How do you take your tea? @ChoiceOrganicTeas

For many of us, we are in back to school mode.  Back to school has either already happened, or it is getting ready to happen.  Know what that means???  Schedule... Routine...   For me, that also means that I get a little bit of peace and quiet during the day again.  Not much, but some!   When I was a child, I can remember my grandaddy always making a nice cup of hot tea each night after dinner.  It was his way to rest and unwind and I can picture it like it was yesterday. Being from South Georgia, I am all about drinking nice ICE COLD SWEET TEA, but every now and then, it is nice to relax in the early morning (or early evening)  and have a nice hot tea as a treat.  Little did I know that there is such a wide variety of tea's out there these days!
Lucky for me, I was sent a couple different tea's to try out enjoy!  Thanks to Choice Organic Teas, I get to share a couple tips for brewing the best tea at home.

Image Credit- Choice Organic Teas

FTC Compliant Review Policy:  The product(s) featured in this review were provided free of cost to me by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation.

Here are easy steps to brewing perfectly balanced iced tea:

Start any cup of tea by boiling fresh, filtered water.
For best results, black and herbal teas should be steeped with water right off the boil (around 212°).
Green, white, or oolong teas are best brewed with water just before it's boiled (180-190°).
For every 8 oz (1 cup) serving of iced tea you wish to brew, you'll want one tea bag or 1 tsp (2-3 g) loose leaf.
Make a double strength concentrate by steeping the tea bag or tea leaves in half the amount of water as you would for hot tea, for an 8 oz cup you'll brew a 1/2 cup (4 oz) concentrate.
Now, steep your concentrate! Here is a quick guide to steep times:
Black: 3-4 min, Herbal: 5 min, Green: 2-3 minutes, Oolong: 2-3 min, White: 1-3 min.
See chart below for a great reference for steep time and temperatures.
Once your tea has steeped, remove the tea bag or strain the leaves with a sieve or brewing basket, then add cold or tepid water to create 1 full cup of tea.
Pour over ice, and enjoy! If you like, you can add your favorite sweetener or a twist of lemon.

More Iced Tea Tips:
To make a stronger cup, double your tea bags or increase the amount of tea leaves used, not the brew time, as this can affect the flavor and increase bitterness.
To prevent cloudiness, never pour hot tea directly over ice. Adding tepid water first helps to bring the water temperature down slowly.

Let me just go ahead and tell you now... I had no clue that there were different water temperatures and steep times for the type of tea you were brewing.  Nope, not a clue. I thought it was all the same. As you can see, I was mistaken, so I thought I would share that handy little chart above for you guys to reference if you need to!   Also, if you are more like me and not sure about the different types of teas, you can order a variety sample pack from Choice Organic Teas to try out to see what you might really like the best!  With the cooler weather hopefully coming our way before too much longer, it might be a great idea to go ahead and stock up on some of these teas now.  (With varieties such as Energy Boost or Sinus & Throat Variety it might be beneficial!)

One more thing I want to share with you about these teas...
Did you know you could use them to clean?  All I really knew about tea was that you could drink it and that you could use it to turn paper brown to make it look old.  (We did that in school ages ago!)
Check out this recipe from Choice Teas to make glass cleaner:

Here’s what you’ll need:
– An empty (clean) spray bottle
– 3 tea bags of black tea (English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Classic Black, Wild Forest Black would work great!)
– 1 cup of water

What to do:
1. Steep tea bags in 1 cup of water and cool.
2. Pour brewed tea into a spray bottle.
3. Spray on windows and wipe thoroughly with a paper towel or cloth.

That’s all! Now you’ve got clean windows and mirrors without using harsh chemicals.
Will you ditch your window cleaner? Share with them on social media! 
Tag @ChoiceOrganicTeas and #DailyChoices to join the conversation.