Chia Iced Tea

My newsfeed is rife with stories of heat waves in parts of the world that are used to milder summer temperatures. Here in Abu Dhabi, we are used to the extreme heat, and abundant air conditioning makes the summer quite tolerable (as long as you hide indoors for most of the day!). Either way, hot days call for cold drinks, and so why not get a bit of protein, some fiber, and those essential omega-3 fatty acids while you're at it?! This Chia Iced Tea hits the spot on a summer day and adds a little nutrition to your thirst quenching efforts. Choose your favorite teas, sweeten to taste, and enjoy liberally! ✎ ​
Yield: 4 servings of about 1¼ cup (300ml) each (without ice)
​Macros (per serving): 25 calories | 1g protein | 1.5g fat | 0.5g net carbs ​
Prep: 15 minutes | Chill: about 2 hours
Storage: refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Ingredients:
  • 5 cups (1,200ml) water, divided - half boiled, half cold
  • 4 x teabags of choice - I like to use a mixture of black, green, and fruit-flavored
  • 1-4 tablespoons allulose or equivalent in sweetener of choice (optional or to taste)​
  • 2 tablespoons (20g) chia seeds
  • ​1½ tablespoons (23ml) lemon juice (half a medium lemon)
  • ice cubes as needed
Directions:
  1. Boil half of the water (2½ cups | 600ml).
  2. Steep the teabags in the boiled water for 10-15 minutes. This can be done in a pot or a heat-safe pitcher.
  3. Remove the teabags and gently squeeze the water/flavor out, back into the tea.
  4. Whisk in the sweetener to taste, until fully dissolved.
  5. Whisk in the chia seeds. Because the water will still be hot, they should plump up quickly. To prevent clumping, whisk for 1-2 minutes, or until the seeds have gelled somewhat.
  6. Add the cold water and the lemon juice. Mix. ✎
  7. Put in the refrigerator to chill fully.
  8. When ready to serve, whisk to suspend the chia seeds and break up any clumps, and pour over ice.
  9. Enjoy with a straw to best reach the seeds, which will settle at the bottom.
Optional garnish: lemon or lime wedges
✎ Notes:​
  • Okay, enjoy liberally within limits. If you drink 2-3 recipes worth of this in a day, you may spend some time rushing to the bathroom instead of cooling yourself down.
  • If you want to cool the tea down faster, you could replace some of the cold water with ice. The best way to know how much ice to use instead is by weight, ml = g. So if you want to replace half of the cold water with ice, use 300g ice. In my experience, this would be about 2 cups of ice cubes.
  • Macros for this recipes are calculated with American national nutritional data (i.e. NCCDB & USDA entries in Cronometer) for all ingredients apart from the chia seeds (Bob's Redmill). Teabags should not make any significant calorie or macro contribution.
  • Macro numbers are rounded. Numbers equal to or greater than 10g are rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g. 10g, 11g, 12g, etc.) and numbers below 10g are rounded to the nearest 0.5g (0.5g, 1g, 1.5g ... 9g, 9.5g). Any numbers below 0.5g are given as is (e.g. 0.1g, 0.2g, etc.). Calories are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5.