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If one of your New Year goals is to eat and drink healthier, try replacing soda with sparkling tea! It’s easy to prepare, tastes great, has loads of health benefits, and isn't filled with sugar and artificial flavors. Sparkling tea is made with simple ingredients: sparkling mineral water and your favorite tea. You control the amount of sweetener you use, if you use any at all. For many soda drinkers, the thrill is in the fizz, not the sweetness.
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Here are some of the benefits you get from drinking sparkling tea:
- Sparkling mineral water is more hydrating than soda
- If one of your goals is weight loss, unsweetened sparkling tea contains no calories and helps you feel more satiated
- Teas of all kinds - green tea, black tea, herbal tea, etc. - are some of the healthiest beverages you can consume; they're loaded with antioxidants and other beneficial compounds that promote health and wellbeing
- Studies have shown that there is a strong link between diet soda consumption and weight gain, heart problems, and other issues
You can choose any loose leaf tea that you like. I prefer using flavorful tea blends, but you are welcome to use classic teas such as Earl Grey, Darjeeling, or Oolong.
When you're ready, let's head into the kitchen and make some sparkling tea!
Recipe serves 2
You will need
- 2 tall iced tea glasses (you can make it an occasion with these beautiful embellished tea glasses, great for hot or iced tea)
- 2 teaspoons of your favorite loose leaf tea
- ½ cup of hot water
- Sparkling water (you can use plain or naturally flavored, like LaCroix)
- Optional: 1 teaspoon of maple syrup
- Optional: fresh fruit for fun and flavor (citrus slices, fresh berries)
- Ice (also optional)
Make a tea concentrate by steeping the 2 teaspoons of tea 1/2 cup of hot water for 2-5 minutes, depending on which tea you're using. Green teas require a short steeping time, while herbal blends need to brew longer in order to draw out the flavors and nutrients. Use a tea timer for best results, such as one of these digital timers.
If you’re adding sweetener, stir it in now.
Pour the tea two tall glasses.
Fill the glass with sparkling water. Leave a little room for ice.
Click here for a silicone mold for making round ice cubes
Feeling creative? Garnish with citrus slices or fresh berries. You can also add a sprig of fresh mint, thyme, basil, or rosemary.
Watch us making sparkling tea on TikTok
My favorite tea blends for making tea soda are Lush Lavender, Uber-Berry, I Heart Pomegranates, Ultra Violet, Happy Place, and Peach Apricot
If you want to experiment with making your own unique sparkling tea blends, try a some of these combos (and be sure to share it on your Instagram and tag us!)
- Green tea, lemongrass, and lemon verbena
- Black tea, cinnamon, and orange peels
- Chamomile, lemon balm, lemon peels
- Butterfly pea flower, lemongrass, lavender
- Hibiscus, rose petals, dried berries
If you hate the way ice waters down the flavor, you can make the ice out of the same kind of tea that you use for the sparkling tea. Simply fill the ice mold with tea instead of water.
If you enjoyed this, you will love this recipe for color changing iced tea
