This easy and refreshing Starbucks copycat iced green tea recipe is ready in 5 minutes with just 3 ingredients! Get tips from a Tea Sommelier on how to make it perfect without any bitterness.
Recipe Highlights
- Starbucks Iced Green Tea is a cold, unsweetened caffeinated drink that’s prepared by shaking green tea and ice together in a cocktail shaker.
- A green tea concentrate is used to make this drink at Starbucks, but this version is made by brewing hot green tea using tea bags. Hot tea is then quickly cooled down with ice in a cocktail shaker. If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, a large jar with tight lid also works.
- This simple recipe recreates a grande size (16 ounces) of Starbucks Iced Green Tea using just 2 ingredients in 5 minutes.
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Iced Green Tea at Starbucks
Starbucks makes this green tea version of a classic iced tea using ice, filtered water, and Teavana’s Jade Citrus Mint concentrate. The ingredients are shaken together in a cocktail shaker then poured into a cup.
This drink used to be made with liquid cane sugar, but Starbucks no longer automatically sweetens their iced teas.
At Starbucks, unless asked for sweetened, this drink is unsweetened. To have it made sweet, like they used to, ask for 4 pumps of liquid cane sugar for a grande size drink. You can also customize it by adding flavored syrups. This drink is often ordered sweetened.
Another common adjustment is to reduce the amount of ice (ask for light ice).
Like other Starbucks iced teas, this drink comes in 4 sizes: tall (12 ounces), grande (16 ounces), venti (24 ounces), and trenta (30 ounces!).
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Ingredient Notes
- Teavana’s Jade Citrus Mint Tea
A concentrated version of Jade Citrus Mint is used at Starbucks to make their iced green tea, but it’s not available for purchase. Instead, use Jade Citrus Mint in tea bags, which are sold online. - Water
Iced tea tastes best with good quality water, so use filtered water if possible. - Ice
Like with water for the tea, filtered water makes better tasting ice.
Photo Credit: amazon.com
Step-by-Step Instructions
For full ingredients and instructions, scroll down to see the recipe.
- Put tea bags and hot water into a teapot.
Use simmered water to steep tea instead of boiling hot water. Simmer water on the stovetop or use an electric kettle with a temperature setting. - Cover and steep.
- Put ice and hot tea into a cocktail shaker. Shake.
If you want to add sweetener, add it into the cocktail shaker with the hot tea and ice. If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, use a large jar with a tight lid. - Pour iced tea into a cup.
Empty everything in the cocktail shaker into the cup.
Photo Credit: amazon.com
Ways to Sweeten Iced Green Tea
This drink is unsweetened, but if you like it sweet, adjust the sweetness and flavor with these options.
- Simple syrup
Simple syrup is the easiest way to sweeten an iced drink since it’ll dissolve easily into a cold beverage. It’s quick and easy to make your own simple syrup a home using just 2 ingredients. - Raspberry syrup
Raspberry adds a sweet, fruity touch to green tea. - Peach syrup
Another fruity option is adding peach juice or syrup to flavor and sweeten. Try making my homemade peach syrup. - Mint syrup
This sweetener will compliment the mint that’s in Teavana’s Jade Citrus Mint and give the drink a brighter flavor.
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Expert Tips
- Jade Citrus Mint is a flavored green tea blend, meaning it’s green tea mixed with additional flavors like spearmint, lemon verbena, and lemongrass.
- If you don’t have Jade Citrus Mint, get Tazo Zen tea, which has a very similar blend using spearmint, lemon verbena, and lemongrass.
- Avoid getting the Tazo Iced Zen concentrate since it doesn’t taste as good as tea brewed from the tea bags and they have a weird aftertaste.
- Use an electric kettle with a temperature setting to boil water for green tea. Steeping green tea in the correct water temperature will prevent your tea from tasting bitter.
- If you’re boiling water on the stovetop, turn off the heat as soon as it starts to simmer since you don’t want the water to be boiling hot.
- Don’t steep the tea bags in hot water for too long since that can also make the green tea bitter.
- The more you shake the iced tea in the cocktail shaker, the more foam you’ll see on the surface. If you like a lot of foam, count as you shake and keep shaking until it’s about 40 times.
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Questions You May Have
Starbucks uses a green tea concentrate, dilutes it with water and ice, then mixes them in a cocktail shaker. Everything is then poured into a cup. The green tea concentrate is made using Teavana’s Jade Citrus Mint tea.
Yes, because all real teas are from the Camellia sinensis leaves, there is caffeine in all green teas.
Using the correct steep time and water temperature are key when making a cup of green tea, even if it’s iced. If it’s bitter, then the tea was steeped for too long or the water was too hot.
The cocktail shaker is the easiest way to quickly cool down hot tea by using ice. It’s called the ice-chill method of making iced tea. If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, any large jar with a tight lid will work.
Starbucks iced drinks are half liquid and half ice. In a grande sized drink, which is 16 ounces, 8 ounces is tea plus 8 ounces of ice. If you want less ice, ask for “light ice.”
Related
- Starbucks Iced Black Tea Lemonade Copycat
- Iced Green Tea
- Ultimate Starbucks Tea Guide
- Best Starbucks Iced Teas
- Best Starbucks Syrups
- 23 Popular Starbucks Secret Tea Menu Drinks
- 21 Best Starbucks Tea Drinks
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Starbucks Iced Green Tea Copycat
INGREDIENTS
- ½ cup hot water
- 2 Teavana Jade Citrus Mint tea bags
- 1 ½ cups ice
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put tea bags and hot water into a teapot.Use simmered water to steep tea instead of boiling hot water. Simmer water on the stovetop or use an electric kettle with a temperature setting. Set water temperature to 175°F.
- Cover and steep for 3 minutes. Discard tea bags.Steeping for longer may make your green tea bitter.
- Put ice and hot tea into a cocktail shaker. Shake 10 times.Put ice in first, then the hot tea. If you want to add sweetener, add it into the cocktail shaker with the hot tea and ice.
- Pour drink into a cup.Empty everything in the cocktail shaker into the cup.
EQUIPMENT
NOTES
- Jade Citrus Mint is a flavored green tea blend, meaning it’s green tea mixed with additional flavors like spearmint, lemon verbena, and lemongrass.
- If you don’t have Jade Citrus Mint, get Tazo Zen tea, which has a very similar blend using spearmint, lemon verbena, and lemongrass.
- Avoid getting the Tazo Iced Zen concentrate since it doesn’t taste as good as tea brewed from the tea bags and they have a weird aftertaste.
- Use an electric kettle with a temperature setting to boil water for green tea. Steeping green tea in the correct water temperature will prevent your tea from tasting bitter.
- If you’re boiling water on the stovetop, turn off the heat as soon as it starts to simmer since you don’t want the water to be boiling hot.
- Don’t steep the tea bags in hot water for too long since that can also make the green tea bitter.
- The more you shake the iced tea in the cocktail shaker, the more foam you’ll see on the surface. If you like a lot of foam, count as you shake and keep shaking until it’s about 40 times.
Ways to Sweeten Iced Green Tea
This drink is unsweetened, but if you like it sweet, adjust the sweetness and flavor with these options.- Simple syrup
Simple syrup is the easiest way to sweeten an iced drink since it’ll dissolve easily into a cold beverage. It’s quick and easy to make your own simple syrup a home using just 2 ingredients. - Raspberry syrup
Raspberry adds a sweet, fruity touch to green tea. - Peach syrup
Another fruity option is adding peach juice or syrup to flavor and sweeten. Try making my homemade peach syrup. - Mint syrup
This sweetener will compliment the mint that’s in Teavana’s Jade Citrus Mint and give the drink a brighter flavor.