My parents were pretty smart when we were young.  Get the kids to enjoy iced tea because it’s much cheaper than soda.  To this day, my brothers and I are iced tea fans.

For those of you who are older than 35, you may remember the whole “sun tea” thing.  You filled up a giant jar with water, threw in some tea bags, closed it up, put it outside for the day and hoped it didn’t rain.  The sun was supposed to help brew it or something that I still don’t really understand.  Nevertheless, it was a staple of our family until health regulators determined this tea as a bastion of bacteria.

Admittedly, we drank sweet tea most of the time.  What kid doesn’t enjoy two scoops of sugar in a half gallon of tea after all?  But now as my years grow in tandem with my waistline, I have found that I rather enjoy drinking unsweetened iced tea quite a bit.

Because I know you are all dying to know so you can rush out and try these, I am going to share with you my three favorite unsweetened teas.  Are you ready for this??

Number one is Teas Tea Jasmine Green.  This tea is imported from Japan and it has become more difficult to find here in St. Louis unfortunately.  But if you are fortunate enough to have a Whole Foods store, you will likely find it there.  This unsweetened tea has (you guessed it) Jasmine flower in the brew, giving it a very unique flavor.  It’s a very enjoyable tea, though a bit pricey at about $199 per 16.9 oz bottle.  It is well worth it though.

Number two is Tejava.  I discovered this amazing tea at Trader Joes earlier this year.  It is made from black tea leaves from the island of Java.  It is bottled in one liter and 12 oz glass bottles.  It is a refreshing tea over ice and it tastes great unsweetened or with a little stevia in it.  The best part is that Trader Joes in my area sell the one liter bottle for a mere $1.69.  Needless to say, I buy it a lot!

Third and last is Teavana’s Samarai Chai Mate/White Ayurvedic blend tea.  This one requires work as it’s sold in loose form.  One taste of this and you will be hooked.  It is amazing both hot or iced.  If you are fortunate to live near a Teavana store, they generally have this in their hot sampler for you to partake in.  I take it without any sweetener at all, but you can also put a little stevia in it to bring out the flavors a little more.  This is easily the tastiest of the three tees, but it’s my third favorite because I’m a lazy person and I want it ready to go in the bottle!!  Nonetheless, I have invested in the Teavana tin to store the tea in, the Sunbeam Hotshot that makes hot water in like eight seconds and the Teavana steeping cup…  I like tea.

Hopefully you can try a few of these out.  If you have any suggestions for me, hit me up with that handy contact form on this very page.