What is a French Press?
A French press is a type of coffee maker. Most models come with a handle with a fitted carafe, and a built-in sieve for straining.
While it’s normally used for making coffee, it’s great for easily making iced tea. Specifically, this post will show you how to make tea using a medium (~34 ounce) French press.
French Press Iced Tea – Pros and Cons
If you’ve never used a French Press before, you may be wondering what benefits it may bring. You also may be skeptical whether it’s worth using (or buying, if you don’t have one already).
While I think it’s a simple and straightforward method, it’s not perfect for every person or situation. Below I mention the benefits (and drawbacks) in detail.
Reasons to Use a French Press for Iced Tea
The main reason, I’d say, is simplicity. That may sound underwhelming, but it’s very much a layered benefit. By using this method, you get a pitcher of iced tea with the following traits:
Tea can be brewed right in the carafe, which cuts back on dishes
The sieve catches any loose tea or bags, allowing you to pour without worry
The sieve also doubles as a lid, making storage a non-issue
The smaller size makes it easy to add the right amount of water, every time
You also may not already have another pitcher on hand. In that case, using a press lets you have tea without needing to buy a large, bulky pitcher.
Reasons to Maybe Not Use a French Press for Iced Tea
While it’s what I prefer, I recognize this method has drawbacks. Some of them can even be deal breakers, so I felt the need to mention them here.
Most presses are not very large, so you can’t brew ~1 gallon of tea at a time
Most carafes are glass, which are more delicate than a standard plastic pitcher
The glass also means you need to be more careful when cleaning them
The sieve/lid combo has lots of nooks and crannies, which may be considered hard to clean
If you regularly make coffee in your press, you may have coffee flavor in your tea, or vice versa.
So, Who Should Use This Method?
This method is good for someone who has a French press and doesn’t drink 4+ cups of tea daily. I’d say they should also be comfortable cleaning and using glass, or just don’t want to use plastic.
Conclusion and Recipe
Below I’ve listed the amounts of water, tea and (optionally) sugar I most often use for making iced tea. If you like this iced tea or post, consider following me on WordPress or Pinterest.
For another great summer drink recipe, check out my blackberry lemonade.
Ingredients
1 liter of water, about 34 ounces, 964 grams
3 black tea bags*
1/4 cup sugar, 50 grams, optional**
Preparation
Hot Water Method (Recommended***)
Add the tea bags and sugar to your French press, then bring the water to a boil. Carefully pour in the water, attach the lid and press down, then allow to cool slightly before refrigerating.
Refrigerate until chilled before enjoying.
Cold Water Method
Add the tea bags, sugar and water to your French press. Carefully stir to help dissolve the sugar, attach the lid, then press down the sieve and refrigerate.
Refrigerate at least 8 hours before enjoying.
Notes
* I’ve never done this with loose tea, but it should work fine. I weighed some tea bags for the fun of it, and they were 2-3 grams each.
** This will give you what I think is a fairly sweet drink. If you like yours more or less sweet, just use more or less sugar.
You can also use a no-calorie sweetener, but I don’t recommend using all sweetener. I’ve done that before, and the flavor wasn’t great.
*** I prefer this method since it extracts the tea more quickly and wholly. I find using cold water makes for weak tea, but hot water makes it significantly more strong.
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