The Best summer Beverage For Hosting
If you like to entertain or just like to have cold tasty beverages on hand, this blog is for you!
I grew up drinking A LOT of iced-tea, it was served at my Nana and Papa’s house almost year round and I usually still order it if I’m out at a restaurant and wanting a nice cold drink. With every sip it takes me back to my childhood and I still serve it at my place if I have guests over!
I wouldn’t say I’m the queen of hosting but I do love to host friends and family and spoil them with amazing food and beverage options and one of my favourite interactive ways to encourage guests to get creative with their meal at my place is to set it up as bar or “self-serve”. I’ve done this with waffles, burgers, sangria/mimosas, yogurt parfaits, tacos and so much more.. you name it and I’ve probably done it. Since this is usually such a hit for my guests, I figured I would share my “how-to” on “how-to make your own Iced Tea Bar"
To make your own iced-tea bar, you will need the following;
A large carafe, dispensable jug, or even a french press
Large spoon for stirring and muddling (I like a cocktail spoon)
Your favourite tea - could be in tea bags or loose leaf (I like a black tea, green tea, or a fruity tea)
Filtered water (just saying this because who doesn’t like their water filtered)
Sweetener options like sugar, honey, or a simple syrup (If you want to have a sweeter tea, you can add this in or leave it out for guests to add to theirs but be advised syrup and honey will always blend/mix better into a colder drink than sugar would)
Garnishes like fresh fruit, citrus, mint etc… (I like a mix and I also like to eat the fruit after the drink is finished… so make sure you wash everything properly before using)
Ice (you could do a bag of ice or make your own and maybe you have some cool ice-tray shapes)
An incredibly cute set of glasses, something simple and not-breakable or mason jars with some straws
Optional** I’ve done a spiked iced tea before with vodka and I’ve also done one with wine, this is completely optional but can be a fun little add-on for people to enjoy.
If you don’t want to make your iced tea and would prefer to buy it - that’s okay too! No judgement here, whatever works best for your situation because most times your guests won’t know if you made it from scratch or not hahaha!
To make the iced tea
It’s pretty simple, you will need;
Filtered water (8 cups)
6 bags of tea (or 6 tbsp approx of loose leaf tea)
Sweetener (if you want it)
A pot big enough to hold 8 cups of water, and then your carafe or jug to dump it in eventually.
You will also need a taste tester because this is all preference based.
Take your pot out and pour 4 cups of water in there and put on your stove over medium heat (you want to bring it to a gentle boil).
Once the water in the pot is boiling, remove it from the heat and add your tea (bags or loose leaf, if you decide to use loose leaf be advised you will have to strain it with a sieve). If you want to add in sweetener to your tea, do it at this stage when the water is hot as it will combine better.
Let that tea brew in the 4 cups of hot water for about 10 mins and then remove the bags (or strain).
Add the remaining 4 cups of water to the pot and let cool before transferring to your fridge. You will want to let it chill for at least an hour or so before serving. This is typically when I taste test to make sure it’s not terrible and you’re not serving your guests gross brown water (I’m sure it’s happened before hahaha).
Pour into your serving-ware and enjoy!
**The tea will last for about a week or so in your fridge. I usually make this on Sundays so we have fresh iced-tea every week to enjoy.
If you’re still with me and you’ve made your own tea… congratulations, you just learned how to make a delicious beverage and save money (because store-bought tea is EXPENSIVE). Next steps would be setting up your “bar” which I recommend doing just before the guests arrive so it stays cold.
To set-up your bar
There is no wrong way of doing it but this is how I do mine;
I like to wash and slice all my garnishes and put into little bowls with tongs so people can grab them and add it into their drinks.
Once this is done, I arrange all my glassware, spoons, straws and garnishes so that it’s at the “beginning of the bar” so guests can muddle these ingredients in their drinks before adding the liquid.
After the garnishes are added, I suggest putting out ice so people can add that to keep their drink cool (ice buckets are a nice touch with little tongs). Adding the ice after the garnishes also keeps the garnishes from entering peoples mouths when they’re trying to drink from a glass (if not using a straw).
If you are offering a spiked version of this, I suggest putting out a shot glass or a jigger so guests can measure their alcohol before adding it to the glass and this also ensures that if they added “too much” they can dump out some of it if needed (we don’t need any drunk aunts after one beverage… or do we…)
After ice comes the arranging of the carafe or dispensable jug of iced tea and the sweeteners options.
Pro tip - if you are serving a bunch of ladies, make sure you put straws out as it doesn’t wreck lipstick and doesn’t leave lipstick stains on the glassware.
Pro Tip - I like to arrange this in a lower traffic area so people aren’t in your way when you’re hosting and I also like to arrange this with fresh florals or on a nice tray etc… (be advised that things will leave condensation marks so don’t leave it on the good furniture and as my nana taught me, use a coaster and leave coasters in bird’s eye view for your guests).
And that’s it!
This was a very “in-depth” read but I timed this out when I last created my iced-tea bar and the prep and the bar arrangement (not including letting the tea cool) took me about 1-1/2 hours total.
If you are ever curious about any of my other “self-serve bars” I mentioned previously, let me know and perhaps I’ll share my other secrets to creating a successful and interactive guest station.
Happy hosting and enjoy your summer friends!
Markie.