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My apologies if this is off-topic!

I have been searching far and wide for a method of making iced tea at home that is similar to what I get in restaurants. Unsweetened, not bitter, etc.

I purchased a Toddy cold brew bucket that works really well but haven't tried straight black tea yet. Fruit teas have worked well.

Can anybody recommend a loose leaf black tea that might work well for this purpose?

Thanks!

One way is to use Chinese black tea. This approach was started in the 1980s by companies like ChinaMist when China re-opened to U.S. tea-trading: https://www.chinamist.com/

Another approach, if it doesn't seem like they sell a lot of tea, is that they might be using instant tea.

I do a lot of cool infusions of tea I will drink cool or chilled. I don’t order iced tea in restaurants, because I always am afraid it will be Lipton/CTC black tea that I can’t cope with hot or cold because of the bitterness. In other words, I have lots of ideas and opinions about tea that’s good for drinking cold, and how I like to prepare it, but I don’t know if what I like is what you’re looking for. Can you explain a little more what you’re looking for in a tea to be drink chilled?

Thanks Debunix, I appreciate the question but Im looking for something a bit basic. Not looking for a bitter or tannic taste. I drink unsweetened tea so I'm looking for something that can stand on it's own.

I understand this may be a bit horrifying to refined palates, but the iced tea I get from a standard run of the mill restaurant is what I'm trying to replicate. I imagine they use a Bunn coffee maker with industrial size tea bags in it.

Any suggestions? Also, don't mind trying something more refined. It may be your opportunity to convert somebody.

Simplest way to start your search is asking the restaurants that serve iced tea you like a lot what tea is being used....

Considering that you can play w/ preparation to get a drink right, the search might be over very quickly. I am guessing that you are not looking for tea that cost 75 cents per gram (give or take some pennies).

If you don't find satisfaction then at least you can give us information about which teas come closest to satisfying you.

Also, your location might give us a cultural frame of reference lemon anyone…

Just pointing to another thread on chilled tea that I woke up today with a fresh post.

I can tell you that I am not a good source for this. I grew up in East Texas so over brewed iced tea is kinda our thing. My dad was from California though and hated sweet tea, so 50% of the time he got served sweet tea by a confused waitress and the other 50% of the the time he got unsweet with a sidecar of Sweet N Low.

As a side effect I grew up hating sweet tea. Still do. But I love a big pot of bitter, over brewed Lipton. Hell, I ain’t fancy and I’m gonna quit pretending I am. Store brand bags! The dustier the better! The key is BOILED water, do not pay attention to the temperature. Brew time varies, but it’s somewhere between “long enough to forget about it” and “cool enough that the industrial size tea bags don’t melt the trash bag”. Gotta make it strong to counteract the ice cubes! They may taste a little bit like freezer burned peas you always forget you have, but that’s just another reason to make it bitter!