The Ice Cube Hack You Need For The Best Iced Tea Every Time

There's nothing like sipping on a cold glass of iced tea, particularly on a hot day. And, to really bring out the icy feel and get a cool, refreshing beverage, most people often throw in a couple of ice cubes. The trouble is, as those ice cubes melt, they introduce water into your drink, diluting it and squashing the flavor. The good news is that there's an easy hack you can use to get around this — freezing iced tea into ice cubes and using those in your beverage instead.

Iced tea ice cubes don't involve a whole lot of know-how. All you have to do is pour iced tea into an ice cube tray and freeze it. Then, empty the cubes into your glass or pitcher. But, although this trick is very simple, there are a few ways to really elevate it and bring on the flavor. And, there are a couple of things to know about choosing the right ice mold and using your cubes for enhancing your favorite cool drink.

At its most basic form, iced tea ice cubes really just need, well, iced tea. However, there are still a couple of considerations to take in as you make them. For one thing, you'll want to think about what kind of tea you'll add. You can make ice cubes from the same brew you'll be drinking, or you can use a different kind of tea and let it add a touch of new flavor notes as it melts. For instance, if you've made a batch of standard black iced tea, you could use lemon tea ice cubes so that they add a slight zing to your drink. 

Another way to jazz up your iced tea ice cubes is to pop sliced fruit into them. Raspberries, blueberries, and sliced apples can all be great ways to add some extra flavor and enhance your drink. Or, you can try popping in sprigs of mint or other herbs that complement your tea's flavor. You could also just add edible flowers to enhance the appearance of the drink and level up your iced beverage. With all these additions, there are plenty of ways to create the perfect, tasty — and eye-catching — drink.

Once you've selected your ingredients, it's time to pour them into an ice cube mold. A standard ice cube tray works just fine here, but you can also play around with different sizes. Larger ice cubes will melt more slowly, meaning your drink won't be infused with additional flavors quite as quickly. Plus, depending on how big you go, they can be trickier to fit into your glass. Smaller ice cubes, on the other hand, can mean you need more of them to really cool down your drink and get the benefit of their flavors as they melt.

When you've chosen an ice mold that suits your fancy, freeze the cubes until solid. Then, remove them and pop them into your drink! You don't have to limit yourself to using them in only iced tea, either. You can also pop these ice cubes into other summer pitcher drinks to avoid dilution. For instance, add them to lemonade for an Arnold Palmer-style beverage, or throw them into fruit juice for a punch-style drink. This hack is versatile, so try using them in various cold drinks and see which you like best.