Our Sweet Peach Iced Tea is summer in a glass. Fresh peaches meet homemade iced tea for a refreshing, naturally caffeinated delight. We guarantee you will love this Southern summer staple and it is a foolproof recipe!
Homemade Peach Iced Tea Recipe
Our refreshing Sweet Peach Iced Tea recipe is proof that fresh or frozen peaches can turn a basic black tea bag into the best cold beverage, regardless of the season.
There’s nothing like sipping a smooth, crisp, peach-flavored drink when the heat begs you to hydrate—Southern-style sweet tea merged with seasonal produce and homemade simple syrup is the perfect marriage of iced tea and true Southern glory served in a glass.
Ingredients Notes
- Water: For best sweet tea taste, I recommend using filtered water. Water passed through a filtration system removes any impurities, leaving a pure, clean, fresh flavor.
- Family-size tea bag: I use plain ‘ol Lipton black tea bags for my brew, but feel free to use your favorite brand. Loose-leaf tea or green tea can also be used.
- Sugar: To make your iced peach sweet tea healthier, swap the granulated sugar for organic cane sugar.
- Honey: Feel free to experiment with different types of sweeteners. Coconut sugar, maple syrup, and agave also help to reduce the tea’s natural bitterness.
- Frozen or fresh peaches: Fresh ripe peaches will provide the most intense fruit flavor for the homemade peach syrup, but frozen and thawed peaches will work just as well, especially when fresh produce is out of season.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Peach Iced Tea
- Make The Tea: Add the tea bag to boiling water and steep for 5 minutes. Pour the tea into a pitcher and set aside.
- Prepare The Peach Syrup: Bring the sugar, honey, and water to a bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add pureed peaches, return to a low boil and remove from the heat to cool. Strain through a mesh sieve and discard the peach pulp.
- Sweeten With Syrup: Add syrup to the peach tea, taste testing as you go until it reaches desired sweetness.
- Serve: Serve over ice and frozen peach slices. Enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
Peach sweet tea is the perfect way to cool off on a hot summer day. Serve it poolside, at backyard barbecues, outdoor parties, or any time you crave a cold drink.
I like to serve the simple syrup on the side so my guests can control the sweetness. Also, make sure to add ice to each glass and not directly into the pitcher. Adding ice to the pitcher can water down the tea even before your first sip!
Tips & Variations
- Don’t Squeeze When You Steep: Resist the urge to squeeze tea bags after steeping to avoid releasing the bitter/sour components (tannins) in the tea. This will also reduce the risk of the tea bag splitting and letting the loose leaves fall in.
- Freeze From Fresh: If using fresh peaches, slice the peaches, lay them on a parchment-lined pan, and freeze them until you’re ready to serve.
- Sweeten With Syrup: Adding 1 to 2 cups of syrup to the 4 cups, or 1 quart, of tea yields a pleasantly sweet range, depending upon your taste. Should you wish to add the syrup to a single serving of 8 ounces of tea, add 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 cup of the syrup.
- Fill With Other Fruit Flavors: Feel free to replace the peaches with other soft fruits. Try fresh strawberries (my strawberry sweet tea is delicious!), raspberries, or blackberries for other fruity flavors.
- Spike Your Sip: You can add alcohol to the full pitcher of peach tea or simply spike each individual glass. Peach sweet tea pairs well with rum, vodka, gin, or bourbon, but make sure to mark it as “adults only.”
Proper STorage
If you have leftover tea, be sure to store it in a pitcher in the refrigerator. I don’t recommend leaving the frozen peaches in the pitcher; they will thaw and melt, making the tea a bit watery. Think of them as the ice cubes!
You can store any unused peach syrup in the refrigerator for about a week. You could use the leftover syrup to make another batch of tea later or use it as a flavored syrup to sweeten your morning meal. Add a drizzle to pancakes, french toast, or waffles at breakfast, or serve it over a scoop of my peach ice cream.
Don’t want to discard the peach pulp that’s left in the sieve after straining? Save it! You can stir it into oatmeal or pancake batter, mix it in a smoothie, or eat it straight from the spoon (like applesauce).
Other Easy Summer Drinks
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Peach Iced Tea
Ingredients
- 5 cups water divided
- 1 family size tea bag
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¾ cup honey
- 2 cups frozen peaches thawed and pureed (or 2 cups fresh peaches, peeled and sliced)
- 2 cups frozen peaches for serving (Do not thaw. If using fresh peaches, slice thepeaches, lay on a parchment lined pan, and freeze until ready to serve.)
Instructions
Tea
- Bring 4 cups of water to a boil.
- Remove water from heat, add tea bag, and steep for 5 minutes.
- Pour tea into a 2 quart pitcher. Set aside.
Peach Syrup (yields approximately 2 cups of syrup)
- In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, honey, and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Add pureed peaches and return to a low boil. Remove from heat. Let cool.
- Pour syrup through a mesh sieve held over a small bowl. Press on the peaches to “squeeze” out as much of the juice as possible. Discard the peach pulp.
Peach Tea
- Add syrup to the peach tea, taste testing as you go until it reaches desired sweetness. Adding 1 to 2 cups of syrup to the 4 cups, or 1 quart, of tea yields a pleasantly sweet range, depending upon your taste. Should you wish to add the syrup to a single serving of 8 ounces of tea, add 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 cup of the syrup.
- To serve, divide the frozen peaches between 4 glasses, add ice, and pour tea over the peaches and ice.
- Store any unused peach syrup in the refrigerator.
Jenn’s Notes
Nutrition Info
You’re going to love the refreshing, juicy flavor of this sweet peach iced tea. It’s the ultimate summer drink. Whether you’re serving it with a BBQ meal or sipping it on your porch on a hot afternoon.
It’s easy to make and has the perfect combination of sweetness and fresh fruity flavors.
If I use fresh peaches would I still have to purée them or is peeling and slicing enough?
wait so when you say add the tea bag to the hot water, what tea is in the tea bag? i don’t get it. sorry I have a learning thingy
Any brand will work. I tend to use unflavored black tea in this recipe. You can use caffeinated or decaffeinated tea. If you’re looking to add something a little extra into your tea you could use a flavored tea bag. For example, if you used raspberry flavored tea, you could have raspberry peach iced tea!
KAYDENEATSCOCO @
1 Large Family Size TEA Bag!
How would I go about making this ahead of time? Can the syrup and tea sit overnight and then add the frozen peaches at serving time?
yes, you sure can! Just give it a good stir before you serve.
This tea is da bomb!!!! Love it love it. Love it. Friends have fried it and they all love it too.