The Original Instant Pot Iced Tea
This quick and easy Instant Pot iced tea recipe is your new summer staple. Use this recipe to make iced tea concentrate in your Instant Pot or pressure cooker.
You're outside relaxing comfortably on the lounge chair, enjoying the warm kiss of the summer sunshine. The air is warm, sticky and smells like August.
You're hot, and thirsty, and you totally care about keeping hydrated. Reach down to the shade beneath your chair and grab a glistening, sweating, bottle of home brewed, organic iced tea.
I grew up drinking iced tea rather than pop. I call it pop, because I’m Canadian, I think that’s a pretty Canadian thing? I’d love to know what you call it, and where you’re from! I’ve heard cola, soda, etc
Step aside cold brew coffee – Instant Pot Iced Tea is here. There’s a new sheriff in Drink Town!
This recipe is dedicated to keepin cool. In more ways than one.
Tips + Tricks
No. 1 –> Yes, you need to try this. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it really is great! Brewing Instant Pot sweet tea is quick and totally hands-off.
No. 2 –> Cream sounds a bit weird, but it adds a really rich mouthfeel. Makes it really decadent, like a good cold brew!
No. 3 –> Buy good tea and use good water. There are so few ingredients in this recipe, but it will make a big difference in the final product if you use the good stuff.
BE AWARE: this recipe produces more of an Instant Pot iced tea concentrate than actual iced tea! So just know that it’s like rocket-powered tea, it’s much better on ice, and I preferred it with cream.
Try this: Sweeten your iced tea with copycat Starbucks vanilla syrup!
Ingredients
- Teabags
- Filtered water
- flavour boosters, optional.
How to make
- Add water to Instant Pot, bring to a simmer.
- Add tea, baking soda, and chopped fruit and herbs if desired.
- Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add sweetener once it’s done cooking
- Enjoy!
Flavour boosters
This Instant Pot ice tea recipe is really versatile, it can handle just about any fruit/ herb combo you wanna throw at it. OR, if you’re into the classics, it can handle no adds too. The world is your oyster!
I’ve done apple, berry, peach, peppermint, and other fruits and herbs! All of them have been delicious. I’ve also added jam, honey, a bit of sugar.
I’ve given you the bones, now you take them and let your creative foodie flag fly!
If you like this Instant Pot recipe, you’ll probably love my NEW Instant Pot Lemonade recipe!
Why Baking Soda
Baking soda is 9 on the pH scale, because of its alkalinity baking soda is able to effectively buffer acidity.
There are a few schools of thought on the acidity vs bitterness vs astringency taste sensations. In totally basic terms, only bitterness and acidity are sense of taste, where astringency is the sense of touch.
- Acidity gives off crisp, sour flavour. Think of lemons, and vinegar.
- Bitterness is sharp and pungent – think of leafy greens or grapefruit.
- Astringency is a sensation – think of a good bottle of red wine, and how it drys your mouth right out and leaves you with a parched feeling. That is astringency! And also a damn good glass of wine!
Does buffering acidity mean that the baking soda can also buffer astringency? Not necessarily, but proponents on both sides swear their side is right.
For me, I just split the difference and add my little pinch and pretend I’m making science! You can decide!
Love your instant pot? Try these!
If you tried this Instant Pot Iced Tea recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
📖 Printable Recipe
Instant Pot Iced Tea
Ingredients
- 5 tea bags, I used Pure Leaf black tea with vanilla
- 6 cups filtered water
- pinch of baking soda, optional
- chopped fruit or herbs, ex. apple, mint, strawberry
- Maple syrup, or honey, to taste.
Instructions
- Add water to pot of pressure cooker, set to reduce, and bring to a simmer.
- Once simmering, add the tea bags, baking soda, and fruit/herbs, if using.
- Close lid and valve. Cook at high pressure for 5 minutes. Allow pressure to release naturally.
- Strain the tea into a large container, add sweetener 1 tbsp at a time, tasting in between. Tea will be a bit bitter when hot, so be cautious not to over-sweeten!
- Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.
- Serve over ice, and add cream if desired.
hi,
Does the water have to be filtered and why if so. Can a Brita be enough?
Hi! I prefer filtered water – Brita would be fine!
We call it pop. I live in Washington state. U need sugar in that tea!!
LOL!! I always joke that I’m sweet enough! 😀
love those tall skinny glass bottles- where did you get those?
Hey Rainey, those bottles actually came from Nestle PureLeaf Tea!
If you haven’t tried Dragon Tea. It’s a must for tea livers. Now I can’t wait to try this. Dragon Tea are balls of tea leaves. Thank you for the recipe
I’m from Louisiana and I grew up saying “cold drinks”. I now live in TX, but once I was older I began to say “sodas”.
That recipe sounds good, but I think I’ll use peaches instead of apples.
HI – I would like to try this recipe – can you indicate how much Baking Soda for this recipe please?
Hi Cathy, a pinch is equivalent to 1/4 of a teaspoon! Hope that helps!
North central Ohio here and we call it pop ? plan on trying this, I love iced tea!
Do you remove the metal staples in the teabags before putting them in the pressure cooker? Can’t wait to try this my way of making sweet tea on the stove and letting it sit overnight is still to weak for my taste! I do use decaf bags or even half decaf half regular to help because I’m so sensitive to caffeine I’d be up all night!
I usually use loose tea, and strain, but no I didn’t take the staples out when I made tea with the tea bags! Caffeine is so funny – it keeps me up all night too ?
We call it coke in my family. I also live in the Phoenix area and sun tea is a no-no now because of the bacteria that grow- even with filtered water. I’m always looking for an alternative that’s a little faster and anything I can do in my instant pot makes me happy! Can’t wait to try it unsweetened with my favorite tea (which is in your recipe)! I also like their peach one. Thanks!
I had never considered the bacteria! WOW! Makes sense though. Hope you like this recipe!
I grew up in California, we call it soda. Live in Arkansas now and her pop, coke, and soda-pop a lot. Are the apples use for the natural sugar or for flavor? And what kind of apples?
Hi Colleen!
The apples are for a bit of both! You can omit if you like, or sub with a different fruit if desired. I chose them because they don’t turn the iced tea murkey!
I love that you show your Breville on your counter. I own this one too and love it but wondered if I “should” have bought the name brand for the insta-pot recipes. Thank you for the recipe! Can’t wait to try!
I’ve been able to adapt almost all recipes! The only one I skunked so far was yogurt. Oops!! HAHA
Where did you find those awesome y’all glasses??
*tall … clearly my phone and I are both from Houston ?
LOL!!
Those are the bottles from the Pure Leaf Tea House Collection! I bought the iced tea, drank it and kept the bottles 🙂
That’s funny, I was thinking about those glasses/jars, too!
I grew up in Georgia. It was always Coke. I thought it was because Coke comes from GA The first time I was offered a soda in Illinois I had no idea what I was going to get. HaHa.
Looks great! Now, I’m from Texas and it’s “Coke”. Everything is a Coke and you tell them what kind. Grew up in Houston and lived in Fort Worth until 7 years sgo. Now we live in Georgia and it’s a mixture of “Coke” and “Soda”. My mom is from very North West Louisana and they called them “Soda Waters”. Isn’t it funny how all areas have a slang?!
I love it! I know that as a Canadian I say a lot of things that aren’t common vernacular at all, so it’s fun for me to hear other people call things and how they say them!
Hey Pam, we’ve always called them Cokes here in Texas, or sometimes soft drinks, but mostly Cokes! I’m going to try making ice tea this way. It’s bound to be a stronger brew and I love strong ice tea!
Ha! That’s too funny!I guess it’s like calling it a Band-Aid instead of bandage, or Kleenex instead of tissue!