Sweet Peach Tea

Few things are more refreshing than a cold glass of iced tea on a warm afternoon! Summer is coming, so we need to ramp up our cold drink recipe arsenal. Let's start with this thirst quencher! 

About the simple syrup: If you've never made simple syrup before, now's your chance. It's a quick and easy blend of equal parts water and sugar, brought to a boil and cooked into a syrup. In this recipe, I've infused the syrup with peaches. Think about all the ways you can infuse future simple syrups - blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, cinnamon, cloves, and so on. Also, you don't have to pour ALL of the simple syrup into this iced tea. You can serve it on the side so everyone can make their tea and sweet as he/she likes. 

No fresh peaches? No problem, you can also make this tea with frozen peaches – no need to thaw them first.

How about some lemon or lime? Yes, fresh lemon and lime wedges make the perfect partner for iced tea. But what if you don't have them handy? No problem! I just discovered True Lemon and True Lime (plus some other amazing products made from real fruit) and I seem to be popping the crystallized fruit into everything. For my serving of this tea, I added 1 packet of True Lime (the equivalent of 1 lime wedge) and enjoyed the burst of fresh lime (thanks to pure citrus oil) with no added sugar, artificial sweeteners, color, sodium, or preservatives. It's just lime. And it catapulted my tea. I'll be trying other flavors in other dishes, so stay tuned...

Sweet Peach Tea 

Peach simple syrup:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup water

4 ripe peaches, thinly sliced (about 4 cups)

Tea:

2-3 tablespoons loose leaf black tea, or 3-4 tea bags

8 cups water

To make the simple syrup, in a small saucepan, combine the sugar, water and 2 sliced peaches. Set the pan over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Reduce the heat to low and use a wooden spoon or spatula to crush the peaches into the syrup. Remove the pan from the heat and steep for 30 minutes.

Brew the tea in an iced tea maker, regular tea maker or large pot. Strain the loose tea or remove the tea bags (when using a regular tea maker or large pot, cool the tea completely before adding the peach simple syrup).

To serve, add as much simple syrup as you like to the brewed tea. Serve extra simple syrup on the side.  

Pour the tea over ice and garnish with peach slices.

Makes 8 cups (serves 8-10)