3 Tips For Making Convenience Store Iced Tea That Tastes Home Brewed

When customers are craving a fresh glass of iced tea, they don’t always have the time or supplies to make it themselves. Perhaps they only have a 30-minute lunch break or are on the road without the comforts of home.

Your convenience store can help satisfy their thirst with high-quality iced tea. Follow these three tips to keep customers coming back for tea that tastes home brewed.

1. Use High-Quality Tea

Low-quality teas tend to have an astringent flavor. Determining whether your tea is high quality starts with the smell. If the aroma is pleasant, that’s a good indication the tea has a good flavor. Avoid tea that smells stale.

Your tea leaves should also have a low moisture content, which makes them appear brittle when dry.

Finally, conduct a taste test. You don’t need to overthink this step too much – as long as this isn’t your first time tasting tea, you’ll probably know whether the iced tea has good flavor!

2. Make Sure Your Iced Tea Machine Is Clean

Cleaning your iced tea machine isn’t just a health safety requirement – it also improves the taste of the tea you serve.

If you’ve ever brewed a cup of tea at home and let it sit for a few hours, you probably noticed that the tea stained the sides of your cup. This is because tannins, which give black tea its color, collected on the sides.

Tannins also collect on the inside of your iced tea urn, brew funnel and spigot. This buildup can impact the flavor of future tea brews, especially if you’re using different flavors. You should clean your iced tea machine before brewing a new batch of tea to avoid both cross-flavoring and bacteria buildup.

3. Monitor Your Water Quality

Using water that’s filtered or otherwise high quality improves the taste and appearance of your tea. If you use hard water or water with high alkalinity, your tea may appear cloudy.

Although the flavor of the tea may partially mask a hard water taste, it will still be noticeable to experienced tea drinkers.

Plus, how a beverage looks plays a psychological role in whether your customers enjoy the taste. Cloudy iced tea is sure to turn most customers off, so make sure to monitor your water quality before each brew.

Drinking a delicious cup of iced tea is an enjoyable break in the day for your customers. The right brand of iced tea made well has the crisp flavor and appearance associated with being home brewed. That’s one way to win over a loyal customer base of tea-drinkers.

Are you ready to learn how you can improve your revenue selling tea? Explore five tips for boosting your convenience store iced tea sales.