This refreshing peach iced tea is lightly sweetened with floral honey and infused with fresh summer peaches, cooling mint, and tart lemon—perfect for sipping all season long!
My love for tea started back home in Port Said, where we’d enjoy it hot with a few sprigs of fresh mint. These days, especially when summer rolls around, I reach for something on ice. After living in the American South, I’ve grown to adore sweet tea—but mine is far less sweet than what’s usually served here, and I’ve made it my own by infusing it with some of my favorite Mediterranean flavors—but, of course, I had to use Georgia peaches!
My peach tea recipe combines juicy ripe fruit, delicate honey, and cooling mint, all balanced with the brightness of lemon. The secret to infusing the tea with fresh peach flavor is simmering the peaches with honey and water to create a gorgeous syrup that adds that unmistakable summer flavor.
This recipe is perfect for summer entertaining—whether you’re serving grilled chicken kebabs, fresh salads, or just enjoying a slow afternoon in the shade.
Table of Contents
What’s in Peach Tea?
Just a handful of ingredients come together to make this refreshing peach iced tea. If you have a few good, ripe peaches on hand, you’re nearly there! Here’s everything you need.
- Peaches: Fresh, juicy peaches add natural sweetness and a floral aroma. Make the syrup with the ripest ones—this is a great way to use up bruised fruit! And then slice a ripe but firm peach for garnish because it’ll hold up better. Can’t get fresh peaches? Frozen ones will also work fine for this recipe.
- Honey adds just enough sweetness to balance the tannins in the tea and pairs beautifully with the peaches. For this recipe, I prefer floral varieties like orange blossom or wildflower, or a neutral honey like acacia. I make the syrup with 1/2 cup of honey, but if you prefer your tea even sweeter, you can add another quarter cup.
- Water: Starting with clean, filtered water makes for the best-tasting tea.
- Black tea bags: Choose a strong, bold, unflavored black tea like English breakfast or Ceylon for a full-bodied base.
- Lemon adds brightness and a little tang to balance the sweetness. I like to infuse the tea with most of a lemon sliced into wheels (reserving the rest for garnish). But I do recommend discarding the lemon after a couple of days or it can leave the tea bitter.
- Mint: A handful of fresh mint leaves brings a cooling, refreshing note. Stick a whole sprig in each glass so when you take a sip you can breathe in the wonderful aroma.
How to Make Peach Tea
This peach iced tea recipe is as easy as brew, mix, chill, and serve! I like to brew the tea and make the peach syrup in the evening before serving it. It only takes a few minutes of hands-on time, and then, once they’ve cooled down, I combine and chill them overnight. All that’s left to do is fill tall glasses with ice and pour it over top. Here’s how to make it:
- Make the peach syrup: Finely dice 2 medium peaches and combine in a small saucepan with 1/2 cup honey and 1 cup filtered water. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the honey and crush the peaches. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool. Strain through a fine mesh sieve.
- Brew the tea: Boil 4 cups filtered water. Remove from heat, add 8 black tea bags, cover, and steep for 8 to 10 minutes. Discard tea bags and let the tea cool.
- Mix and chill: Slice 1 lemon into rounds and set aside about 8 wheels to use as garnish. In a large pitcher, combine the strained peach syrup and cooled tea. Add 3 cups cold water. Thinly slice 1 peach and add to the pitcher with the rest of the lemon slices and 1/2 packed cup fresh mint leaves. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Garnish and serve: Fill glasses with ice. Pour the tea over and garnish with reserved lemon rounds and fresh mint sprigs.
Make it Your Own
I originally came up with this recipe based on one for Honey, Mint, and Orange iced tea in my second cookbook, Simply Dinner, which is to say that this recipe is flexible! Here are a few ideas!
- Use a different tea: For a lighter iced tea, swap black tea for green tea bags. Just be sure to reduce the steeping time to about 3 minutes so it doesn’t become bitter. Avoiding caffeine? You can also use an herbal tea instead. I think this orange-scented chamomile tea would be lovely with peach, though you may want to reduce the amount of honey in the peach syrup down to 1/4 cup because it will taste sweeter without the tannins from black tea to balance it out!
- Make it sparkling: Skip adding the last 3 cups of water to the pitcher, and instead use the tea mixture as a concentrate and top each glass with a splash of sparkling water or club soda for a bubbly twist that’s extra refreshing.
- Add a floral note: Stir in a few drops of rose water or orange blossom water to the peach syrup for a fragrant, floral dimension.
- Make it a cocktail: Add a shot of bourbon or vodka to each glass for a grown-up version of this summer classic.
- Try it with other fruit: Substitute the peaches with nectarines, apricots, or even berries for a different seasonal take.
- Infuse with herbs: Swap or complement the mint with a different fresh herb. Fresh basil, lemon verbena, or even a sprig of rosemary would all be delicious.
What to Serve with Peach Iced Tea
This refreshing peach tea recipe is just the thing to cool you down at a sunny picnic or backyard cookout! It pairs beautifully with a wide range of Mediterranean dishes—especially those that love a bit of char from the grill.
Try pairing it with these juicy, smoky Grilled Chicken Kabobs seasoned with warm Mediterranean spices. On the side, a chilled Mediterranean Orzo Salad offers a colorful mix of fresh veggies and herbs, and it holds up well in a cooler or on a buffet table.
Some of my other summertime favorites include Watermelon Salad and my healthy take on a classic Broccoli Salad made with dates and almonds. Want to go full Southern? Pour a glass of peach tea with my take on the classic Tomato Sandwich.
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Peach Iced Tea
Ingredients
- 1 pound ripe peaches (about 3 medium)
- 1/2 cup honey
- 8 cups filtered water
- 8 black tea bags
- 1 large lemon, sliced into rounds
- 1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves, plus more to serve
Instructions
- Make the peach syrup. Finely dice 2 of the peaches and combine them in a small saucepan with honey and 1 cup of the water. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring to dissolve the honey and crush the peaches against the sides of the pot. Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes to release the flavor and color of the peaches into the syrup. Then remove the syrup from heat and let it cool to room temperature. Once cooled, pour the peach syrup through a fine mesh strainer to remove the solids.
- Make the tea. Meanwhile, fill a tea kettle or small saucepan with 4 cups of filtered water and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the tea bags, then cover and steep for 8 minutes, until the water turns a dark amber.Then discard the tea bags. Let the tea cool to room temperature.
- Mix and chill. Transfer the strained peach syrup and the tea to a large pitcher and add the remaining 3 cups filtered water. Slice the remaining peach into thin wedges. Reserve a few oflemon rounds and mint sprigs to dress up individual glasses, and add the peach slices and remaining citrus and mint to the pitcher. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Garnish and serve. Fill glasses with ice and pour the tea over top. Add some citrus wheels, fresh mint leaves to each glass and serve.
Notes
- Shop this recipe: Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients including the honey used in this recipe.
- This recipe makes lightly sweetened iced tea. If you like it on the sweeter side, add an additional 1/4 cup honey to the peach syrup. For a stronger iced tea, let the tea brew for up to a couple of hours before discarding the tea bags.
- To speed up the cooling process: Add 4 cups of ice cubes to the tea and syrup mixture instead of the 3 cups of water. Serve over additional ice.
- Storage: Refrigerate any leftovers in a covered pitcher for up to 1 week. You may need to discard the citrus wheels and replace them with fresh ones when serving.
Nutrition
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