Homemade Orange Ice Tea Recipes

ORANGE ICED TEA

Steps:

• With a vegetable peeler, peel each orange in a continuous spiral, removing only the outer colored layer of peel.
• In a large pitcher, pour boiling water over the tea bags and orange peel. Cover and steep 5 minutes. Remove tea bags. Chill tea mixture with peel in a covered container.
• To serve, remove the peel and pour iced tea over ice cubes in tall glasses.
• Sweeten to taste with honey (or brown sugar). Garnish with orange slices and fresh mint leaves, if desired.

ORANGE ICE TEA

Steps:

• Special equipment: a 60-ounce (7 1/2 cups) pitcher
• For the syrup: In a small saucepan, bring the orange juice and sugar to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool for 20 minutes.
• For the tea: In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the tea bags and remove the pan from the heat. Allow the tea to steep and cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes. Remove the tea bags and discard. Pour the tea and syrup into a pitcher and refrigerate until ready to serve.
• To serve: Pour the sparkling water into the pitcher and add the orange slices. Pour the tea into 4 ice-filled glasses. Garnish with fresh mint, or basil, and serve.

GRANDMA'S RUSSIAN TEA

Steps:

• Steep tea bags in boiling water until the tea is of desired strength, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove and discard tea bags.
• Combine 1 1/2 quarts water, cloves, and cinnamon together in a large pot; bring to a boil. Stir brewed tea, pineapple juice, sugar, orange juice concentrate, lemonade concentrate, and allspice into the boiling water to dissolve the sugar. Serve immediately or reduce heat to low and keep at a simmer until ready to serve.

LEMON-ORANGE ICED TEA

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, heat water just until it comes to a rapid boil. Remove from heat and drop in the tea bags. Cover and let steep for about 20 minutes.
• In a 2 quart pitcher, combine the steeped tea, discarding the tea bags, and the sugar or Splenda. Stir until dissolved. Continue to cool to room temperature. Stir in lemon and orange juice. Refrigerate until chilled. Serve over ice.
• Tips:.
• I find it best not to add the citrus until the tea is completely cooled. Even better to chill the cooled citrus tea, as recommended, to let the flavors meld. Also, cooling too fast brings out the tannin, causing cloudy tea. Should any tea become cloudy, just add a little boiling water to clear it up.

ICED ORANGE TEA

Steps:

• Pour 4 cups boiling water over the tea leaves and orange rind in a heatproof bowl and let the mixture steep for 10 minutes. Strain the tea into a pitcher, add the orange juice, the lemon juice, and the sugar, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, and chill the mixture. Add the ginger ale, pour the mixture into tall glasses filled with ice cubes, and garnish each drink with 1 of the orange slices.