Refreshing Summer Peach Ice Tea
Made-from-Scratch Peach Ice Tea
Posted By Savita
Sharing with you icy, chilled and refreshing Peach Ice Tea loaded with summer peaches and anti-oxidants rich black tea. Caution!! this tea is so refreshing, I suggest you double the recipe if serving thirsty and sweating souls.
Making Peach Ice Tea at home is so easy and taste so delicious that you would never want to buy ready-made carton of Ice Tea again!!
Everyone in my home is tea fanatic! It feels like day has not yet started without a cup of hot and freshly brewed tea. It is almost an addiction! Even though black tea with milk is special part of our daily routine, iced teas have also made their very own, well-earned position!
I loooveee serving Iced Teas flavored with mild spices or seasonal fresh fruits in-place of soda or other sweetened beverages in summer. A healthy, freshening and delicious way to replace soda or sweetened juice from our diet, specially in summers! more like killing-two-birds-with-one-stone, a cup of (beloved) tea and that too so refreshing to beat the summer heat!
Why Make at Home?
Often, I see Fruit Ice Tea recipes in magazines and online, preaching to buy ready-made fruit juice to make ice tea. Well, I will do that in two cases - one, if fruit I want to use is out-of-season and second, if I CAN find organic, unsweetened and freshly canned juice instead of preservative-loaded and unnaturally-sweetened ones! stress is on CAN here!!!
But, why should we make Ice Teas with nonseasonal fruits anyways??? And no matter what they say, store bought versions of juices cannot be without preservatives and artificial flavors.
Tell me, how can a juice carton taste exactly the same for years? It is not possible. Does two apples/peaches bought in same grocery batch taste same always to you?? No!!! Never!! Unless there are artificial flavors and preservative, no two juice bottles/fruits can taste same ever!!
Good News!! Peaches are in-season these days!! And we can make Peach Syrup at home for our healthy and preservative free Ice Tea in just 10 minutes!!
Making of Fresh Peach Tea
First slice and boil, fresh or frozen peaches with filtered water and honey/agave. As water simmers, it will turn golden peach colored, extracting all flavor from fresh peaches!! It is that simple!
Strain the peach syrup and reserve the syrup and also don't discard the fruit. Honey/agave poached peaches are a great, nutritious and lite meal for small kids. Also, you can top poached peaches on chilled rice pudding/vanilla Ice Cream for dessert Or add to yogurt-granola for breakfast.You can make additional amount of syrup to make Peach Ice Tea multiple times. It stays good in fridge, in an air-tight jar for 2-3 days.
For black tea, I added Tazo Tea bags to boiling water and let'em steep while I make syrup. Longer it sits, darker and strong flavor black tea you'll get. I usually steep it for 8-10 minutes. Once done, discard tea bags, let tea cool down a bit or it will melt the ice.
What next? Fill jars/glasses with ice, pour tea and peach syrup. Top it with sparkling water or plain cold water.
And enjoy glass of chilled and refreshing peachy tea to beat the heat.
Ingredients
- Peach Syrup
- 2 Peach (medium size peaches, diced or use 1 cup frozen sliced peaches)
- 1 tbsp Honey
- 2 Cup Water
- Peach Ice Tea
- 2 Black Tea (2 regular size black tea bags, I used Tazo Tea)
- Sparkling Water (as per need)
- 2 Cup Water
Directions
- 1. Bring 2 cup water to a rolling boil. Add tea bags and switch off heat. Let the tea steep and flavor the water while you make peach syrup. (about 10 minutes)
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2. In a sauce pan, add peaches slices with water and honey/agave. Bring water to boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Don't mash or stir fruit. You wanna keep it whole to serve later with ice cream/yogurt. Additional Notes:
These pictures show cooking of one peach, I made a second batch to take these pictures and share recipe step photos with you. -
3. Once cooked, strain the peach syrup, keep poached peach fruit in an air tight container in fridge for later use. -
4. Add equals amount of peach syrup, black tea in 4 glasses filled with ice cubes. Top with sparkling/plain chilled water. -
5. Serve immediately. If packing for later, don't use ice, use frozen tea cubes or keep peach tea jars (tight-lid) in ice filled box.
Savita's Recipe Notes:
Use of honey/agave is optional. You can also poach or cook peaches in plain water (unsweetened). To save time, you can make additional amount of peach syrup to make Peach Ice Tea multiple times. It stays good in fridge, in an air-tight jar for 2-3 days. If packing to-go or for a picnic, don't use ice as it will dilute the tea flavor. Either freeze some tea into ice cubes and use that or place tight-lid jars in ice-box.© Chef De Home. Post content including video and photos are copyright protected.