You may now be the victim of a persuading and overwhelming craving for iced tea. You are not alone! But don't just go and give your hard-earned moolah to the shop keeper in exchange for artificial syrups and sugars. Read on and learn how to make passion fruit iced tea at home, using only simple and healthy ingredients!
Below we will prepare a refreshing tropical iced tea without any syrups or refined sugars, only green tea, passion fruit and a little bit of maple.
We chose green tea because it's one of the least refined types of tea, containing the highest amount of antioxidants [1]. You can read more about this amazing drink in the FAQ section below.
Instead of preparing passion fruit syrup, which is rich in sugars, we just used the fruit as is. To make the tea sweeter, we added a splash of raw honey to the tea. Depending on how sweet your passion fruits are, you may not have to use any sweeteners at all.
This little adjustment to the traditional method delivers big results. Compared to the traditional recipe, a glass of our iced tea has half the sugars, providing only 5% of your recommended daily intake (RDI).
So, are you ready to bring a bottle of summer wherever you go? Let's make this together!
And if you're looking for another tropical iced tea recipe, you'll love this refreshing lychee iced tea!
What else can I add to this tea cooler?
This tropical iced tea goes really well with other fruits like coconut, mango, pineapple, mango, and even berries.
You can also replace cold water with coconut water for extra flavour and electrolytes, or use sparkling water for a fizzy twist.
What can I use instead of maple?
To keep this recipe vegan and low in sugar, we have replaced refined white sugar with maple syrup. This natural sweetener has 50% fewer sugars than granulated sugar, plus minerals and antioxidants.
If you don't have maple, you can swap it with raw honey. For a 100% sugar-free, diabetes-friendly recipe, you can use zero-calorie sweeteners like stevia or erythritol.
What type of tea is best for iced tea?
Many iced tea recipes use black tea, but we decided to opt for green tea for its incredible health benefits.
Thanks to its high levels of antioxidants and plant polyphenols, green tea has important anti-ageing and anti-inflammatory properties. Studies have also shown potential benefits in term of weight-loss, diabetes, Alzheimer, and cancer.
Other tea varietes you can try inlcude:
Oolong Tea
White Tea
Peppermint tea
Hibiscus Tea
Ginger Tea
Ingredients
| Water | 900 mL |
| Green Tea Bags | 3 |
| Maple Syrup | 3 tsp |
| Passion Fruit | 6 |
| Ice | to taste |
Step 1
Bring half of the water to a gentle boil, then remove it from the heat, and add the green tea bags.
Stir in the maple and leave the tea to steep for 5 minutes - the longer you keep it, the darker it will get.
Step 2
Remove the tea bags and transfer the green tea to a jug.
Pour in the remaining half of the water, possibly cold from the fridge to speed up the cooling time.
Refrigerate the diluted tea for at least 10 minutes.
Step 3
Halve the passion fruits and scoop the flesh out and into a sieve.
Allow the juice to filter through while pressing down the seeds with the back of a spoon.
You can keep the seeds aside and use them to garnish the iced tea glasses.
Step 4
Add the passion fruit juice to the cold tea, give it a good stir, and keep it in the fridge.
At the time of serving, add a generous amount of ice cubes to each glass and garnish with passion fruit seeds, lime slices, and mint.
Tips
If you're making the iced tea ahead, we recommend you add the passion fruit without filtering out the seeds. Instead, leave them to infuse for a few hours or overnight, and then filter the drink before serving it. You'll have a much more flavourful cold fruit tea.
If you have any leftover passion fruit seeds, you can filter the juice and use it to make passion fruit curd or passion fruit bars.