A key difference: Hot tea doesn’t create landfill; bottled iced tea does.

So as much as we love certain bottled teas and still enjoy them, we’ve been focusing on brewing our own.

First, the Breville One-Touch Tea Maker, our new favorite appliance, makes it a snap. This machine is so much fun—and produces such good results—we can’t say enough about it.

Second, we can brew a different type of tea each time (which in our case is two brewings a day): Earl Grey, jasmine tea (perhaps our favorite iced tea), green tea and whatever comes our way. Peach iced tea and blackberry iced tea were two recent brewings.

Home-brewing top-quality tea results in such a delicious drink that no sugar is needed. While lemon or lime adds calorie-free antioxidants, they’re not needed for flavor.

Spare the landfill: brew your own!
Photo by Spanish Alex | Dreamstime.

• See our ideas for holding an iced tea party, including recipes.
• Take the Iced Tea Trivia Quiz.