Iced Green Tea Lemonade

Steps

1. Heat 2 cups of water to 175 degrees Fahrenheit. Steep the green tea bags or loose leaf for 3 minutes, then remove immediately. Over-steeping green tea past 3-4 minutes pulls out harsh tannins that create bitterness — the exact flavor that makes people think they don’t like green tea.

2. While the tea is still warm, stir in the raw honey until completely dissolved. Honey incorporates best at warm temperatures, not hot. Let the sweetened tea cool for 5 minutes on the counter.

3. Add the fresh lemon juice and the 2 cups of cold water. Stir to combine. The cold water brings the temperature down quickly and dilutes the concentrate to a balanced drinking strength. Taste and adjust — add more honey if it’s too tart, more lemon if it’s too sweet.

4. Pour into a pitcher and refrigerate until cold, or serve immediately over a generous amount of ice. Garnish with lemon slices or fresh mint leaves if you want to make it feel special.

Why It Works

Bottled green tea drinks from the store are typically loaded with refined sugar — some contain as much as a regular soda — and use tea extract rather than brewed leaves, meaning you lose most of the catechins and polyphenols that make green tea beneficial in the first place. Brewing real green tea at the proper temperature preserves EGCG, the most studied catechin in green tea, which acts as a potent antioxidant. Fresh lemon juice adds a significant dose of vitamin C and also increases the bioavailability of the tea’s antioxidants — studies show that citrus can help catechins survive digestion and reach the bloodstream more effectively. Raw honey provides natural sweetness along with trace enzymes and minerals that refined sugar and artificial sweeteners cannot match.

Tips

• Steep time is everything. Set a timer for exactly 3 minutes. The difference between a 3-minute steep and a 5-minute steep is the difference between a drink everyone loves and one nobody finishes. This is the single most important step.
• Jasmine green tea. If you use jasmine green tea bags instead of plain sencha, the floral notes pair beautifully with the lemon and create a more complex flavor. Jasmine green tea is still green tea — same antioxidant benefits.
• Big batch for the week. Double or triple the recipe and store in a large mason jar in the refrigerator. This keeps well for 3-4 days and tastes better cold the next day as the flavors meld together.