Down in the Deep South, we know how to make iced tea. My Mama’s iced mint tea recipe includes tea bags and fresh mint sweetened with lemon juice, orange juice concentrate, and sugar. It’s deliciously refreshing.
You are gonna love Mama’s iced mint tea recipe. Now, when you live in the South, you get used to some strange weather. Somedays it feels like the third level of Hades and some days are entirely tolerable with a light breeze that keeps the bugs at bay long enough to sit and enjoy the sunshine. On days like this, a glass of iced tea is a must. However, a glass of fancy iced tea like Mama’s sweet mint tea is even better.
This is one of my mother’s favorite recipes that I first posted in 2008, the year I started blogging. At the time, I had grown up seeing a jug of what we dubbed “swamp water” in the fridge on a regular basis and always turned my nose up at it. I was still not a fan even when I posted this recipe some 10 years ago. But, if we’re lucky, childhood aversions eventually give way to adult wisdom. Yep, I am not too proud to say that I have changed my ways and unsurprisingly, I now enjoy this delicious fruity mint tea almost as much as my mother does.
So with that in mind, I’m sharing the homemade iced tea recipe again with updated photos to show you firsthand just how pretty it is. Get your taste buds ready for a delicious iced drink sure to chase away the drudgery in the midst of a super hot summer’s day.
To make this easy iced mint tea recipe, you need 5 ingredients: tea bags, lemon juice, orange juice concentrate, sugar, and fresh mint. You simply steep the tea and fresh mint and add it to a pitcher alongside our list of sweeteners. Then stir, refrigerate, and serve it to your family and friends. This lemon mint iced tea is so easy to make and tastes so good!
Recipe Ingredients
- Green tea bags or black tea bags
- Fresh or bottled lemon juice
- Frozen orange juice concentrate
- Sugar
- Fresh mint leaves (or dried mint leaves in a pinch)
How To Make Iced Mint Tea
In a pot, bring to a boil the tea bags, mint, and enough water to cover it well.
Remove from heat and let this steep, covered, for 30 minutes.
Put approximately 1 quart of cold water in a 1-gallon pitcher and add orange juice concentrate, lemon juice, and sugar (if using regular tea bags).
Remove mint leaves and tea bags from the tea and add this to the pitcher. Add enough water to make one gallon, stir, and refrigerate.
Enjoy at will!
Storage
Mint iced tea keeps well in the fridge for up to a week.
Recipe Notes
For lime mint tea, substitute the lemon juice for bottled or fresh lime juice.
Recipe FAQs
Do I just use a regular tea bag?
My mother has a brilliant hack that she uses not to cut the calories. Instead of using a regular teabag and sugar, she uses Southern Breeze tea that is presweetened (no calories). If you do the same, use 4 family-size tea bags and omit the sugar. This is for one gallon of tea, just as in the recipe above. A family-size tea bag equals two regular-size tea bags.
You may also like these summer drink recipes:
Tropical Pink Mocktail (Fun Fruity Summer Drink)
Sugar-Free Peach Lemonade (2 Ingredients Only)
Ingredients
- 8 regular-size tea bags or 4 family-size tea bags*
- 8 tbsp bottled lemon juice or juice of 4 fresh lemons
- 12 ounces frozen pulp-free orange juice concentrate
- 2 cups sugar
- handful of fresh mint or 2 tablespoons dried mint
Instructions
- In a pot, bring to a boil the tea bags, mint, and enough water to cover them well. Remove from the heat and let them steep, covered, for 30 minutes.8 regular-size tea bags or 4 family-size tea bags*, handful of fresh mint or 2 tablespoons dried mint
- Put approx. 1 quart of water in a one-gallon pitcher and add the orange juice concentrate, lemon juice, and sugar.8 tbsp bottled lemon juice or juice of 4 fresh lemons, 12 ounces frozen pulp-free orange juice concentrate, 2 cups sugar
- Remove mint leaves and tea bags from the tea and add this to the pitcher. Add enough water to make one gallon, stir, and refrigerate.
Notes
Nutrition
I notice your meringue is only egg whites and sugar, no cream of tarter or corn starch. No problems with weeping or stickiness? I also noticed that you cover yours in the fridge and I always understood that can also cause weeping and stickiness which makes it hard to cut a slice evenly.
I use Plantation Mint by Bigelow to make our mint tea. It is a very mild tea and quite refreshing on a hot day in Florida with some added lemon.
This sounds wonderful but I need help. My husband had peach tea in Cheeseburger Bobby’s and I want to make it for him at home. I have to use Truvia.
For peach tea, I use Southern Breeze Peach tea bags. They are amazing. Another thing you can do is make regular iced tea and add pureed peaches but my first step would be using peach tea bags. If you want to sweeten it yourself, Celestial Seasonings makes a Country Peach tea that is amazing in bags.
Thanks so much !