Iced tea is a great choice for sunny spring and summer days. A healthy drink that cools you down and hydrates you – who would say no to that? You can easily make one at home. That way you get to choose and combine ingredients to your liking and put less sugar in it than the store-bought ones have. Perhaps you are already growing some of the herbs that you’d like to add to the mix, or would like to grow some yourself.

So many options to choose from, starting with what tea to put as a base for the iced tea, then what herbs and fruits go well with that tea. In the end, you can choose whether you’d like to add sugar or some of the alternative, healthier options. Adding alcohol to your fresh cooled tea can also be a fun idea, and the baking soda in the iced tea is known to reduce the bitter taste of some herbs.

Black Iced Teas

Black tea is the classic choice for an iced tea base, and it goes well with sweet and sour fruits and many herbs. It contains caffeine but it has a sweeter taste and it’s a healthier option than coffee since it gives you the energy and helps with lowering the blood pressure.

The most well-known iced tea made with black tea is the popular “Arnold Palmer”. In its basic version, it’s made out of lemonade and black tea, half of each. But there are many versions of it floating around with added mint, or hibiscus, and many other ingredients including alcohol. Other popular iced black tea mixes are with the combination of fruits like watermelons, berries, citruses, and other floral teas, mint, cinnamon, honey, and sometimes alcohol.

Green Iced Teas

Iced teas with a green tea base are for those who like a more fresh herb-like taste. They go well with vegetables, lemon herbs, mint, ginger, basil, citruses, and more sour fruits, but one of the most popular options is matcha tea. They also have caffeine but are very healthy, helping with weight loss and prevention of heart disease.

Ingredients used the most with green iced teas are mint, citruses, lemony herbs like lemongrass and lemon balm, ginger, sometimes cucumber, raspberries, elderflower, etc. Since green iced tea is zestier than the black one, it requires added sweetener to make it tastier. But since this is a healthy drink, to avoid adding sugar, honey and cardamom can be good replacements.

White Iced Teas

White tea is more subtle than black or green tea, with its sweeter and more flowery or fruity taste. That makes it a perfect base for iced tea mixes. Besides being so tasty, white tea is also very healthy. It has more antioxidants than black and green tea, and they’ve been known to lower the risk of getting cancer and heart disease.

Since white tea is such a light base for iced teas, it helps accentuate the taste of fruits and herbs. In many recipes with this tea, you’ll see peach, mango, pomegranate, citruses, apples, but also flowers like jasmine, rosebuds, and elderflower with mint and sparkling water. Because of its light, sweet taste, it might be unnecessary to add any sweeteners to this iced tea, but if you insist, a better choice would be cardamom and a cinnamon stick instead of sugar.

Hibiscus Iced Teas

Herbal iced teas are essentially a tasty, healthy drink without caffeine in it. Hibiscus iced tea is a great choice for those who want both great flavor and a visual treat. The beautiful intense red color of this iced tea looks great in any garden party, a sunny get-together with friends, or on any celebration day. Not only is it good for your immune system, helping against diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, but it also has a great taste, similar to cranberries.

Hibiscus tea is a real treat for the taste buds with its sweet and sour tang. This iced tea goes great paired with fruits like limes, oranges, berries, pineapple, pomegranate, and herbs like mint and ginger, with honey as a sweetener. You can mix hibiscus with other herbal teas to make even healthier and more flavorful iced tea. And for an adult version, you can add rum or some other alcohol.

Chamomile Iced Teas

Chamomile’s relaxing and soothing effects are well known, but did you know that it can also make a great-tasting iced tea? A cold version of this tea is as healthy as its hot one, but can also help cool you down especially if you add mint to the mix. Another great addition if you like healthy and zesty iced teas is ginger. If this seems too strong you can add honey to sweeten the mix.

Besides mint and ginger, chamomile iced tea goes great with basil, lemongrass, lemon balm, lemon verbena, and citrus fruits. Other, sweeter additions are often strawberries, raspberries, pineapple, apple, and watermelons. Honey is almost in every version of chamomile iced tea, but you can opt for stevia, agave, cardamom, or a cinnamon stick as well. Gin, vodka, or rum can be added if you’d like your iced tea to pack a punch.

Mint Iced Teas

Mint has that colling refreshing flavor that goes with almost anything when you want to make iced tea. Fresh or dried for a tea blend, any iced tea that has mint in it will instantly give a cooling effect. It is also a very healthy herb, helping with digestion. Energizing and stimulating, this iced tea will definitely lift up your mood.

Some of the most popular combinations include lemon, lime, or sometimes grapefruit. They accentuate the freshness and add to the cooling effect. Club soda, sparkling water, or tonic water help with that too. Other popular additions are cucumber, watermelon, melon, berries, basil, lemon herbs, but also syrups and honey for toning down the tingly, zesty taste. If you’d like alcohol in the mix, bourbon or rum go best with mint tea.

Final Thoughts

There you have it. Some of the most popular iced tea bases and additions here might give you an idea of how to make it yourself. You can, of course, follow your own preferences and add and mix whatever your heart desires in those overheated thirsty moments. No matter if you prefer mild or strong tasting tea, cooling herbs or spices, sweet or sour fruits, the options are limitless.

If you’re looking for more of an adult taste, you can also add alcohol. Sparkling water and club soda are also great ideas if you like fizzy drinks. And if you’re more into healthy options, instead of sugar use honey, agave, cardamom, cinnamon, or stevia. Adding baking soda also helps take the edge off some bitter herbs, so you might not need to add any sweetener at all.