Mico-Blended Black Iced Tea – 4 Pack

The summertime is upon us. That means that majority of us will be soaking up the sun, attending events with family or friends. And attending barbecues. While we all enjoy these activities, there is another summertime staple that goes great will all things related to summer…

Iced Tea.

Despite the pleasure that can arise from drinking a glass of iced tea, the iced variant has proven to be less popular that hot tea in recent years. While the popularity has waned in recent years, there are still a number of reasons to grab for the glass of iced tea and bring its popularity back up to where it should be.

When people think of summertime, they often think of barbecues, which frequently serves not only wonderful grilled foods, but often sweetened drinks. Most of these beverages listed are loaded with excess sugar, with some brands containing 33 (or even more!) grams of added sugar, which is very close to the 40 gram max that the Nutrition.gov (The USDA) recommends that adults consume. Iced tea that you make yourself is an alternative that will avoid the pitfalls associated with these additives, and often times the taste is going to be better than artificial drinks.

There is also new information on the artificial and calorie free sweeteners; modern studies are showing that these chemical sweeteners may actually trigger increased appetite, meaning that you will consume more calories than you are saving by skipping out on the calories in the soda. In addition, the way these chemicals break down in the human body have been shown to emit toxic chemicals, which are clearly not good for anyone.

Iced tea = Increased Calorie Burn

That’s right! It is also known that the body must heat liquids up to body temperature before it can process them. So, if you ice your tea to a cold temperature of 50 degrees, your body has to raise the temperature of that tea by over 40 degrees, which takes energy, and can burn calories.

However, new studies are showing that hot tea may not due quite as a good of a job as iced tea at accomplishing this. While it is not certain as of yet, as more studies are needed, this does give an extra reason to enjoy iced tea during not only the summer months, but all year round.

Enjoying Iced Tea Naturally

There are people that think that iced tea is bitter due to the tannic acid build up that may result from icing, which explains why people may choose to add sugar or other sweeteners.

Keep it Fresh

Making the tea and icing it immediately before serving it will allow the flavor of the tea to come out without allowing the tannic acids to make the tea bitter. Not only does this improve the taste, but it maintains the quality of the brewed tea.

The best option for this is to use a raw honey; raw honey dissolves well in cold water and does make a very good sweetener for iced teas. Avoid processed sugars and syrups, as these are not much better than the sodas and other sweetened beverages that you are trying to give up!