What’s more refreshing than tea? How’s about tea and lemonade, chilled to perfection, beaded with dew, and ready to drink. Starbucks passion tea lemonade is perfect for those hot days, but that said, we drink it in the winter too. It reminds us of summer! We will show you how to make our homemade version of passion tea lemonade that tastes exactly like an authentic Starbucks. Keep a good lookout for our tips and tricks that will make it utterly perfect!
How to make Starbucks Passion Tea Lemonade
The hardest thing about our Starbucks Passion Tea Lemonade recipe is waiting for the tea to cool down. The recipe is easy to make, provided you have just a little patience. We start by making an ‘infusion’. The basis for the passion fruit flavor of this drink is hidden within the tea bags. We use passion fruit tea bags mixed with boiling water, sugar, and vanilla. We let this ‘brew’ for around 15 minutes.
Once the tea infusion has gone cold, we place it in a refrigerator to cool down. As a final step, we combine with lemonade and serve over ice. We just love it when the ice crackles and cracks as we pour lashings of this delicious drink into the glass.
To get that delicious vanilla flavor, we use a homemade vanilla syrup. The syrup is really sweet, so you will find that you don’t need to add extra sugar to the drink. If it is too much effort to make your own vanilla syrup (shame on you, it’s fabulous), you can use shop-bought syrups. However, you may find that the sweetness of your drink can vary a great deal.
Starbucks Passion Tea Lemonade
Course: DrinksCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy4
servings1
hour15
minutes85
kcalFew drinks compare to this delicious copycat Starbucks Passion Tea Lemonade recipe. If you’re looking for an exact copy of the original, we have you covered!
Ingredients
- For the syrup
2 cups 2 white sugar
1 cup 1 water
1-2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- For the Passion Tea Lemonade
2 passion teabags
16 oz 16 boiling water
4 oz 4 Lemonade
2 tablespoons 2 vanilla syrup
Ice cubes
Directions
- For the Vanilla Syrup
- To make the syrup add all of the syrup ingredients to a small saucepan and place over medium heat.
- Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved entirely. Once small bubbles appear and the syrup goes a very light straw color, it is ready.
- Pour the syrup into a heatproof container. Once cooled, cover and store in the refrigerator.
- For the Passion Tea Lemonade
- Add the water to a medium pan, place over high heat and bring it to a rolling boil. Once the water is bubbling, add your teabags and remove your pan from the heat. Add the vanilla syrup and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, remove the teabags and allow the tea to cool completely before placing it in the refrigerator.
- When you are ready to serve, add your chilled tea to a large pitcher and add your lemonade and generous handfuls of ice cubes. Stir well to mix.
- Serve in tall glasses. Enjoy!
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Tips and Tricks
- As we said above, we get the passion fruit flavor from our choice of the teabag. However, you shouldn’t feel limited. It is perfectly possible to make other drinks that are just as delicious. How’s about mango tea lemonade, or strawberry? If you have any fruit teabags that you want to use up, now is the time. One of our personal favorites is minted tea lemonade. Just use different teabags to open up a new world of flavors. Yum.
- Your choice of lemonade can make or break the taste of this drink. We find using a higher quality lemonade really makes our Starbucks passion tea lemonade shine. If you want to go for something super traditional and slightly different, use cloudy ‘flat’ lemonade. You could even consider making your own.
- This tip is quite important. Let your tea cool down to room temperature before putting it in the fridge to cool further. Why is it so important? If you put boiling hot tea into the fridge, it could cause a significant temperature rise. Making other food in the refrigerator (especially meat and fish) go warmer and then cooler is not a good thing. Secondly, it may encourage frost. Nobody likes a frosty fridge (except maybe the refrigerator repair guy).
- If you are expecting guests or want to get ahead of the game, it is perfectly acceptable and possible to make our copycat Starbucks passion tea lemonade ahead of time. Just make and cool in a bottle or suitable jug. Serve over ice whenever you want a cool glass. It will keep in the fridge for around 24 hours easily.
- Speaking of ice, don’t you just hate watery drinks as the ice melts? Us too! Here is a great tip (and it even works with other cold drinks with a little planning). If you find you have any spare lemonade tea left over, pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it. Next time you make a batch use these ice cubes in place of the normal ice. This way, when they melt, they won’t dilute the flavor of your drink.
- It may seem a little bit of extra effort, but making your own vanilla syrup is really worth it. You can use it in other Starbucks inspired drinks or a topping for a dessert, such as fruit salad.
Conclusion
There’s something so special and sophisticated about iced tea. When it tastes as good as our homemade Starbucks passion tea lemonade, it is easy to see why we drink this, even through the winter. It’s refreshing and actually pretty low on calories too! Perfect for an afternoon pick me up. What flavor ice tea do you find the most refreshing? Tell me in the comments below.
