My iced tea is cloudy – good or bad?
First, there is absolutely nothing wrong with cloudy iced tea, other than it does not look very appealing. Iced tea becomes cloudy because the polyphenols in the tea bind with the minerals in the water in which it was brewed. This effect is heightened when tea is refrigerated for long periods of time.
The primary reason tea companies promote the concept of non-cloudy tea is for the purpose of marketing. Many of these same companies include additives in their tea blends to prevent clouding of tea. Home remedies include adding citrus or boiling water to the tea to remove the cloudy effect. The bottom line is that, while cloudy tea may look unappealing, there is nothing wrong with the tea. In fact, cloudy tea often indicates a higher quality of tea leaves.