Shifting gears from cookies to good health…I have recently been doing a lot of research on Alzheimer’s prevention and reading the book The Alzheimer’s Answer
- Keep in good cardiovascular shape
- Keep the mind working and learning
- Maintain good cholesterol, decrease the bad
- Eat a low calorie diet to avoid getting diabetes
What interested me the most is how foods can help keep the mind strong. Green tea is particularly good at this. It helps because of its powerhouse of antioxidants. As a result of reading this I brewed up my own decaf-green tea in the fridge. I know, having it be decaffeinated means that it will not be as strong as regular green tea but by brewing it up in the fridge for a long but gentle period of time it actually has more antioxidants than if you brewed it with hot water, according to Prevention.com. Even if I just get some of the antioxidants, it is better than drinking pop!
Suzie the Foodie’s Fridge-Brewed Green Iced Tea
Get a large glass or ceramic drink container and put in 6 cups of cold water and 5 green tea bags. Brew in the fridge for 24 hours:
Sweeten with simple syrup. I wanted to make a healthier version of the traditional simple syrup (1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar boiled on the stove for 5 minutes). I warmed 1/3 cup of water, 1/3 cup of simple syrup and 1/3 cup of agave nectar on the stove and used this to sweeten my green iced tea.
I also added some sparkling water to give it some fizz and it is a lovely summer drink! Refreshing, not too sweet and super healthy for you.
If you do not have time to slow-brew the tea you could always just boil the water and let it steep for 10 minutes instead and then sweeten and wait for it to cool down. Either way, this is a shi shi drink that the stores are charging a lot of money for that cost me probably $1 for that entire jug. Save money, brew the tea yourself and keep your body strong and healthy! I love it when food and health come together like that, especially when it saves me money too.
I’ve never thought of brewing up cold green tea! I drink a lot of green tea and white tea. White is actually supposed to be even better for you! It is green tea before fermenting I think.Thanks:)
I drink cold red tea, as I never have acquired a taste for green tea.
A word of warning for you, and anyone else interested in healthy living. NEVER BOIL Sugar! even in water. It becomes toxic to most of our systems, and is part of the problem with sugars and diabetes and weight gain. Boil the water, remove it from the stove and THEN stir in the sugar. Much better! ( I like agave, but i have Hives, so Honey is the sweetener of choice round here!) LOL
Great recipe for the warm days ahead!!!
I love green tea! My favourite summer drink is to make a pot of strong green tea, let it cool and mix it with a can of frozen lemonade…add lots of cold water & ice cubes & lemon slices. It’s a simple cheat- recipe, but yummy!
*emailing you soon
I love green tea too. I’m bad about drinking tea once I’ve actually made it though. I like to make sun tea in the summer, but I usually have a glass or two and forget about the rest.
I was bemoaning the fact that I wouldn’t be able to drink sweet tea anymore because of eliminating sugar! It’s good to hear that you tried using agave nectar at least in part. I wonder how it would be will all agave?
Cool, I didn’t know white tea was also green tea!
I think I will give red tea a shot, I have some and that might be good too.
That is genius Boho Mom! I love it! That is a very cheap way to make a fantastic drink. I am going to try that out.
I have heard that sun steeped tea is dangerous, it breed bacteria unfortunately! I love the idea though.
I would totally try the agave and see if you like it Tammy, so far I really do. It’s kind of like using corn syrup for a sugar replacement but with no spikes in sugar levels.
Yum! I’ll try making this- green tea is something my sister always drinks, and I’ve tried drinking. If I could make it I bet I could save us some money.
Thanks for sharing this!! I am making some right now – red & white tea blend, & a tsp of my gogi berry green (both bulk, so I’ll strain)
Black is fermented, green is unfermented, & white is younger leaves (also unfermented) all come from Camellia sinensis –
I have two plants, as camellias do great in Western Oregon! One’s in a pot, as it didn’t seem happy in the garden. I use the leaves fresh when young, & found out the flowers can be used as well – they’re rather sweet, similar to jasmin tea.
I have lots of lemon balm in my garden, which makes a fine fresh ‘lemony’ tea. May add a few leaves to my ‘brew’ . . .
This is great, I love green tea and drink it hot without any sugar.
With iced green tea I sometimes add a shot of cranberry juice for some added punch.