40 Iced Teas for Summer
Who here remembers Summer Nights— that adorable, romantic little song from Grease about the wild and wonderful ways to spend a summer fling?
Come on, raise your hand.
I know you’ve seen it in a school play, streamed online, referenced a million times in other pop culture media, or— if you remember even further back, when cable was a thing! — aired between commercials for candy that could possibly give you a heart attack.
But Summer Nights are the good kind of sweet.
To get into a similar spirit of summer, and Iced Tea Month at Adagio, I wanted to draw your eyes to a particular section of Adagio’s teas that are perfect for a summer fling of your own: the iced teas collection!
These are the best thing possible for a summer of tea-tasting adventure. You try a tea out, you play around with flavors, and hey! Maybe you’ll find some new, special leaf in your life. And if not, the great thing about flings is that you don’t have to worry about them long term. (Wink!)
Alrighty!
Black Iced Teas Recommendations
What I love about these, is that they can appeal to any particular taste or flavor palate. Looking for some warm, exotic sensations? Try Coconut and Ceylon Sonata.
When your mood turns to something fruitier, then brew up Mango or Peach — especially when the days start getting sweltering!
And for your eclectic moments, try Cream, Irish Breakfast, and Earl Grey teas can’t be beat.
The big thing to bear in mind when working with black teas is how durable they are. Black tea can take extremely hot water— upwards of 200 degrees Fahrenheit and 100 degrees Celsius— and be steeped for five whole goshdarn minutes before you chuck the ice in there to let it chill and steep into proper iced tea. Luckily as well, the brilliance of Adagio’s cold brew bags mean that if you have a little bit of time for forethought, then you can let it steep overnight and wake up to a really smooth, sweet cup in the morning.
Chai Iced Teas Recommendations
Oh, these just make my heart sing! I’m already drawn to heady combinations of herbs and spices, and these chais definitely do not disappoint.
The Masala Chai and Spiced Apple Chai are the fierce, peppy ones for when you want an energy boost along with your midday treat— the caffeine in there helps as well.
While their sweet sisters, Thai Chai and Rooibos Vanilla Chai, are more mellow in character. The rooibos blend is even caffeine-free, so that you can enjoy it at night without worrying about being kept up.
If you are concerned about caffeine, a good way to honor your tolerance is to cap it at a certain hour of the day, so that it has time to circulate out of your system before bed. However, everyone’s personal caffeine tolerance is different, so if you’re lucky enough to be able to have a strong black cup before bed— more power to you!
Oolong Iced Teas Recommendations
What I adore about the Adagio Oolong lineup is how well they took their best of the regular oolongs, and made them accessible in their iced versions.
The new Blackberry Sage Oolong is my personal favorite to give as a gift because it has both fruity notes and herbaceous ones, and sage is traditionally associated with wisdom and higher learning.
But I do have a soft spot for Grapefruit Oolong and Peach Oolong for their wonderful tropical aftertaste, and when I want to go simple and clean (no geeky Kingdom Hearts pun intended, unless you also caught that new KH4 trailer a little while ago!) then Jade Oolong is where it’s at.
If you haven’t checked out my previous articles, scroll through and read up on what else makes oolong a particularly fun tea to work with— you might be surprised what else shares its name!
White Iced Tea Recommendations
When it comes to white tea, it’s so subtle that less is more in its preparation, which makes it perfect for going iced. That’s why the modest selection of three whites in Adagio’s collection is ideal because it allows you time to really get to know the nuances of the white tea itself, which is already naturally laden with accents and flavors that come out super effectively— dangit, there goes the Pokemon pun— when cold brewed.
The White Peach, White Blueberry, and White Tropics teas are all excellent experiences because they all offer a little something extra that adds to those inherent white flavors from the base tea of White Peony.
The best way to profit on those nuanced flavors is to take advantage of the cold brew process. Play with how long to set the tea out for, how much water to add to embolden or soften the resulting drink. More tea in relation to the water will yield more flavor, and vice versa. You can also taste how the flavor changes with subsequent steeps, after the first bag is done!
Green Iced Teas Recommendations
Maybe I’m predisposed to loving these teas because they form a rainbow, but who wouldn’t adore the set of varied and exciting options that Adagio has for its iced green collection?
If these teas had human personalities, I’d say that I’m getting feisty heroine vibes from the Citron Green and Citrus Mint Green.
While the Melonberry Green, Apricot Green, and Mango Green have more of a Magical Girl feel to them.
When it comes to green iced tea, I like to err on the side of white tea-esque preparation. Green can easily go bitter if brewed unscrupulously, so treat it like the aforementioned feisty heroine who needs a hug, or a Magical Girl who needs a pretty dress, and play up the fun flavor palate that we have to work with.
Herbal Iced Teas Recommendations
Alright, forget what I said before— this section is the real rainbow!
Speaking of summer fling feelings, what a pleasure to see the bashful pinks of Dragon Fruit Dream, Peach Serenity, Peach Bellini and Watermelon Cooler.
These are great choices alongside the hearthrobbing reds of Berry Blast, Blood Orange, Passionfruit Tango, Pina Colada, and Wild Strawberry.
Next in concert are the hazy amber-golds of Peppermint, Turmeric Bliss, Green Rooibos Bonita, Rooibos, Samurai Mate, and Citrus Mate.
Finally, behold the indigos and violets of Blue Mango and Purple Papayaberry colored with Butterfly Pea Flowers.
With herbals like these, they are incredibly forgiving to steep and savor. Such flavors can last for hours and the fruity ones won’t go bitter unless you really work hard at steeping them improperly— which would essentially be cooking them, and that’s not anyone’s game right now when it’s getting hot outside!
Still can't decide?
Adagio offers a handful of Iced Tea Samplers where you can try three samples at a time. Each sampler makes 6 quarts, with two iced tea pouches per flavor.
We already had a 90-plus degree (Fahrenheit!) day here in NYC. Anyone else starting to feel the heat out there? Let me know in the comments!