the quick + easy way to brew iced tea.

I’ve always been a huge fan of iced tea. So refreshing with just a hint of caffeine, there is nothing quite like a tall glass of freshly brewed, unsweetened (yes, I just went there) iced tea.

Brewing it at home has always seemed kind of stressful and intimidating, until I tried these  instructions. No sun or boiling water required, and this method works instantly (without having to use the kinda-gross-gritty-instant variety.

  1. Put in 2 teaspoons of loose tea or 2 tea bags for every cup (8 oz) of tea.
  2. Fill your pitcher or glass halfway with hot water.
  3. Let the tea steep for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on personal preference.
  4. Fill the pitcher or glass up the rest of the way with cold water, then take out the tea leaves or bags.
  5. Pour your tea over ice and serve.
I’ve been known to get real wild and mix it up with flavored teas. I recently tried Stash Tea Superfruits Tea sampler, and I’d recommend it! While some of the flavors were a little much (here’s lookin’ at you, blueberry), I thought they were super refreshing + a good non-soda, non-alcoholic, no-calorie option for a tasty summer drink! $3.50 for 18 bags of tea definitely beats shelling out the same amount of cash at Starbucks for one drink.

[Influenster provided me with a bar of Ivory soap for testing purposes, but thoughts are my own.]
I’m a black coffee type of girl. Jonny and I only buy whole beans and we prefer to purchase pre-made drinks from local coffee shops. My mother-in-law drinks instant decaf Folger’s and we cry every time we witness the offensive crime to coffee everywhere. That being said, our cool coffee quota is going down. We bought a half gallon of International Delight iced coffee yesterday. OMGOSH, you guys. It’s super delish. We opted for the vanilla flavor and I was slightly dubious. But I actually think it’s better than the iced lattes I’ve had from Starbucks. A $1-off coupon mixed with 80 degree temps gave us the push we needed to try it. I know pre-made stuff is super lazy, but what can I say? Sometimes we’re super lazy. We had to check two local grocery stores before finally finding it at…Wal-Mart. (I know.) But guess what? $3 for a half-gallon of creamy coffee goodness is worth all of your judging eyes! (And for the calorie-concious, a cup has just 150 calories.) I’m usually not a huge iced-coffee aficionado, but this is super yummy. And I’m riding a pretty nice caffeine buzz now, so there’s that. So, what say you? Does my laziness offend you, or are you intrigued? Have you tried pre-made iced coffee before? High-res

I’m a black coffee type of girl. Jonny and I only buy whole beans and we prefer to purchase pre-made drinks from local coffee shops. My mother-in-law drinks instant decaf Folger’s and we cry every time we witness the offensive crime to coffee everywhere.

That being said, our cool coffee quota is going down. We bought a half gallon of International Delight iced coffee yesterday.

OMGOSH, you guys. It’s super delish.

We opted for the vanilla flavor and I was slightly dubious. But I actually think it’s better than the iced lattes I’ve had from Starbucks.

A $1-off coupon mixed with 80 degree temps gave us the push we needed to try it. I know pre-made stuff is super lazy, but what can I say? Sometimes we’re super lazy.

We had to check two local grocery stores before finally finding it at…Wal-Mart. (I know.)

But guess what? $3 for a half-gallon of creamy coffee goodness is worth all of your judging eyes! (And for the calorie-concious, a cup has just 150 calories.) I’m usually not a huge iced-coffee aficionado, but this is super yummy. And I’m riding a pretty nice caffeine buzz now, so there’s that.

So, what say you? Does my laziness offend you, or are you intrigued? Have you tried pre-made iced coffee before?