Cool your boots: icy cuppa substitutes for summer

Iced tea doesn’t have to be the super sweet, sugar-packed mainstream brands – there are plenty of offerings ready to convert even the staunchest tea purist

As a very prescriptive tea drinker – piping hot “Stephen Fry” everyday Twinings, thank you, brewed strong with a dash of milk and no sugar under any circumstances – iced tea has always been lost on me. But there’s nothing like an unprecedented heatwave to encourage this sleepless mother to review her position on something as vital as tea.

Many of us associate iced tea with the American south, but legend has it that it was actually an English tea merchant who popularised it there. Richard Blechynden met countless visitors who were unwilling to drink hot tea in the summer heat of 1904’s Louisiana Purchase Exposition, so instead he served it over ice. With the American penchant for iced drinks being already well-documented (Mark Twain wrote that if there was one thing that could be called “American”, it was “the national devotion to ice-water”), it took off.

Iced tea has evolved in myriad ways, but the southern style, for which black tea is heavily sweetened and often flavoured before serving on ice, reigns supreme in the mainstream. Until recently, I had tried only Lipton’s iterations, which tick precisely zero boxes for me, mostly because they use only the faintest trace of actual tea (0.12% of black tea extract, to be precise), combined with fruit concentrate (peach, lemon) and abundant sugars and sweeteners. IMHO, something as sweet as that is refreshing only if it’s fizzy.

I realised during my testing, however, that I could get on board with the still, sweet iced teas that dominate the market if they had a bit more, well, tea about them. As well as sugar and peach concentrate, Harry Brompton’s Peach Iced Tea (see today’s pick) contains 96% brewed Kenyan black tea, and it really delivers: I can really feel the grip of the tannins. The ChariTea range, also in my pick, uses a similarly high proportion of tea, as well as agave syrup in place of refined sugar and organic fruit juices for flavourings – the Red one, made with rooibos, passionfruit and elderberry juice, is everything I want on a hot day.

The handful of sparkling teas I tried are pushing the definition of iced tea a little. Twining’s Refresh describes itself as a “juicy raspberry lemonade with hibiscus” (unsurprisingly, I couldn’t taste the 1% white tea infusion), and Holos’ organic Jasmine Hops number is really more a kombucha.

Anyone who is overheated and in search of a cuppa substitute, in fact, might best be advised to make their own iced tea, perhaps using Brew Tea Co’s kit in today’s pick, which I brewed hot and served over ice with no milk (obvs) and a little dash of maple syrup. Don’t tell me a girl can’t change.

Four iced teas for a hot summer’s day

M&S Peach Iced Tea No Added Sugar £2.10 (750ml) Ocado. White tea infused with real peach juice – still too sweet for my palate but, unlike Snapple and Lipton’s, it has no added sugars or sweeteners, so take the win.

ChariTea Red Iced Tea £1.95 (330ml) Waitrose. An original and moreish blend of South African rooibos and organic passionfruit; a percentage of proceeds goes to social projects in the tea-growing region.

Harry Brompton’s Peach Iced Tea £1.25 (500ml; on offer) Sainsbury’s. Satisfyingly tannic and very refreshing. Serve with lemon wedges and a good fan.

Brew Tea Co Peach & Orange Iced Tea £12.50. Ceylon tea meets dried peach and citrus rind in a giant bag designed for home infusions, so great for determining strength and sweetness yourself.