Orange Sweet Tea

I am a lover of oranges. My Orange Sweet Tea is one of my favorite ways to use oranges.

I am a California raised girl and what I looked forward to more than anything as a child was when my family and I  would visit my auntie in the valley and drive by the orange groves.

I was so amazed as a child. Rows upon rows of oranges. It was the most beautiful site I’ve ever seen.

I watched as I grew older all of the orange groves slowly being replaced by subdivisions.

I remember stopping at the orange stand outside of the groves and my mama buying us crates of oranges to bring back to the city with us.

I used to look forward to that trip on the weekends.

Let me tell you about this tea.

I took mandarin oranges and large navel oranges to make this delicious sweet tea.

I like to mix my oranges. You can use all one type of orange if you prefer.

I made an orange simple syrup which is oranges, sugar, and water.

Bring the mixture to a quick boil, reduce heat, and simmer until all the sugar is dissolved.

Allow the mixture to cool. Smash the oranges, blend them, then strain the mixture discarding the orange solids.

That mixture is then added to fresh brewed orange tea.

I love this wild orange tea. You can use your favorite brand of orange tea.

I would suggest you use orange tea because it really brings out the flavor in this drink.

I’ve tried it with regular black tea and it didn’t taste fruity enough for me.

Enjoy.

Orange Sweet Tea

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 10

Ingredients:

4 cups mandarin oranges, peeled

3 navel oranges, peeled

2 cups sugar, grandulated

2 cups water

For the Tea:

10 orange tea bags

16 cups water

Directions:

Add simple syrup ingredients to a sauce pot, stir, bring to boil, reduce heat, and let mixture simmer until sugar is completely dissolved.

Remove from heat, mash oranges, cover, allow mixture to steep for twenty five minutes.

Prepare tea by adding water to a large pot, bring to boil, add tea bags and steep for 6 minutes.

Remove tea bags, refrigerate tea mixture to cool.

Take the syrup mixture and blend, now strain through a fine mesh sieve, discard chunky orange pieces.

Take simple syrup and allow to cool in the refrigerator.

Mix the tea with simple syrup, stir well.

Serve over ice and garnish with mint and extra orange slices if desired.

NOTE: I would suggest not adding ice to tea prior to serving because it dilutes the tea.