For those who make iced tea ...

How are you making it and how do you prevent it from becoming murky?  Are you using builder's tea or orange peoke?  Filtered, tap or bottled water?  C'mon, let's hear those tips for making the perfect iced tea!

I have to say that I cheat and use the Whittards Instant Tea....Pineapple and Malibu flavor or Turkish Apple....Buckets of Ice!

How are you making it and how do you prevent it from becoming murky?  Are you using builder's tea or orange peoke?  Filtered, tap or bottled water?  C'mon, let's hear those tips for making the perfect iced tea!

I start with normal, cold tap water.  Our water here is fantastic, so if yours isn't, you might want to filter it.
Dont use black tea!  I use orange pekoe or rooibos.

I use a 1 litre clear glass jar (Sarson's pickling vinegar) -- fill it with cold water, bung 3 tea-bags in, and stick it outside for several hours / all day.   For me, the 3 tea bags to 1 litre of water is the perfect drinking strength, but your taste might vary.  Or, you might like to make it really strong and concentrated and dilute it with water as you pour each glass.

Ahh Genau, I LOVE ice tea made outside like that! We call it "Sun-tea"

I cheat, I have a lady from the states bring me a TON of Crystal Light every few months.
I call her Mom.
lol

Are you trying to make Northern unsweetened iced tea or sweet tea?

ETA:  I am pretty good at unsweetened iced tea.  Wait til it cools to put it in the fridge and you will avoid the cloudiness.  I use black tea, and so does my sister who makes sweet tea.  I can ask her for her method if anyone's interested (she's told me before, and I guess she makes as good or better than native southerners.

We call it "Sun-tea"

so did i, i think, when i lived in the US.

I don't have a sun tea jar so I've been brewing 2 cups filtered water for 5 peppermint tea bags then adding another 2 cups water.  Served over ice, its lovely and refreshing!

I make horribly sweet Southern ice tea. I am so disappointed that I can't find Lipton here, but I do use the Tetley. I put 3 bags and 2 cups of granulated sugar (only thing I use it for...everything less ges demera) into my plastic jug. I boil tap water in my kettle and pour it in. Let it stand for 30 minutes to an hour.

I'm trying to make sweet tea, in that I will eventually put sugar in it.  Most of my iced tea efforts here have been pretty poor, though I am getting better at it.  I think my biggest mistake is not allowing it to fully cool before putting it in the fridge.  I believe that's what is making it murky.  But to be fair to myself, I never had to worry about that before back home because we had very soft water.

My first efforts were with builder's tea and it looked like mud, and had an awful lot of sediment in the bottom. 

My local Sainsbury's now carries Dilmah Orange Pekoe and it seems to come out quite clear.  We live in a very bad hard water area, so I've been using Volvic bottled water (least mineral content I could find).  I've been using nine bags to a litre of water, then filling the rest of the 1.8 litre pitcher with fresh tap water.

Just hoping to find other tips to make perfect tea.

When I talk to my sister, I will ask for her method.  I know she does it in a pan on the stove and sweetens it while it's brewing, then dilutes it after.  But, yeah, the cooling it too fast thing will make it cloudy.

I would definitely follow the other advice about filtering it.

I wish I asked my nain how she made her iced tea before she died.  Hers was the best, but it was definitely of the northern unsweetened variety.

One of my British friends once said they would never understand the concept of ice tea. They said, "You add hot water to make it hot, then ice to make it cold. Then sugar to make it sweet, and lemon to make it sour." 

I went to IKEA and bought a large swing top pasta jar which is approx 2 litres in volume. I fill it with cold water add three teabags (pg tips) and put it in the sun for the day. I've never had cloudy iced tea. What makes it cloudy?

We usually make it with whatever tea we have available but if there's a choice Kenya tea seems to work well.

I went to IKEA and bought a large swing top pasta jar which is approx 2 litres in volume. I fill it with cold water add three teabags (pg tips) and put it in the sun for the day. I've never had cloudy iced tea. What makes it cloudy?

According to the About.com tea dude, it's the tannins in the tea that settle if it's cooled too quickly.