Best Peach Iced Tea Recipe

The Best Peach Iced Tea Recipe

Peach iced tea is the quintessential taste of summer. And June is National Iced Tea month. Happy June!

There’s no better way to drink tea in the summertime than iced. Unless you add a fruit flavor to it – then you have the ultimate iced tea beverage. If life is better with tea, summer is better with iced tea.

My family drinks iced tea by the gallon all year round, usually sweetened. But in the summertime when I start adding fruits to the iced tea, I tend to back down on the sugar a little bit. (But I don’t tell them that)!

I like to use fruits in season for a more robust flavor. The trick is to wait until they are very ripe. That’s when they are sweet, juicy and flavorful.

For a basic guide to which fruits are in season see the chart below. This is for the northeastern United States. It’s a fairly quick internet search to find the fruits in season in your area. As a general guide, all your berries come into season during the hot summer months and melons in late summer.

Northeast Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables

• Apples- July through October (cold storage until spring)
• Blueberries- July and August
• Cantaloupes – August and September
• Cherries – July
• Cranberries – October through December
• Melons – July through October
• Nectarines – August and September
• Peaches – July through September
• Strawberries – June
• Raspberries- July through September
• Plums – August and September
• Strawberries – June
• Watermelons – August through October

Obviously, I’m a little early for peach season here in New Jersey. But we do have some of the best Georgia peaches available to us. The majority of Georgia peaches are harvested from mid-May until mid-August.

A Little About Peach Varieties

The early part of the season produces Clingstone Peaches. Then the Semi-Freestone peaches are ready to be harvested. Finally, the Freestone peaches are collected.

Basically, Freestone refers to a peach that has a stone (pit) that can easily be removed from the flesh. The flesh is not attached to the stone and doesn’t need to be cut to free the stone. Freestone varieties are preferred when removal of the stone is done by hand.

Clingstone refers to a peach that has a stone (pit) which cannot be easily removed from the flesh. The flesh is attached strongly to the stone and must be cut to free the stone.

Clingstone varieties tend to be more tender and juicy throughout. Sometimes they are preferred for jams and general eating.

The Freestones are the easiest to use in this recipe since the flesh does not adhere to the stone, making it easy to cut up. However, I used Clingstone peaches. It really doesn’t matter too much as long as they’re fresh and ripe.

Peach Iced Tea Recipe

This peach iced tea recipe is pretty basic. In addition to brewing your favorite black tea, all you need to do is add pureed peaches to the brew.

You might be tempted to use a low-quality supermarket tea, but don’t do it. You will be disappointed in the results. Even though fruit is added, you still taste the tea. Don’t use a poor quality tea. Always use the freshest and best quality ingredients you can afford.

I like to use my custom Nilgiri black tea blend. Nilgiri teas yield bright and brisk liquors. A light and smooth blend this is perfect for iced tea, which is what is intended. Nilgiri teas tend to be very forgiving – they do not turn bitter when over-brewed.

The art of the brew is learning how to balance these flavors just right. The fruit flavor should not overpower the tea flavor.

Another little trick I like to use is adding lemon juice. If you make the effort to peel fresh peaches, there’s no need to get fancy. Keep it simple, let the flavor of the peaches shine through. They don’t need much, just a little lemon juice will do it.

Why lemon juice? For example, if the peach flavor is a little too mellow, the lemon juice will make that flavor just a little bit brighter. Lemon juice is an underlying flavor, making your other flavors the star. For a sweeter orangey-lemon flavor, you can use Meyer Lemons.

This recipe is super simple but I have a few tips for how to make a top notch Peach Iced Tea:

• Use a high-quality loose leaf tea. My custom blended Nilgiri tea makes a really nice iced tea as it lends itself to flavoring very well;
• Using the Nilgiri tea you can brew for 10 minutes. When making iced tea, use more tea leaves than you would for hot tea.
• A splash of lemon juice gives the flavor a real edge. It truly makes all the difference.
• Use a Nut Milk bag to strain the peach juice. You will achieve better clarity in your peach iced tea.
• Yields: 1 pound of peaches is about 4-6 peaches or about 2 1/2 cups sliced.

Nutritional Goodness

Peaches are high in vitamin C, potassium and flavonoids.

Vitamin C helps to form collagen, important for healthy skin and fights free radicals. Peaches are also high in beta-carotene, which is associated with cell repair.

How much potassium do peaches contain? One peach has approximately 333 mg or 10% of the recommended daily allowance. Potassium is a micronutrient and is critical to the fluid and electrolyte balance in the body.

Potassium is necessary for the function of the heart and nervous system. Potassium deficiency has been linked to chronic fatigue and high blood pressure.

Flavonoids have antioxidant effects. Antioxidants are known to help keep blood pressure down, combat inflammation, fight cancer and prevent heart disease.

For more information about the health benefits of peaches, read this article by Medical News Today, Peaches: Health Benefits, Facts, Research.

For more information about the many health benefits of tea, head on over to my post on the Top 10 Health Benefits of Tea.

Thanks for Reading

Please share this short and simple recipe today. I hope your week is going great!

– Mary Ann xo

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