Homemade Citrus Ice Tea

Close square image at 45 degrees of a bright citrus iced tea in glass, with lots of ice, rosemary garnish and sunny shadows.

Next time you have an abundance of citrus fruit, try my homemade citrus ice tea recipe. So refreshing, hydrating & bliss on a warm day, this citrus ice tea packs a punch. Use this recipe as a guide & for using up old fruit, for no food waste.

Caro @ Caroline's Easy Baking Lessons

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1 15

Total Time 1 35

Serving Size servings

Equipment

Large Cooking Pot
Knife
Chopping Board
Measuring Scales (optional)
Sieve
Bottles or Jars for storing

Ingredients

3 Oranges (medium sized)
6 Tangerines (large)*
4 Lemons (medium)
½ Pink grapefruit (optional)
8 Tea Bags (Any, I used 2 Red Bush (Rooibos), 4 Early Grey & 2 regular black tea)
2 Litres Boiled Water (2000 ml, 67⅔ fl oz, 10 cups approximately, to cover fruit)
134 grams Granulated Sugar, divided into these 3 amounts* (4⅔ oz, ⅔ cup - Sugar No.1)
66 grams Granulated Sugar (2⅓ oz, ⅓ cup, Sugar No.2)
66 grams Granulated Sugar (2⅓ oz, ⅓ cup, Sugar No.3 ** to taste)

Get Recipe Ingredients

Instructions

Prepare The Fruits

Gather all the citrus fruits, including any with bad bits in the peel, and simply trim these off, before topping & tailing. Slice the fruits and remove any seeds.

Boiling & Simmering

Add the tea bags and boiled water to a large cooking pot, before adding in first batch of sugar,(Sugar No.1 - 133g, 4 ⅔ oz, ⅔ cup) . Mix to combine before adding in your prepared fruit. Bring to a boil on a medium high to high heat, and add in Sugar No.2 – 67g, 2⅓ oz, ⅓ cup. Let come to a rolling boil, and boil for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat, simmer for 30 - 45minutes, or until the fruit slices are soft.

Sieving Off

Remove from heat, take out tea bags, & add the rest of the sugar. Mix through & taste test. Add more sugar or honey to taste. **Note it will dilute more with the ice. Sieve the citrus fruit tea into a jug or bottles/jars, pressing down on the fruit with a spoon to extract more juice. Discard the skins for recycling and place the fruit tea in airtight jars or bottle and into the fridge to chill.

Storing & Serving

When ready, serve over lots and lots of ice, (fill the glass), so much so that the glass starts perspiring! Any glass you like – see tall thin Turkish glasses, Turkish tea glasses and smaller wider Whisky glasses – anything goes and also depends on size/shape of ice-cubes too. Add some orange or lemon slices to the glass or on the side. I added home grown rosemary sprig and is actually nice!.
Store in jars or re-used bottles in fridge and keep some ice cubes in freezer and decant into bags and make plenty!

Video

Notes

This is a guide only and you can use any fruit you have and in any quantities. Just use this as a base line and at the end add more sugar to taste while still hot. And remember the ice will water it down a little.

Recipe Yield - recipe as is, makes approximately 1500 - 1750ml (50¾ fl oz, 6 cups or 2) or 6 glasses.

Horizontal image at 45 degrees of 3 bright citrus iced tea in glasses, with lots of ice, orange, lemon and lime slices, rosemary garnish and lots of sunny shadows.

Tea - use any favourite tea bags you have. I used 8 bags to about 1700g/60oz fruit & 2000ml, 67 ⅔ fl oz, 10 cups of water.

*Fruits - use any fruits or combination. As a guide, & by average weights, my medium oranges were about 105g (3¾ oz), small lemons/limes about 65g (2¼ oz).

Water To Sugar Ratio - use a base line of about 2000 litres, (67⅔ fl oz, 10 cups) of water. to 266g (9⅓ oz, 1⅓ cup) of sugar.

Vertical close image of a tall hurricane cocktail glass, with citrus iced tea, filled with ice, orange slice and rosemary garnish, straw and persparation on the glass, with citrus slices and pitcher in the background.

How Much Water To Use - if using a different amount of fruits, just use a big cooking pot, (big enough for your chosen fruit), add your prepared fruit & tea bag. Then fill a large jug with boiled water, fill the pot (a few times if needed & taking note how many times you filled) and subtract however much water is still left in the jug, to work out how much water you used. Use this amount against the water to sugar ratio above as a guide for how much sugar to add at the cooking stage.

Square close square image at 45 degrees of a bright citrus iced tea in glass, with lots of ice, rosemary garnish and sunny shadows.

Servings - 6 servings based on 250ml/8.5 fl oz/1 cup, which is enough over plenty of ice for standard glass size.

PINEAPPLE PEACH VERSION - see details before this recipe card for making a pineapple peach version, with some homemade cute pineapple flowers to garnish.

Square image of pineapple peach iced tea in glass with ice, topped with pineapple flower garnish & on a wooden table in the sun, with dappled light.

You can find more Turkish recipes to enjoy with your Iced tea, such as no-bake Lahmacun - meat flatbread, or go to the Turkish recipes page.

Other Fruit Recipes - try my stewed rhubarb recipe, that you can make in the air fryer, oven or stove top. Eat with pastry cream (similar to custard but can be used for other baked goods), or make rhubarb stuffed cupcakes.

Overhead close shot of small bowl of stewed rhubarb and pastry cream, with spoon showing contents.

Nutritional information - based on 100ml/3.3 fl oz/less than 0.5 cup, amounts as food industry standard. Use this to calculate for each drink you serve. I am not a qualified nutritionist and amounts are approximate, based on above amounts, and via information from MyFitnessPal.com.

Nutrition Facts

Homemade Citrus Ice Tea

Serving Size

100 ml

Amount per Serving

Calories

92.8

% Daily Value*

Fat

0.08

Saturated Fat

0.08

Polyunsaturated Fat

0.02

Monounsaturated Fat

0.01

Sodium

0.45

Potassium

91.9

Carbohydrates

Fiber

1.4

Sugar

21.9

Protein

0.5

Vitamin A

30.5

Vitamin C

26.8

Calcium

22.1

Iron

0.13

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.