My wife likes the Lipton diet green tea with honey and citrus. I’d like to make it at home since it’s ungodly expensive by the bottle, but I don’t know anythign about quantities and ratios for making tea. Also, I want to avoid the bitter aftertaste present in some off-brand green teas.
You’re not going to replicate the taste of that Lipton stuff for 2 reasons:
- the chemical flavorings probably don’t taste like anything you can replicate by using lemon, oranges, and Honey Bee
- they put about a cup (hyperbole) of sugar in one bottle of this stuff - the sweetness (as good as it is) is a large part of the “taste” component
but… one major tip about green tea: don’t steep it at boiling water temperature. green tea gets ruined (and tastes bitter) if you steep it too hot. boil the water and wait for a minute or so for the water to cool off
I make “iced green tea” at home with a gallon container (i use glass because i’m concerned about plastics being exposed to 90 C water) and I use, i think, 4 packets of sugar, and 2 packets of splenda per container. it tastes quite good.
I just make ice tea with tea bags. No need for boiling water. At the moment I am drinking a large glass made with one Lipton’s lemon and honey and one Lipton’s green tea and citrus. I don’t add sweetener but you could.
Ew. you won’t brew the tea? Like you just pour cold water over the bag? G-ross.
Why do you say gross? It works fine. It just takes longer to brew.
Never worked out in the middle of nowhere with a total fire ban, eh?
Um, not really.
Have you ever tried it?
In the summer, we do this with black tea. A gallon of water, 8 or so teabags and a big jar with a lid. We stick on the back deck so that it does get a little warm, but rarely above body temperature (this is the Seattle area, after all). At night, we bring it in, sugar it up*, ice it down and we’re ready for some amazing tea the next day.
- I prefer it without sugar, but my wife had the misfortune to be raised in Texas where “iced tea” apparently means “three parts sugar to one part tea.”
As for the OP trying to match Lipton’s flavor… Lipton does very specifically control the breeds and mixes of their tea to get specific flavors. While you might come close enough, they make sure it isn’t possible to come too close.
Hmm, well, I’ve never added citrus, but here’s how I would do it:
Boil up a big pot of water. Turn off the heat and let it sit for a minute.
Throw in four or five tea bags and the peel of a lemon. Let it steep for 3 minutes.
Give everything a stir and taste the tea for strength. Steep for another minute or remove the rind and tea bags.
Add several teaspoons of honey and taste. When you’ve got the right flavor, pour the whole thing into a pitcher and chill.
Of course, with that honey in it, it won’t be diet, but it won’t be very heavy on the calories either.
How do you make green tea ‘diet’? I don’t get it.
Well first you add a lot of sugar to it. Then you make another batch with a sweetener other than sugar. The second batch is diet compared to the first.
Oh. Ewww. Well what’s the honey for then? Why not just sweeten with honey if you’re looking for the flavor than adding unnecessary fake sweetener?
I make iced green tea constantly. It’s basically my hydration of choice, and I make it literally every day.
Use 6 to 8 teabags. Steep it. Add ice and water to make a gallon, add honey and lemon juice to taste. Bob’s your uncle. It’s really no more complicated than that. I don’t know if I’d call it “diet,” but it can be sweetened quite well with nothing but honey.
ETA you can also sweeten it with a can of frozen fruit juice, which is what I usually do. Cranberry and apple mixes work well. So do pomegranate mixes. I only use the “100% juice” mixes, nothing with any added sugar or (even worse) HFC.