With summer finally here (yes, even in Scotland) and the excitement of Wimbledon upon us we thought it was about time to explore the simple pleasures of iced tea.

Although it’s one of the most refreshing drinks around, iced tea is still very much frowned upon in the UK, which is strange given its prominence around the rest of the world (particularly in the US). Have a go yourself with our simple guide and let us know how you get on.

There are two main ways to make iced tea:

HOT BREW METHOD

This is the quickest way to make iced tea.

• Brew some tea. Use roughly 2 teaspoons of tea leaves per cup of boiling or hot water depending on tea type. That’s 8oz or 227ml give or take of hot water, so about double the amount of leaves as for normal hot tea. Remember never use boiling water for green or white teas – instead leave the kettle off the boil for about 2 mins. Brew the tea for the recommended time before removing the leaves (generally 3-4 mins for most black teas).

• Pour over ice. Pour the concentrated hot tea over ice cubes in a temperature resistant jug. If your iced tea goes cloudy, add a touch of boiling water. Add more ice if necessary but be aware that this will dilute the tea. A clever option is to pre-prepare some ‘tea ice’. Just make a little extra iced tea, fill your ice cube tray with it and put it in the freezer. Why not be a little adventurous and try your tea ice with some different drinks or cocktails?

• Do you want it plain? If you want a straightforward plain iced tea, use the best quality leaf tea you can find. It’s generally best to go for teas that have bright top notes rather than more malty teas like Assam. Teas with natural floral or fruity notes chill particularly well.

• Do you prefer it sweetened? Sugar and honey make good sweeteners. If using honey, it’s a good idea to add it to the hot tea first and stir until dissolved. If using sugar, it’s best to boil one cup of water with one cup of sugar and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. You can then add the sugar syrup to the iced tea to taste.

• Try adding other things. Another option is to add fresh or frozen fruit or fruit juice to your iced tea. Or experiment by adding various spices while the tea is still hot (we particularly like cinnamon, nutmeg or ginger). Fresh herbs like mint, basil or lemongrass also work well when added to your iced tea.

COLD BREW METHOD

This method is only recommended for green and white teas. For best results, use a good quality leaf tea and filtered water, which helps extract the tea better when brewing cold.

Use roughly two teaspoons of tea leaves per cup (roughly 8oz or 227ml) of cold water (again roughly double the amount of leaves as you would for normal hot tea). Add cold water to the leaves and refrigerate overnight (or longer for a stronger taste). Sweeten or garnish as desired.

Here is a list of our most popular teas to make iced

Unflavoured Tea: Ceylon Lover’s Leap, Second Flush Darjeeling, Ceylon Vert & White Peony.

Flavoured Tea: Life’s a Peach, Jasmine Chun Hao, Blooming Marvellous, White Peach.

Herb & Fruit Infusions. Although they don’t contain any tea so not strictly iced teas, these herb & fruit infusions work really well iced: Strawberries & Cream, Zen Zephyr and Cranberry Apple Riot.

Please let us know how you get on with your iced tea or if you have any interesting recipes or ideas (hello@eteaket.co.uk).

Happy experimenting.

© eteaket ltd June 2010

We ran a free tea tasting session with Chocolate & Love this afternoon and came up with some winning combinations. My favourite was eteaket’s Bollywood Dreams Chai tea with Filthy Rich dark chocolate – the tea really brought out the spices in the chocolate.

Our Blooming Marvellous green tea worked amazingly well with the Dark Strawberry & Pepper chocolate and our old favourite Chilli Rooibos was a big hit with the Dark Chilli chocolate – quite a kick.

We’ll be running more ad hoc tasting sessions so watch this space, sign up to our newsletter by emailing hello@eteaket.co.uk or follow us on www.twitter.com/eteaket or www.facebook.com (search for eteaket).

Chocolate & Love will be at the Taste Festival in London from 17-20 June where you’ll be able to try some eteaket teas and fabulous chocolate.

We’ve finally sent our first eteaket newsletter.

Check it out http://tiny.cc/es2uc to claim your free Afternoon Tea, 10% off web orders until 11 June 2010, enter our Extreme Tea competiiton, details of forthcoming events and tea and health news.

It’s not perfect but at least it’s a start – technology doesn’t exactly come easily to me!

Back by popular demand – your chance how to learn to read your tea leaves.

Ever gaze at the bottom of a cup to see the patterns that form from the left over tea-leaves? The different leaves that fall and the dust that gathers around has intrigued Psychic’s from Russel Grant to Mystic Meg for many years. It is said that the collection of these leaves can accurately predict the future, using the shapes and patterns that are formed not only in the base of the cup, but the saucer also.

eteaket has teamed up with experienced tea leaf reader Lauren to offer you the chance to learn to read your own tea leaves. Lauren has visited eteaket before with impressive results and with over 8 years of experience under her belt you’ll be in good hands.

The next event is on Tuesday 18 May, 6.30 to 9.30pm. It costs £19.99 per person and includes tea and scones.

Please email hello@eteaket.co.uk to register your interest. Thanks!

Join us in eteaket for our first ever Japanese Tea Ceremony conducted by the renowned Mio Shapely. It’s on Wednesday 28 April from 7.30-9pm and costs £29.99 per person (including Matcha and Japanese sweets). Please email hello@eteaket.co.uk or call 0131 226 2982 to book.

Rules of Etiquette for Guests at a Japanese Tea Ceremony (reproduced from: http://www.holymtn.com/tea/teaetiquette.htm)

• Be prompt in arriving so your host can begin on time.

• Remove your shoes when entering a Japanese home — the host will provide slippers to wear.

• Drink the entire portion of tea (it will not be large) and eat everything served.

• Turn the tea bowl slightly to avoid drinking tea from the front side.

• Each implement used in a tea gathering (including scroll, flowers, and food) has been thoughtfully selected by your host and has special meaning. They should be treated as objects of appreciation. Admire them and compliment your host with sincerity. This is the most important responsibility of a guest.
  

Feel free to wear a Kimono if you have one!

We’ve just finished our first Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. Many thanks to all our guests for putting up with the mental Mad Hatter and in inquisitive White Rabbit. Hope everyone enjoyed their Afternoon Tea. Thanks to the amazing Karina from Kakao by K for letting us be in on the launch of her new jewellery collection Design by K. The collection is based on Alice in Wonderland and tea with a touch of Kakao. The pieces really are gorgeous – they’ll be available to purchase in eteaket for a limited time only so pop in and have a look.

If you missed out on the Mad Hatter madness this week, we’re holding another Tea Party on Wed 17 Mar in eteaket 6-7.30pm. It’s only £9.85 per person and includes Afternoon Tea. To book please contact hello@eteaket.co.uk or pop into eteaket Tea Boutique on Frederick St or Kakao by K on Thistle St.

We went cupcake crazy at eteaket last night. Thanks to everyone who joined in our cupcake decorating class with Liggy – our expert in all things icing related. The idea was that you made some lovely cupcakes to give to your Mum on Mother’s Day. Stupidly I ate four in a row and still have nothing for Sunday.

We will be running more cupcake decorating classes in the future. If you want to register your interest please just pop us in email to hello@eteaket.co.uk saying something like “cupcake class info please” and we’ll make sure you receive details of the next event.

P.s. If you’re still stuck for a Mother’s Day gift, remember we do gift vouchers (instore and online) – why not treat the most important person in your life to Afternoon Tea (only £9.85)?

With the new Alice in Wonderland film lanuching today we at eteaket have decided to launch a new date for our Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. This one will be even more exciting, with some actors coming along to offer up some surprises.

Join us in eteaket on Wednesday 17 March 7.30. to 8pm where we’ll also be showcasing Kakao by K‘s new jewellery collection Design by k. The collection is based on Alice in Wonderland and tea with a touch of Kakao. The Tea Boutique will have a distinct Alice in Wonderland feel to it in order to celebrate the release of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

There is limited space so if you wish to join us at the Mad Hatters Tea Party please email hello@eteaket.co.uk or call us on 0131 226 2982. It costs £25 per person and includes Afternoon Tea, champers and Mad Hatter excitement. You can also book your space in Kakao by K.

eteaket began sourcing vintage china for our Tea Boutique & Cafe in Edinburgh in 2008 and we have been obsessively growing our collection ever since.
All our items are now available to hire for weddings, parties, christenings, product launches or corporate events.

Our collection ranges from vintage china tea cups and saucers, to milk jugs and sugar bowls, plates to cake stands.  Please click these links china-hire-1 and china-hire-2 or contact us at hello@eteaket.co.uk for further information.

Our pieces are also available to buy so you can have a touch of eteaket at home. One-off pieces will be appearing online soon at www.eteaket.co.uk.

eteaket have teamed up with Yakety Yak Language Cafe so you can come and practice your French or Spanish while enjoying a pot of your favourite tea. You’ll be supported by a fluent tutor.

French: Mon and Wed 9am-10am and 10am-11am

Spanish: Tue 9am-10am and 10am-11am

An hour conversation session costs £6 or you can pay for 5 sessions together and get a 6th session free. For more information phone Yakety Yak on 07826 555134 or come along and join us.