our socials @teadroptea.

 

We think its safe to say everyone loves a sweet bite of something after dinner. Matcha is known for its distinctive aroma and flavour. So we brought our love for matcha and white chocolate and made our version of matcha truffles. You can never go wrong with a truffle or two - or an entire box. We are not judging. 

Ingredients (aprx. 20-25 serves)

• 100ml heavy cream
• 2 tbsp Tea Drop Matcha Powder
• 250g white chocolate, chopped fine
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Topping Ideas (optional)

• Chocolate coating white/dark/milk
• Chocolate sprinkles
• Chopped nuts
• Coconut flakes

How to make

In a heat-proof bowl add heavy cream, vanilla extract and matcha powder and whip together.

note : add matcha powder using a fine mesh strainer to make sure there are no clumps.

Add the chopped chocolate to the bowl and melt over simmering hot water at very low heat. Stir to become a uniform colour.

Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Use an ice cream scoop and portion out truffle onto parchment paper.
Roll each truffle between your palms till you create a perfect ball, don’t worry our hands got messy too.
If the truffles get too soft don’t worry, place in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Coat truffle with preferred topping (this is optional).

Enjoy!

 

Dear Tea Lover,

Twenty-two years ago, I started Tea Drop with a belief and very little else.

For most of those years, I kept this story to myself. Today feels like the right moment to change that.

My grandfather planted rubber in Sri Lanka. Under his guidance, his son made a deliberate choice to transition the land to tea.

That decision became three generations of craft. My uncles tend the plantation and the factory today, reading the land, nurturing the leaf, carrying forward knowledge that no book can teach.

When I began my own journey, I made a different choice. Not to master the harvest, but to find the people who do. And carry their stories to the world.

I have spent twenty-two years immersed in the great tea-growing regions — not as a tourist, but as a student of the leaf. But those stories rarely travel. They stay in the garden. Between the tea master and the person who drinks the cup, the story of where that tea came from quietly disappears.

I founded Tea Drop twenty-two years ago so that it would not.

Twenty-two years does not happen alone.

It happens because a mentor told me to trust what I knew and take the step. I did not forget that.

It happens because customers believed before there was much to believe in. So many of them are still with us today, two decades later. They are not customers. They are the foundation.

It happens because colleagues show up every day with the same conviction. Their passion is what Tea Drop actually is, beyond any cup we pour.

It happens because tea plantations and farmers across the world have shared their craft and trusted Tea Drop to carry what they have spent generations building. Every cup carries their character.

And to my wife, who has been my anchor through every season of this journey: thank you.

This month, Tea Drop turns 22. It is also International Tea Day — a day that feels especially close to the story we are celebrating.

If you have been part of this journey in any way — as a customer, a partner, or someone who simply loves tea — this anniversary belongs to you as much as it does to me.

Thank you for being here.

— Ashok Dias, FOUNDER

The Teas That Tell the Story

To mark the occasion, we have gathered six of our most beloved blends, each in its own collectors tin as a small celebration for every cup you have shared with us.

Six Teas. Six Tins. One Collection to Savour.

From the first quiet cup of the morning to the evening wind-down, curated to move gently through the rituals of the day. 150 pyramid tea bags, six vibrant collectors tins.

• English Breakfast: Bold, full-bodied. Made for the first quiet cup of the morning.
• Honeydew Green: Light and softly sweet. A calm mid-morning pause.
• French Earl Grey: Elegant and floral. Made for slow afternoons and good books.
• Peppermint: Cool, crisp, caffeine-free. A beautiful reset after meals.
• Relax: A soothing herbal infusion for the evening hours.
• Fruits of Eden: Bright, fruity, caffeine-free. Perfect for sharing or serving iced.

Valued at $200 · Yours for $100

Explore the collection