Peach iced tea combines brewed tea with the sweetness of ripe peaches. Served over ice with fresh fruit, it makes a cold drink for a warm afternoon or a family gathering.

This homemade version uses a fruit syrup that you can prepare ahead. The tea and syrup are made separately, so you can mix a whole jug at once or sweeten each glass to taste.

Ingredients

Set out the ingredients for the syrup, tea and garnish:

- 200 g granulated sugar

- 5 ripe peaches, 4 for the syrup and 1 for serving

- 250 ml water for the syrup

- 4 tea bags

- 2 litres boiling water for the tea

- Ice cubes

- Cold still or sparkling water, optional

This recipe makes about 12 glasses.

Timing

Allow about 10 minutes to prepare the ingredients and 5 minutes for cooking. The cooked peaches need an hour to infuse the syrup. The brewed tea also needs time to cool and chill, so start it while the peaches are infusing. Chill the tea before adding ice so the ice is for serving rather than cooling the batch.

Steps

Make the syrup first so the peaches have time to infuse:

1. Wash all the peaches and dry them with a clean towel. Set one aside for serving. Remove the stones from the remaining peaches and chop the flesh into small pieces. Smaller pieces soften faster and are easier to mash.

2. Pour the syrup water into a medium saucepan and add the sugar. Heat over medium heat, stirring gently until the sugar dissolves completely. Bring the mixture slowly to a boil.

3. Add the chopped peaches to the saucepan and stir occasionally as they cook. Take the pan off the heat when the pieces are soft enough to crush easily with a fork.

4. Mash the softened peaches with a fork or potato masher. Stir the pulp into the syrup, cover the saucepan and leave the mixture off the heat for 1 hour so the peach flavour infuses the liquid.

5. Brew the tea while the syrup infuses. Put the tea bags in a large heatproof jug and carefully pour in the boiling water. Steep for 4 minutes, then remove the bags. Let the tea cool, cover the jug and refrigerate until chilled.

6. Set a fine-mesh sieve over a clean bowl or jug. According to Lulu Grimes, a recipe developer at Good Food, pressing the cooked fruit as you strain it helps recover the syrup still in the pulp. Use the back of a spoon to press the fruit gently. Let the strained syrup cool, then transfer it to a covered container and refrigerate.

7. Remove the stone from the reserved peach and slice the flesh thinly. If you are not serving the tea straight away, keep the slices in a covered container in the fridge until needed.

8. Pour the chilled tea into a serving jug. Stir in a little syrup, taste, then add more until the sweetness suits you. If the peaches were especially sweet, start with less syrup. Add ice and, if the flavour is too strong, top up with cold still or sparkling water.

9. Pour the tea into glasses and garnish each with fresh peach slices. If guests prefer different levels of sweetness, skip mixing the whole jug. Spoon syrup into each glass instead, then pour in the chilled tea and let guests add more syrup to taste.

Refrigerate leftover syrup in a covered container for up to one week. If you expect to serve the batch in rounds, put ice in the glasses rather than the jug so the remaining tea does not become diluted.