America's Test Kitchen LogoCook's Country LogoCook's Illustrated Logo

Cold Brew Iced Tea

We've seen Lipton Cold Brew tea in the supermarket and wondered if it could save us some time when making iced tea.

Our go-to method for making iced tea is to brew an extra-strong batch of regular tea and then stir in ice, which simultaneously cools the tea and dilutes it to just the right strength. But what if we could skip the cumbersome heating and cooling steps? Lipton Cold Brew tea promises just that—full-strength iced tea brewed in just 3 minutes, using cold water.

We held a blind tasting with Lipton Cold Brew tea, brewed according to package directions, versus Lipton Yellow Label tea and Twinings English Breakfast tea (our winning brand for drinking hot without milk), brewed via our go-to method. Both the Twinings and Lipton Yellow Label had fans, but tasters unanimously deemed the Lipton Cold Brew their least favorite, complaining of “lots of sediment” and “no flavor at all.” Cold brewing may be a nice idea, but we’ll choose flavor over convenience any day.

COLD BREW LEFT US COLD

This is a members' feature.