Let me start by saying that I am not (generally) a tea person. I don’t really drink hot tea, except the German cherry tea my dad brought me back from his last trip, and Throat Coat when I’m sick. That being said, I love good ice tea. My go to summer drink at Starbucks is their Tazo Passion Ice Tea. Well, what I realized a few years ago is that I could buy that same tea at the grocery store. So I bought a box and started experimenting. It came out alright, but something was missing, something that separated it from what I was getting in Starbucks.
This past week, after running out of store-bought cans of ice tea (my favorite of which is a kind of expensive brand), I decided I would try again. I brewed a mug of tea, dumped it over ice and added sugar, more than what I thought was necessary. My thought was always that the Starbucks version was sweeter than what I was making at home. And then it dawned on me that when they make it in the coffee-house, they add a flavor/sweetening syrup. That was what I was missing. So I reached for the closest thing I had in my pantry: Berry flavored Propel powder. I poured a little of the cold tea into a glass, and tipped in a small amount of powder, stirring it together. Sip. Deliciousness. I poured the rest of the powder packet into the pitcher of tea and took a big gulp. It was like I was drinking out of a venti plastic cup (my go to size for the tea), sans barista’s interpretation on the spelling of my name (Rebbecca, Rebeckah, Rebeca, Rebekah…etc.). So I decided to go big or go home, and since I was already home, BIG it was! I brewed two more mugs, added them to the ice pitcher, with sugar and two more packets of Berry Propel. The pitcher lasted about a day and a half. Yum!
In case you want to replicate it, here’s the recipe for one pitcher of my Tazo Passion Ice Tea:
- 3 Passion flavor tea bags
- 3 packets Berry flavor Propel powder (not Propel Zero)
- Half pitcher of ice
- Sugar to taste
You can brew each individual mug and then add all of the ingredients at once, or do as I do and add the ingredients as you go. I brew a mug, dump it into the ice, add my sugar and the packet of Propel powder, and stir. I then repeat until the pitcher is full. When I’ve filled it, I scoop out the ice and refrigerate it. Taking the ice out ensures the mix doesn’t get any more diluted. Also, it’s important to make sure that the sugar and Propel powder are as fully dissolved as possible.
Enjoy!