In the past, if you wanted to brew iced tea at home you would either have to make “sun tea,” which took several hours, or brew hot tea and then cool it down. But because convenience and speed are always a consideration, there are now appliances on the market that will make iced tea.
First came the electric coffee maker, then the hot tea maker became a popular appliance, and now there are many companies that manufacture an iced tea maker. Most of them are extremely fast; you can make iced tea in ten minutes or less, when without a machine it could take you far longer. And most of the machines will make a large amount of tea at one time.
Most of the iced tea makers work by brewing tea in hot water and then instantly chilling it with ice. Some of the iced tea makers can be adjusted to make both iced coffee and iced tea, as the brewing process is similar. The iced tea makers have pitchers that disconnect from the machine and can be stored in the refrigerator, and some of the pitchers are specially designed to fit easily in refrigerator doors.
Most of the machines accommodated both tea bags and loose tea. Tea bags used to be the popular choice, but loose-leaf tea is gaining in popularity.
There are also non-electrical iced tea makers, that are not as fast as the electric ones. These usually have a filter for the tea leaves or bags, and require chilling for several hours.
