I love peach iced tea. Actually, I love iced tea in general, but I have to say I’m an especially huge fan of iced tea with the light, fresh flavour of peaches hidden in the background.

Using leftover peach peels

I created this recipe after making a batch of Peach Raspberry Jam because I had a ton of peach peels leftover and I couldn’t quite bring myself to throw them away. I’m not a fan of wasting anything! I also made a batch of fruit leather with some of the peels, but that recipe may need some tweaking before it’s ready for the blog. So, instead, today we’re going to focus on what worked!

Getting the best flavour

Since this recipe uses peach peels to infuse the tea, the peach flavour is fairly mild. If you want to go for a stronger peach flavour, you can use fresh peach slices to make the tea instead, or in addition to the peels. Regardless of which way you make it, I think that you’ll enjoy how this turns out!

How to sweeten iced tea

In this recipe, I’ve gone the old fashioned simple route and used white sugar to sweeten my tea. You can adjust the sweetness with more or less sugar as you like it. With the exception of southern sweet tea, I personally like my iced tea to be just slightly sweet, so this recipe reflects my preferences.

Other kinds of sweeteners

This is one of those recipes that can be sweetened just about any way you like. You can sweeten iced tea with any of the following:

• Sugar
• Brown sugar
• Stevia*
• Monk fruit*
• Coconut sugar
• Honey
• Maple syrup
• Agave nectar
• Sugar syrup

*For these sweeteners, you will need a lot less to achieve the sweetness you want (add small amounts at a time, to taste). For the other sweeteners, you can substitute the sugar on a 1:1 ratio.

The best kind of tea for making iced tea

While most teas make delicious iced tea, my favourite for getting that good, strong, smooth flavour is a good quality black tea. My favourites are Yorkshire Tea or Barry’s Tea. Since I like to serve this to my young family (and I don’t always want caffeine), my current favourite tea to use is Barry’s Decaf Black Tea (by far the best decaf black tea I’ve ever had)!

Reasons to make iced tea at home

If you’ve never made iced tea from scratch before, today is the day to change that! Here’s why:

It tastes a million times better!

Homemade iced tea tastes like real tea and is so, incredibly good. You can sweeten it and flavour it to your own taste, and without fail – It is so, so delicious!

Homemade iced tea is better for you.

Homemade iced tea is primarily made with water, and it is free from preservatives. It’s also made with much less sugar than tea mixes or pre-made iced teas, which is an obvious improvement for the sake of your health!

It’s so simple to make – and so refreshing!

Making iced tea at home is so incredibly simple, and it’s one of the best summer staples to keep in the fridge on a hot day. Whether you’ve been outside enjoying the weather, working hard on your garden, or getting some yard cleanup done, iced tea is one of the simplest and most refreshing cold drinks you can have to keep you hydrated and feeling great!

Iced tea is extremely cheap to make from scratch.

With water, sugar and tea bags being the main ingredients, you can probably imagine: making your own iced tea costs only pennies! Here’s a way to have a simple, summer drink on hand that won’t cost you much in time or money at all.

To make peach iced tea, you will need:

• Ingredients (see recipe card)
• A small-medium saucepan
• Measuring cups
• Measuring pitcher
• Long handled stirring spoon
• Large sieve
• 1/2 gallon mason jar or pitcher

Shop this post:

• 8oz mason jars for drinking glasses
• 1/2 gallon mason jar or pitcher
• Orange paper straws
• Glass bowl for peaches
• Red plaid tea towel

Some of the above items are different than pictured based on product availability.

Print

Peach Iced Tea

Here's a way to use up some peach peels left from other projects.

Course beverages

Cuisine American, Canadian

Keyword iced tea, peach, peach iced tea

Author Naomi

Ingredients

• 2 cups peach peels washed (or chopped fresh peaches)
• 4 cups water (+more, to fill a 1/2 gallon jar)
• 2 black tea bags (I like Yorkshire tea, but anything will work!)
• 1/4 cup sugar

Instructions

1. Combine the peach peels and water in a medium-large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat

2. Add the tea bags, cover with the lid, and steep for 10-15 minutes.

3. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a bowl; add the sugar, and stir to dissolve. Discard the boiled peels and tea bags, and cool the mixture completely.

4. Transfer the iced tea concentrate into a 1/2 gallon pitcher. Fill with ice and water until the pitcher is full. Chill until serving.

Recipe Notes

1. If you like a stronger peach flavour, feel free to use more peels or chopped peaches in this recipe.
2. For a very sweet tea, double the amount of sugar.
3. Since I like my iced tea barely sweet, so I tend to go for 1/2 the amount of sugar in this recipe (2 Tbsp).

Make it how you like it! 

 

There you have it! Perfect peach iced tea, with that beautiful golden glow and all the joy of a refreshing cold drink for a hot summer day.

What’s the best iced tea you’ve ever had? Or, if you could adjust this recipe, how would you make it? Leave me a note in the comments! I’d love to hear about your ideas and experiences.

Also, if you think of it: when you find yourself enjoying this recipe, snap a photo and tag me @naomicakesofficial on Instagram! I always love to see that my recipes are being enjoyed.

Bye for now; I’ll be back soon!

Naomi

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