Which summer drink will you reach for to keep you refreshed while sitting on your back porch and doing nothing at all? May we suggest a tall, cool glass of thirst-quenching iced tea?

Iced tea has become a mainstay of down-home hospitality. You can easily make some cold brew at home from tea bags or a mix, but some of the best tasting iced tea comes conveniently bottled or canned from the supermarket.

Ready to kick back and relax on the patio with a tall, cool glass, but unsure what iced tea brands to reach for? Well, what are you in the mood for? Plain and unsweetened? Blended with lemonade for a classic Arnold Palmer? A heady mix of floral and fruit flavors? Or just a good old-fashioned sweet tea? Let's look at some of the best iced tea options to keep you refreshed while basking in the sunshine.

1. Me & The Bees Iced Tea Lemonade with Honey and Flaxseed

With 25% less sugar, this full-flavor black tea combines with tart lemonade to create a refreshing and unbeatable version of an Arnold Palmer. Me & The Bees uses 25% less sugar than traditional iced teas and simple ingredients to craft a thirst-quenching drink that you’ll be proud to serve anytime.

2. Brisk Lemon Iced Tea

Brisk Iced Tea is the best bottled iced tea option when you want a big, bold, soda-like flavor without any carbonation. Brisk’s bold lemon flavor combines with the taste of black tea for a beverage with so much attitude that it kicked iced tea off the back porch and gave it some street cred.

3. Arizona Green Tea

An Arizona classic, this is America’s best-selling iced green tea. Arizona blends its freshly-brewed tea with just the right amount of ginseng, honey, and pure cane sugar to make a delicious and refreshing beverage that’s preservative and gluten-free. Reflect on all that goodness, delicious as ever.

4. Peace Tea Caddy Shack

Choose Peace. Peace Tea is a refreshing brand of canned tea that delivers some serious zen with your refreshment. Peace Tea Caddy Shack is made with real tea, natural flavors, and a whole lotta good vibes. This tea scores a hole-in-one with every drop.

5. Teatulia Hibiscus Fusion Still Iced Tea

Simple has never tasted better. Teatulia’s Organic Iced Tea is cold brewed to perfection and full of flavor. Hibiscus Fusion Iced Tea is the ultimate summertime treat. It blends fresh berry, sweet pineapple mango, and tangy hibiscus flavors into a stunningly simple tea without sugar, calories, bubbles, or artificial sweetener, so nothing comes between you and your refreshment.

6. Gold Peak Peach Tea

Gold Peak blends real brewed black tea with genuine Georgia peaches for a sweet, down-home taste. This peach iced tea pairs marvelously with any family occasion, from backyard get-togethers and family gatherings to a weekend getaway. It’s as good as gold.

7. Turkey Hill Green Tea

Turkey Hill Green Iced Tea is made the cold-fashioned way. With premium green tea with a touch of ginseng and honey, this cold brew tea is bottled cold, shipped cold, and stored cold to preserve its all-natural flavor and just-brewed taste. It's as fresh when you crack one open as the day it was made.

8. Snapple Half 'n Half Lemonade Iced Tea

Sometimes, it’s hard to choose between a tasty iced tea or a tangy lemonade. With Snapple Half ’n Half, you don’t have to. Combining their classic iced tea with zippy lemonade, Snapple delivers a fully-perfect beverage combination. Do yourself a flavor and try one today.

9. Weird Tea Passion Fruit Black Tea

Delicious, organic Passion Fruit Black Tea — it’s like a tropical sunset in a can — on ice. It's colorful. It's energetic. It's radiant. It’s weird. By combining black tea leaves with juicy passionfruit, fruit juice, and cane sugar, Weird Tea has crafted a light, sweet iced tea that tastes like no other. Put on your shades, crack a can, and be in the moment, just you and your refreshingly weird iced tea.

10. Pure Leaf Unsweetened Black Iced

Some days, all you want is a pure and simple iced tea. Pure Leaf understands. Their bottled, unsweetened iced tea is fresh-steeped goodness without sugar or artificial sweeteners. Enjoy the authentic taste of fresh-brewed tea and nothing else.

FAQ

Which iced tea is the best?

Ask three iced tea drinkers which is the best iced tea, and you’ll get four different answers. It really depends on your mood and how much work you want to put into brewing your drink. 

For purists, home-brewed is always the best, with some ice tea recipes being handed down from one generation to the next. In some families, this is a complex process of boiling water, adding tea and selecting herbal ingredients into an infuser, and allowing it to steep for hours. For others, it’s a matter of putting leftover hot tea into the refrigerator to chill.

If this doesn’t appeal to you, here are some of the best store-bought iced tea categories for you to try. We promise not to tell anyone it came from the supermarket.

Lemon Iced Tea. When most people think of ice tea, this is what comes to mind. Generally, these varieties are a mix of black tea, lemon flavors, and sweeteners. 

Green Iced Tea. Touted for its health benefits, iced green tea is popular among tea connoisseurs. It’s often mixed with honey, mint, and other herbs for a light, refreshing taste. 

Fruity Blends. This is one of those flavors that make everything taste better. It harmonizes perfectly with fruit juices to create a drink that balances tea’s earthy taste with fruit’s sweetness. There are many tea flavors, from blackberry to pomegranate, so you’re guaranteed to never get bored.

Herbal Tea. Chamomile, lemongrass, mint, and other herbs have all been brewed on their own or added to black or white tea. Chilled herbal teas taste amazing and come with less caffeine than regular iced tea so that they won’t keep you up at night.

Unsweetened Tea. It’s tea, and that’s it. These brands have no added flavors or sweeteners and are perfect for making an Arnold Palmer (mixing iced tea with lemonade) or creating your original beverage mixes at home. 

What is the most popular iced tea brand?

There’s a lot of selection in the beverage aisle when it comes to iced teas. Here are our picks for the most popular iced tea brands. 

Most Popular Lemon Iced Tea. Brisk Lemon Iced Tea is our go-to when we want some bold citrus flavor with our iced tea.

Most Popular Diet Iced Tea. Turkey Hill Diet Iced Tea has an excellent taste but none of the calories of regular iced tea. With a hint of lemon, it’s the perfect zero-calorie drink for hot, hazy summer days. 

Most Popular Ice Tea and Lemonade Blend. We love a good Arnold Palmer, and Me & the Bees Lemonade with Iced Tea delivers one of the best. Flavored with honey and containing 25% less sugar than regular iced teas, this is one drink that deserves its buzz. 

Most Popular Green Iced Tea. Arizona Green Tea is the clear winner here. They combine their refreshing green tea with honey for sweetness and ginseng for an energy boost. 

Most Popular Sweet Tea. It’s good to get back to basics, and Pure Leaf Sweet Iced Tea delivers. This traditional blend of iced black tea and sugar will take you back in time to visit your grandparent’s back porch.

Is bottled iced tea good for you?

As with any food, some iced tea choices are healthier than others. If you’re consuming a commercial brand iced tea instead of brewing some yourself, you could be ingesting as much sugar as a regular soda. It’s essential to read the labels to find out what you’re putting in your body.

That being said, there are some excellent choices to be made. The healthiest bottled teas are the unsweetened brands, like Pure Leaf Unsweetened Black Iced. It’s simply black tea, water, and some citric acid added as a preservative. And while there’s zero sugar or fat, be aware that it’s high in caffeine and might keep you up at night.

If you can tolerate some sugar, green iced tea can also be a healthy choice. Green tea is made from either tea leaves or a powder called matcha. Regardless of the source, it’s rich in antioxidants that provide many health benefits. Some brands like Turkey Hill Green Tea also add ginseng to the blend, which has been shown to help regulate blood sugar levels, boost the immune system, and fight fatigue. 

Whether you decide to incorporate iced tea into your diet as an occasional sugary indulgence or regularly as a lower-calorie drink, we suggest sipping it in a comfortable chair, reading a good book, and feeling that summer breeze. Enjoy!