How Do Restaurants Make Their Iced Tea

With summer heat waves undulating on the horizon, iced tea options are headed straight to the beverage section of the menu. And for good reason, too. Iced tea has a projected market growth rate of 6.30% between 2022-2027, meaning consumers are on the hunt for restaurants with a recipe they could only dream of replicating at home.

On the business side, it’s inexpensive, and there are countless ways to dress them up to make them more appealing to those who normally chase away the heat with soft drinks. But we’re not here to convince you to bring this healthier alternative to the menu; that part’s already been decided. We’re here to explain the question that has brought you to Parts Town in the first place: Just how do restaurants make their iced tea, exactly?

Most Popular Restaurant Iced Tea Brands

Restaurants use a variety of tea brands to make their signature iced teas. Some brew it themselves with bagged, loose leaf or powdered teas while others use tea concentrate, while still more use ready-serve tea.

Whicher iced tea serving method you choose, it can be helpful knowing some of the tea brands those big-name chain restaurants use to elicit those eye-closing, relax-into-you-chair, “ahhh” moments:

• Lipton


• Gold Peak


• Pure Leaf


• Brisk


• Tazo


• Honest Tea


• Luzianne


• Arizona


• Nestea


• Snapple

What Type of Tea Is Used for Iced Tea

You’ve certainly noticed that some restaurants serve tastier iced teas than others. It’s true that different types of iced tea appeal to different flavor profiles. The most important thing to take away here is that steep time, water temperature and sweeteners have a more substantial impact on the taste of the tea than the tea leaves themselves. With that in mind, here’s a list of the different types of teas used in restaurants:

• Black tea – Black teas work well as a base to other flavors, so you can dress them up with accent flavors or keep them toned down to a single bold mouthful for a signature taste that customers will recognize.


• White tea – White tea also works well as a lighter base to other subtle, fruity flavors, like peaches, pears, kiwis, honeydew melons and white grapes.


• Green tea – Green tea is another popular option for making iced tea, as its earthier flavors can help bring out the natural sweetness of fruits and other floral flavors.


• Peach tea – Refreshing, naturally sweet and in season, peach tea works especially well in the iced variety. Many tea brands make peach tea bags, but if you want a more natural and authentic taste, you can make it yourself by infusing boiling water with fresh peaches. Alternatively, you can add homemade peach syrup to iced black tea by cooking a mixture of peaches and sugar on the stovetop.


• Hibiscus tea – Another summertime flav fav is an assortment of hibiscus teas. With a sweet yet tart flavor profile, it packs a non-alcoholic kick that can be paired down with any number of fruit mixtures.

How Do You Make Large Quantities of Iced Tea?

The next question you need to answer is: how much iced tea do you plan on selling? Knowing this will help you decide on which method of iced tea brewing is best suited for your restaurant’s menu, appetite and traffic, which we’ll get into more in the next section. For now, this is how to make a large batch of iced tea fast:

• Step 1. Determine how much tea you’ll need – Determining how much tea you’ll need might be a little tricky at first, especially if this is a new menu item. Be aware that iced tea popularity will vary from day to day, but it’s always better to have too much than not enough.


• Step 2. Boil the water – In addition to boiling the water, you’ll want to make sure you’re using purified or filtered water instead of tap. Tap water is treated with chlorine and typically comes infused with other minerals that could affect the very foundation of the tea’s taste.


• Step 3. Add the tea leaves or bags – Tea bags are the fastest option, but for convenience, you compromise taste. However, you’ll need a strainer or tea ball to steep loose leaves, which isn’t always practical when brewing in large batches.


• Step 4. Steep the tea – Different teas need to steep for different lengths of time, so read the directions on the packaging. Keep in mind the steep time varies even within each tea class and depends on how strong or weak you want the end product.

• Step 5. Sweeten as desired – Sugar doesn’t dissolve in cold water, so if you’re going to make sweet tea, add it before boiling the water. Otherwise, use syrups. How sugary you want the tea depends on your sweet tooth, but to start, try adding 1-2 teaspoons to every 8 ounces of tea and taste test from there.


• Step 6. Let the tea cool – It’s important to let it cool before putting it into the refrigerator so you don’t heat up the surrounding food. Also, don’t dump ice into it right away, as that will water it down. Wait until the tea is good and cold before serving over ice. If you need to use the tea immediately, then brew it stronger or let it steep longer than you normally would before adding ice.


• Step 7. Serve within 8 hours – The CDC recommends serving iced tea within 8 hours of brewing to avoid possible bacterial contamination. That said, it’s safer to brew the tea the traditional way as opposed to cold brew methods because tea is a minimally processed product, meaning that it may contain harmful bacteria that would be killed by boiling water.

How Many Tea Bags for a Gallon

How many tea bags you use to make a gallon of iced tea varies slightly from tea type and brand. It should be noted that steeping tea for iced tea is a little different from hot tea. To prevent the tea from getting watered down from ice, it’s generally recommended to use twice the number of tea.

As a general rule of thumb, you should shoot to use 2 tea bags for every 6-8 ounces of water, depending on how strong you prefer your tea. Since there are 128 ounces of water in a gallon, that means you’ll be using roughly 32-42 tea bags per gallon of iced tea. Follow the instructions on the packaging, and feel free to experiment a little with strength until you find your secret recipe.

How Do Restaurants Make Their Iced Tea?

There are several ways to make iced tea for restaurants: regular, cold brew and instant tea. But how exactly do restaurants make their iced tea? We’ll delve a little deeper into the exact process for each method below:

How to Brew Iced Tea

• Step 1. Boil water – Bring the water to a boil.


• Step 2. Steep the tea – Steep the tea for the recommended amount of time or refer to the chart below. Remember to double the amount of tea leaves or bags than you’d normally use for hot tea for iced tea recipes.


• Step 3. Sweeten as desired – Add your choice of sweetener before you move on to the next step, as sugar and flavors tend to dissolve and mix better in hot water. You can choose between sugar, syrups, honey, fruit juices, lemons, mint or any combination thereof.


• Step 4. Let cool – To cool down without diluting the tea, you can wait until the pitcher reaches room temperature before storing it in the fridge. If you don’t have time for your iced tea to chill, you can speed up the process by pouring directly over ice. However, you’ll probably want to add more tea bags or steep them longer to prevent a watered down flavor.


• Step 5. Serve – Pour over ice and serve! For the freshest and best-tasting results, drink within the day!

How to Make Cold Brew Iced Tea

• Step 1. Add water to tea – Measure your tea-to-water ratio and add to a glass pitcher (plastic absorbs odors). Remember, for making iced tea, you’ll want to double the tea bags or loose leaves per 6-8 ounces of water.


• Step 2. Sweeten as desired – Do not use sugar to sweeten because it needs heat to dissolve. For that reason, use only syrups or natural flavorings, like mint, fruit juices or honey.


• Step 3. Steep the tea – For cold brew, steep the tea in cold or room temperature water for about 6-8 hours for white or green tea and 8-12 hours for black tea. Place in the refrigerator until ready.


• Step 5. Serve – Pour the cold brew tea over ice and serve! For the freshest and best-tasting results, drink within the day.

How to Make Instant Iced Tea

• Step 1. Boil water – Bring filtered, purified or bottled water to a boil.


• Step 2. Add instant iced tea mix – Add the instant iced tea mix to the boiling water, stirring well.


• Step 3. Sweeten as desired – If you want to add sugar, do it before you cool down the mix, as it won’t dissolve after the ice is added. You can also stir in other flavorings, such as fruit juice, honey, syrup, lemons or mint.


• Step 4. Add ice – Pour in cold water and add ice, as per the tea’s directions.


• Step 5. Serve – Once the pitcher has adequately cooled down, serve over ice! For the freshest, best-tasting results, drink immediately.

How Long to Steep Tea for Iced Tea

On average, it takes 3-5 minutes to steep tea for iced tea. Again, how long you steep tea will vary depending on the class of tea, brand, whether you’re using loose leaf or tea bags, and how strong you want it. Ensure you follow the tea company’s instructions printed on the packaging. But as a general rule of thumb, you can follow these basic guidelines:

• Black tea – 3-5 minutes


• White tea – 4-5 minutes


• Green tea – 2-3 minutes


• Peach tea – 3-5 minutes


• Hibiscus tea – 3-4 minutes