Friday Drinks and Frozen Day ♥♥

With the weather getting warmer  and warmer everyday, I think we could all agree that we need something that will cool us off and keep us feeling refresh. Since it is Summer, I am making a seasonal post just for the Summer season and this will happen on Fridays. I am calling it Friday Drinks and Frozen Day 🙂 The post will mostly be about Summer drinks and frozen treats to keep up cool and comfy during the Summer season. If it is not Summer where you are right now, do not worry because you can always go back and search for these recipes whenever Summer arrives in your area or you are just feeling to get chilled. Some of the drinks that I am sharing here and even the smoothie can be made any day of the year.

Here is a short video on how to make the base iced lemonade. You can boil the tea bags or you can simply steep it for few minutes or as per your tea bags instructions. There are some tea that are quite strong, and there are some tea that are mild so the steeping time matters.

Refreshing ♥♥♥

With the hot summer weather we are currently having, all I can think of is to drink and drink and drink. I just want something refreshing to drink, something light and non-carbonated too. Summer is the time of the year when coffee shops big or small starts promoting more and more cold ice tea drinks or different flavors and variations. I favor this kind of drink over pop or carbonated drinks because I find cold fruity tea drinks more refreshing and light.

Easy to Make

Sadly, I always end up getting disappointed when I ordered it at cafe. It is almost like colored water with no flavor at all and if it does have a flavor, it taste artificial to me. I thought instead of complaining about it, might as well just make my own at home and so I came up with this, and I had been drinking this like crazy almost everyday. After all, it’s a tea and decaf too. This is so easy to make, just like when making any regular tea. All you  need to do is to boil or steep the tea bags. I’m using a mild tea so I like boiling it to extract as much flavor as possible, but there are some tea that are stronger. For stronger tea, you can simply steep it (leave it submerge in boiling water). Once you have the base tea, you can add any fruits that you like. I made this with strawberry and pineapple (the one in the video).

Hey guys! It’s Friday drink day once again, and today I’m sharing with you a refreshing homemade Orange and Cucumber Iced Tea, it’s really easy to make and it taste 100% better than store-bought or powdered juice drinks. Not only that it is easy to make, it is budget friendly too. 1 box of tea bags could go along way, it could make you 12 cups of iced cold iced tea and it would not even cost you 5CAD, it’s that cheap. That’s only equivalent to a grande ice tea when you but it in cafe and coffee shop, sometimes even more when you add the tax. But with this simple recipe, you can make gallons of iced tea at home that could serve a large group for a small amount. Although this is a small batch of 4 cups, you can easily double or triple the measurement, there’s no risk of messing it up, so relax. 

How to Make Homemade Iced Tea

Making a homemade iced tea is as easy as 1,2,3. It’s just like how you make a regular tea. You need to boil the tea bags, or steep it in hot water. I prefer boiling mine to extract as much of the flavor as possible as most of the tea I used are mild and have a very subtle flavor. The most of the wait is waiting the tea to cool down. Transfer it in a glass then chill it in refrigerator. Once it cool down, add slices of Orange. I like to make big batch of this in a pitcher and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. The flavor develops more the longer that it sits with the sliced of Orange  in it. As for the cucumber, if you are leaving it overnight in the fridge, do not add the cucumber yet as it will get soft. I like my cucumber crunchy, so add the cucumber about 30 minutes before serving it. That way it still have time to infuse the tea with cucumber flavor without making the cucumber soft. You’ll definitely love eating the Orange slices and the crunchy cucumber, they’re so refreshing even more with tons of ice cubes added. What can I say but bottoms up! 

Ingredients: 

• 3 cups Water
• 1 cup freshly squeeze Orange Juice
• 4 Tea Bags – I used Orange Peaco
• 1/4 – 1/3 cup Honey or any sweetener of your choice
• 10 Slices Cucumber – sliced thinly
• 1 Orange – Sliced thinly
• Ice Cubes

Instructions:

Mix water and honey and bring to simmer until the honey is dissolved. Remove from the stove and submerge the tea bags. Leave the tea bags to further steep (about 30 minutes or until it cools down). Let cool and transfer in a jar then add sliced cucumber and orange. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Add ice cubes before serving.

Cold Brew Method

For a milder sweeter less bitter tea, instead of boiling the tea, do the cold brew method. Simply pour the water and honey in a jar, add the sliced cucumber and Orange and leave the tea bags submerge overnight. Store in the refrigerator overnight. The cold long process of steeping the tea produces a sweeter non bitter tea.

Makes 4 cups

Enjoy! If you make this, share and tag me in Instagram #SweetNSpicyLiving. I would like to see your creations too.

Featured Posts:

• Raspberry Dragon Fruit Iced Tea
• Cold Brew Peach Iced Tea
• [VIDEO] Sugar Free Strawberry Pineapple Cooler
• Cold Brew Blueberry Iced Tea

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