The Best Southern Peach Sweet Tea
This really is the best southern peach sweet tea recipe! It only takes a few minutes to whip up – no syrup making needed. Each sip is refreshing, filled with fresh peach flavor, and the perfect amount of sweet tea. During peach season, you’ll make this tea time and time again. I hope you love it just as much as we do! This recipe post includes a video tutorial so you can make it alongside me, step-by-step!
This post may contain affiliate links of items I know and love. Read our disclosure policy for more information. I NEVER use AI (artificial intelligence) to create content for Plum Branch Home. Recipes, blog posts, photos, videos, podcasts, social media content: everything is made from scratch by me, Molly LaFontaine. After developing my recipes, they’re tested 2x by my husband, Tyler, and I before publishing. What you see from Plum Branch Home is real. It’s made for a reason, tested, and loved!
There is something about peaches that marks the true beginning of summer! Growing up, my family had a few peach trees on our hobby farm and ever since I’ve been hooked.
Now that I live near Nashville, Tennessee, I have access to the best Southern peaches. I feel like a kid in a candy during peach season. My childhood love of home-grown peaches gets to continue!
If you love peaches, you’ll have to try these peach recipes as well: sourdough peach scones, sourdough peach waffles, sourdough peach cobbler, and peach pie filling made from scratch.
Peach Sweet Tea Recipe Inspiration
As the summer heat settled in here in Tennessee, I knew I wanted to create a refreshing seasonal drink.
I had just bought a bag of peaches, and my husband was craving sweet tea. So I thought why not put them together?!
It’s simple, wholesome, and easy to whip up. Perfect for those hot summer days no matter where you live!
What Makes Sweet Tea Southern
When you think Southern tea you immediately think sweet. You won’t find many places here in the South serving unsweetened. That’s the first thing that makes it Southern and it’s so simple.
Also, it all dates back to 1795 when a French explorer and botanist introduced tea leaves to America in South Carolina.
Since then, Southerners have been dumping sugar in their black tea along with other ingredients, like peaches! So not only did sweet tea start right here in the South, it continues to be cherished year after year.
Why You’ll Love This Peach Tea Recipe
- Simple to Make: You won’t feel overwhelmed when making this tea.
- It’s a Quick Recipe: You can whip this recipe up in only 15 minutes!
- Wholesome Ingredients: Each ingredient is wholesome, from fresh peaches to cane sugar.
- No Syrup Making: Instead of making a syrup, we’re adding the peaches in an easier way.
- Tea Made the Southern Way: With this recipe you will make a tea concentrate first, then you’ll add in the fresh peach juice we blend up. It’s the perfect way to make tea.
Molly’s Tips for the Best Peach Sweet Tea
- Choose locally sourced peaches (farm stands, farmers markets, orchards) for the best peach flavor.
- When steeping your tea bags, stir occasionally to get the maximum flavor rather than just leaving the bags sit.
- When straining your peach juice, use a large, fine-meshed strainer.
- Don’t skip the straining step, it makes your peach tea so much smoother.
- For the best flavor, refrigerate overnight.
- In my opinion, the best tea to use is Luzianne tea bags. It’s got the best flavor!
Choosing Peaches for This Recipe
When choosing peaches, it’s best to get them ripe or let them ripen on the counter before making them into tea. I like to get The Peach Truck’s peaches here in Nashville. They’re always full of flavor!
You can find really good peaches at local farmer’s markets and orchards. But sometimes you’ll find a few good ones at the grocery store.
Ingredients You Will Need
- water: this is the base for tea
- black tea bags: Luzianne tea bags are the BEST
- cane sugar: more wholesome sweetener
- brown sugar: adds an extra special flavor
- baking soda: this is a Southern secret to minimize bitterness
- fresh peaches: make sure they are ripe. I always use The Peach Truck peaches
Helpful Kitchen Tools for Making This Tea
This section contains Amazon affiliate links to items I use and love for this recipe.
How to Make Peach Sweet Tea
Add 4 cups of water and all 3 tea bags to a medium-sized pot. Bring to a slight boil, then immediately take off the heat. While the water is heating, occasionally move the tea bags around, up and down, gently.
After you take it off the heat, let the bags seep for 5 minutes (again moving around occasionally, up and down), then remove them. Do not squeeze the bags.
Add cane sugar, brown sugar, and baking soda to the pot and stir until dissolved. Set aside.
Remove the pit and slice peaches into chunks, size doesn’t matter. No need to remove the peel.
Place the peach chunks into a blender or food processor with 4 cups of water. Blend until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Strain peach juice with a fine mesh strainer into the pot of tea. Stir to combine.
Pour into a pitcher and refrigerate until chilled. You can also serve it right away over ice but it tastes best after refrigerating for a few hours. Next day is even better!
Video Tutorial
Best Way to Serve Southern Peach Sweet Tea
You can serve this tea in so many ways but it’s always good over ice on a hot day.
We love enjoying a cold glass of tea with a savory supper like grilled chicken bites, oven-baked chicken tenders, and meatloaf burgers.
You could also serve it for brunch and lunch or if you’re having friends and family over. This tea would go especially well at a summer potluck, gathering, or party also!
How to Store Iced Tea with Peaches
Store this tea in the fridge in a glass pitcher, covered or uncovered. Each time you want to enjoy a glass, stir and pour over ice. Drink within 4-5 days.
FAQs
You don’t need to refrigerate before enjoying this tea! But, if you have the time, refrigerate for even 2 hours, it’ll have a much deeper flavor.
You can use any granulated sugar you’d like. I prefer pure cane sugar, it’s a more wholesome option.
Yes, you can. The peach flavor won’t be as strong, but it’ll still be delicious.
Yes you can. Add whatever alcohol you desire (as long as you’re 21 or older of course).
More Iced Drink Recipes To Try
- Southern Sweet Tea From Scratch (better than restaurants)
- Southern Fruit Tea From Scratch
- Watermelon Iced Tea Recipe (Easy to Make at Home)
- Easiest Watermelon Lemonade (Only 4 Simple Ingredients)
- Homemade Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew (plant-based and simple!)
If you made this recipe, give it a 5-star rating below and share a photo on your social media stories! Be sure to tag @plumbranchhome
Recipe
Southern Peach Sweet Tea
Ingredients
- 8 cups water
- 3 Family-sized black tea bags (or 12 regular-sized: 4 regular = 1 family) (Luzianne is what I use)
- 3/4 cup cane sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 4 fresh peaches (about 4 cups)
Instructions
- Add 4 cups of water and all 3 tea bags to a medium-sized pot. Bring to a slight boil, then immediately take off the heat. While the water is heating, occasionally move the tea bags around, up and down, gently.
- After you take it off the heat, let the bags seep for 5 minutes (again moving around occasionally, up and down), then remove them. Do not squeeze the bags.
- Add cane sugar, brown sugar, and baking soda to the pot and stir until dissolved. Set aside.
- Remove the pit and slice peaches into chunks, size doesn’t matter. No need to remove the peel.
- Place the peach chunks into a blender or food processor with 4 cups of water. Blend until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Strain peach juice with a fine mesh strainer into the pot of tea. Stir to combine.
- Pour into a pitcher and refrigerate until chilled. You can also serve it right away over ice but it tastes best after refrigerating for a few hours. Next day is even better!
Video
I just got done making this recipe and it did not disappoint me!!!
I love this better then the restaurants peach tea 🧡
It’s sweet but not to sweet like theirs. Has a great peach and tea flavor!!
Best thing is it’s just 3 ingredients, well 4 including water 😅
I grabbed me some 🍑 peaches (Georgia) from my local farmers stand yesterday to make this. Can’t wait for theirs to ripen, no pesticide sprays!!
Plum Branch Home, I loved your picture. It gave me an ideal to freeze the chunks of peaches for my ice cubes ☺️
Also a great treat when done drinking my tea.
Thanks for another great drink recipe!!
I’m so happy to hear how much you are enjoying this drink recipe!! When developing it, I aimed to create the flavor everyone loves without all the junk. That’s the BEST way to purchase fruit! They’ll make this tea even more delicious! Thank you so much! The peach ice cubes are a great idea 😊. So happy you’re following along with the summer drinks series! We’ve got 2 more coming and they are AMAZING!
This looks just wonderful! I can’t seem to quite adjust to the sweetness of Southern tea, probably because I didn’t live in the South for the first 45 years of life, but I do love the peaches here. Putting them in tea is a wonderful idea. Much better than the powdered peach tea mix. Nothing says summer more than peaches and tea! I’m interested to try the baking soda thing. I have heard of this, but not why. That makes sense, though!
Thank you so much! I definitely don’t make the sweetest tea here in the South haha! My husband and I love sweet tea but not overly sweet. For sure, it’s so much better than powdered peach tea mix!