Many people in my life have recently decided to stop drinking coffee. While I 100% cannot relate to that desire at this point in my life, I am here to support my people! It's summer though, and I am not about to offer my guests hot chocolate or tea when it is 35°C outside. So, I set out to find a fun-non-coffee-coffee-date-drink to gift these lovely humans with.
I will be honest. I made a lot of really bland, cold, almond milky drinks. Despite this, I persisted, and finally emerged from the kitchen with an iced london fog that I truly surprised myself with.
The secret?
Steeping your tea. FOREVER.
Okay, not forever, but pretty close. For this recipe to be all that I am hyping it to be, you will need to boil your water, steep your tea on the counter until it is room temperature, then stick it in the fridge and continue steeping it overnight. I know, that is a LONG TIME for a single drink but I wouldn't suggest it if it wasn't an absolute game-changer. This SUPER LONG steep is the only way I have been able to get the flavour I wanted with this drink. I will usually steep a whole 24oz. (old spaghetti sauce) jar worth of tea to keep in the fridge to last me a couple of days.
Once your tea is cold and steeped to perfection, pour it over ice and add your milk of choice frothed with vanilla syrup.
Frugal Freinds Warning: the vanilla syrup will be an investment! Mine was $13.00. But, if one iced London Fog is $6.00 at the coffee shop, then this syrup will have paid itself off after only 3 drinks. So while it does feel super fancy to have in my kitchen, it is a real handy ingredient for hosing at-home coffee dates with your friends for a fraction of the cafe price.
And there you have it! A flavourful, refreshing, and affordable iced london fog made right in your very own kitchen. I have even made this for a few picnics which worked very well if you ignore the kilograms of glass jars I was hauling up the hill, haha! Would still 10/10 recommend.
If you try out this drink I would love to see it! Share your photos by tagging me on Instagram at @honeytoastblog. If you want to remember this drink recipe for your next picnic, repin the recipe on Pinterest HERE!
The recipe is below as always if you are a "print-out" kind of pal.
Happy barista-ing!
Jess
Delicious! Well worth the steeping time!