Shortcut Peach Sweet Tea (optional Mint Ice Cubes)

Easy Shortcut Peach Sweet Tea is made with only 2 ingredients! You can be front- porch-sippin' this Southern, summer drink in minutes.

The optional round Mint Ice Cubes add a splash of color, making this nonalcoholic beverage perfect for your backyard BBQ's, pool parties or just for you enjoying some alone time.

You might even call this ice cold concoction a Southern peachy mocktail. It's perfect for sipping on hot summer days or serving in a pitcher at football parties.

I love that it is made with two pantry-friendly ingredients so you can make it all year round and not just during peak peach harvest season.

Only 2 Ingredients in this sweet tea recipe!

1. Sweet tea (Store-bought or use recipe below)
2. Peach-flavored white grape juice (such as Welch's or Great Value)

What's the shortcut?

Using Welch's 100% Juice White Grape-Peach juice instead of juicing fresh peaches.

Not everyone has access to the best peaches on earth like we do down here in Alabama and Georgia. So, this recipe is not Southern blasphemy. It is a quick way to enjoy the combination of two Southern favorites- sweet tea and peaches almost anywhere in the country, any time of the year.

Scroll down for other shortcut peach juice mixtures to substitute. if needed.

How do I make this drink?

You don't even have to measure if you make individual servings!

• Pour each glass (filled with ice cubes) two-thirds full with sweet tea.
• Pour peach-flavored white grape juice over the tea and stir with a straw.

That's it! This simple summer beverage is that easy. The optional mint ice cubes take it up a level and only take 2 minutes to prep before freezing them, too!

What if I want to make more than one serving at a time?

Easy. For a pitcher of Shortcut Peach Sweet Tea, for every 3 cups of sweet tea, stir in 1 cup peach-flavored white grape juice.

How do you make homemade sweet tea?

You can brew your own tea and add sugar or sweetener to your liking according to package directions or buy it by the gallon at the grocery store. Here in Alabama, there are no shortages of sweet tea! You can even buy single serve, presweetened tea bags!

If you ask 5 Southerners how to make sweet tea, you will get 5 different answers. The main difference is the amount of sugar to add to the steeped tea. I will tell you how I make it which is a middle-of-the-road sweetness. It's somewhere between the Luzianne tea directions and the Milo's Hamburgers restaurant sweetness. To me it is "Goldilocks Just Right!"

1. Heat 4 cups water to a boil in a pan.
2. Place 2 family-size tea bags in the water and steep for 6 minutes.
3. Remove the tea bags and add 1 cup sugar to the warm tea.
4. Stir until the sugar dissolves. I usually turn the heat on low to help it dissolve but don't turn it up on high. Or, you can let it stand away from the heat 30 minutes and come back to it later.
5. Pour the sweetened, concentrated tea mixture into a 2-quart- size pitcher; add another 4 cups of cold water.
6. It's ready for pouring over ice at this point but I prefer to let it cool to room temperature because it melts the ice so quickly at this stage which waters down the tea flavor. Enjoy!

To gild the lily, garnish with mint sprigs and fresh peach wedges and enjoy!

How to make your own round mint ice cubes

Place a large mint leaf or two in the bottom of round silicone molds. Cover with the top of the mold and pour water to the fill line and freeze at least 3 hours. (I also found round silicone ice cube molds at TJ Maxx.

Freeze at least 4 hours or the night before needed to make sure they are frozen solid.

How do you avoid cloudy ice cubes?

I used distilled water for the ice cubes to get the clearest cubes. The minerals in tap water tend to turn out cloudy.

If you make Shortcut Peach Sweet Tea with Mint Ice Cubes let me know by tagging me on social media or leave a comment below!

Substitutions and Add-Ins

• In place of peach-flavored white grape juice, try Simply brand peach juice drink or Ocean Spray White Cran-Peach juice.
• Use homemade fresh peach juice. This recipe is from Recipe Garden.
• Peach syrup. This can be found in sugar-free form where coffee syrups and cocktail syrups are sold. Depending on your tastes, substitute 2 teaspoons peach syrup for 1/3 cup juice.

Other summer fruit recipes you will love

Peaches are on sale everywhere in the summer down South, so grab a whole basket.

Blueberry Peach Cobbler.

Nectarine Cinnamon Sugar Cobbler

No-Cook Key Lime Popsicles

Peach Freezer Marmalade

Easy Strawberry Freezer Jam

If you make this recipe I'd love to see it! Tag me on social media with #gritsandgouda or @gritsandgouda. Leave a comment below the printable recipe if you have questions or tell me how you liked the recipe. Don't forget to give the recipe a rating of 5 stars if you love it!

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Nutrition analysis on GritsAndGouda.com recipes are mostly calculated on an online nutrition calculator. I am not a dietitian and nutritional information is an estimate and can vary based on products used.

I updated this post on August 2, 2021 with important information and substitution suggestions.