Specialty Iced Tea and Lemonade: Premium Summer Refreshers
The arrival of warmer weather heralds a beverage-menu pivot to summertime’s ever-popular iced tea and lemonade. But there are many ways to turn these dependable refreshers into high-impact, premium offerings. Here are 15 ideas for creating summer signatures:
- Repurpose extra iced tea into ice cubes to prevent dilution; a mint leaf in every cube adds flavor and visual appeal.
- Offer pitchers or carafes of iced tea and/or lemonade—plain or enhanced—for the table, and large-format containers of these beverages for takeout.
- Mix lemonade or iced tea with on-trend “superfood” ingredients like wild blueberry or pomegranate juice, turmeric or ginger, cinnamon, goji or acai berries, or coconut water/milk to leverage growing interest in probiotics.
- Go the predictable lemonade-and-iced tea “50/50” one better by combining ginger peach tea, elderflower syrup (or liqueur), lemonade, and iced tea.
- Mix lemonade with club soda or sparkling water, plus macerated fruit (try berries, apples, grapefruit, or clementines) and other flavorings (such as ginger, cardamom, chili pepper, or juniper) to create a European-style gazoz; a splash of apple cider or balsamic vinegar turns it into a nostalgic shrub.
- Rim a glass of lemonade with hickory-smoked sea salt or citrus chili salt.
- Pair lemonade with slightly fizzy green tea kombucha for another spin on the 50/50.
- Add limeade and/or orange juice to lemonade, and garnish with citrus wheels.
- Instead of mint, add basil, lemon verbena, lavender, or vanilla to iced tea.
- Serve refreshing matcha tea or flavorful chai on ice.
- Turn plain or flavored lemonade into slush by blending it with ice.
- Combine lemonade or sweet tea with beer for a low-alcohol quaff called a shandy.
- Mix tea with cherry limeade or pineapple juice for a sweet and fruity specialty.
- Make iced tea interesting with bourbon, chopped peaches, and sugar or simple syrup.
- Pick a surprising juice or ingredient to add excitement to iced tea or lemonade:
Yuzu |
Dragon fruit |
Cilantro |
Lychee |
Rhubarb |
Hibiscus |
Lemongrass |
Fennel |
Pear |
Cucumber |
Guava |
Passionfruit |
Did You Know?
- August 20 is National Lemonade Day
- Iced tea accounts for 84% of all the tea consumed in the U.S. according to the Tea Association of the United States
- The origins of lemonade can be traced to the Egyptians when in 500 A.D. lemon juice was mixed with sugar to make a beverage known as qatarmizat
- Iced tea was popularized in the early 1900s when it was served at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis
Content courtesy of Nestle Professional