The Really Truly Best Iced Tea -- Wagh Bakri Assam Tea

One of our all time pet peeves when we dine in other restaurants is the iced tea. It's horrible! Love those "fresh brewed" stickers on stainless steel dispensers. Invariably the tea is weak, tasteless and watered down.

So, we embarked on a mission to create a truly good ice tea, one that our customers would recognize immediately as fabulous. We soon discovered that good ice tea is not easy and it starts with superior tea leaves. Pekoe leaves you see listed in most Lipton tea bags is actually the inferior and cheaper leaf that is picked from the tea bush closest to the ground.

We tasted countless Indian teas and found a remarkable blend of Assam teas from one of India oldest Tea Houses established in 1892. Wagh Bakri has a rich strong flavor that didn't deteriorate in the process of brewing and icing. We also developed a recipe that produced the best results in our restaurant with the minimum amount of clouding.

Here's the recipe for one normal size pitcher of iced tea:
2 tablespoons of tea
5 fresh basil leaves crushed
2 tablespoons of sugar if desired
add 36 oz of boiling water
steep for 9 minutes
pour into pitcher and add water to fill pitcher, do not add ice until serving in the glass