Ingredients
Liquid Peach Syrup
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- 1 ½ cups water
- 2 ripe peaches
Black Tea
- 2 tablespoons loose leaf black tea
- 2 litres water
Instructions
- To begin, cut the peaches into thin slices.
- Add the peaches, sugar and water to a medium saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Lower the heat and use a wooden spoon to break down the peaches.
- Once the sugar has dissolved, cover, and remove from heat. Allow the peach syrup to sit for 30 minutes.
- In the meanwhile, boil the water for the tea and add it to a large teapot or saucepan. Place the tea leaves into a tea infuser and place into the boiling water. Allow the tea to brew for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove the tea leaves and transfer the tea to a pitcher. Refrigerate until cool.
- Once the peach syrup is ready, pour it into a container, using a fine mesh strainer to strain out the peaches. Refrigerate until cool.
- To finish the tea, add the peach syrup to the cold tea and serve. Alternatively serve separately and add as much peach syrup as you like, depending on your preference for sweetness.
- Serve over ice, with additional sliced peaches, and a sprig of mint.
Sweet, fruity flavored iced teas seem to have become quite popular in recent years. It’s made by many commercial companies, house-made variations can often be found in many restaurants now too. Before I knew about peach iced tea, I was never really a tea drinker. I can’t say I am much of a tea drinker now, with the exception of a tasty sweet iced tea. While I love store bought tea, it’s so much more satisfying to make it yourself at home. With homemade iced teas you also have more control on the sugar content, and they are very inexpensive to make.
The Peach Iced Tea Syrup
You could say this this peach infused sugar syrup is like liquid candy. The syrup itself comes out a delightful pink color and has an amazing taste. I would go as far as to say it’s rather tempting to drink the syrup alone before finishing the recipe.
The most important part to the recipe is the peach syrup. If you have never made a sugar syrup before, head over to our simple syrup recipe for more information.
For this recipe though we combine peaches, sugar and water together. Bring the water to a boil to help dissolve the sugars and then remove from the heat and allow to rest for 30 minutes to help infuse the peach flavor into the tea. Finally, strain the syrup into a bottle or container and refrigerate until needed.
Choice of tea
Which tea you use really comes down to your personal preferences. I’m quite happy with a quality black tea, earl gray can also work quite nicely. I opt for using loose leaf to control how much tea I add to the pot, but teabags work just as nicely.
How long you brew the tea, and your method of brewing is again personal choice. For me, I prefer hot water and a short brew time. Tea that is brewed too long can tend to become a bit overpowering for this drink recipe (at least for my flavor preferences).
Serving the tea
I have a lovely serving jug that actually has an inbuilt strainer, making it very convenient to brew the tea. Once my tea has cooled, I tend to just pour in the peach syrup and mix to combine. Everyone has different preferences for sweetness. Sometimes it might be easier to serve the syrup and tea separately, allowing everyone to choose their own level of sweetness.
Serve the tea in tall glasses, with plenty of ice, some fresh slices of peaches and a sprig of fresh mint from the garden.
