Iced coffee and iced tea are more milkshakes than beverages today

It's time we reclaimed iced coffee and tea from the chain-store coffee shops and the supermarkets.

Somewhere along the line, iced coffee has stopped being a coffee that has been iced and has turned into a pseudo-milkshake, doctored with ultra-sweet flavoured syrups and topped with whipped cream.

Iced tea has also been dragged down to its lowest common denominator. Stacked on the supermarket shelves, very little tea is teamed with a lot of sugar and exotic fruit juices — “goji berry and green tea'' anyone?

No, the best place to drink iced coffee and tea is in the comfort of your own home.

Let me give you a few tips — make the coffee a little stronger than you usually do because the melting ice will dilute it, and start with a rich dark coffee.

Different ones

At the Algerian coffee stores on Old Compton Street, London, they have different coffee on offer every month, keenly priced at 500gm for £5 (Dh19).

During August, the two featured coffees were a medium roast Honduran and a high roast Cuban.

At Tea Smith in Spitalfields market, John Kennedy prepares rare oriental chilled teas with obsessive precision. There's also an ice-infused Japanese sencha tea served chilled.