Iced green tea lemonade recipe – better than starbucks!

Iced green tea lemonade recipe – better than starbucks!

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Green tea lemonade is so delicious and refreshing, especially in the summer months. But how much are you spending at Starbucks every week to get those antioxidants? Do you know you can make a much healthier and cheaper version at home with just some green tea and lemons?

Starbucks

What exactly do they put in those Starbucks green tea drinks? It might not be as healthy as you think.

The main culprit is the lemonade and the classic syrup. The Premium Lemonade mix includes water, lemon juice, sugar, and lemon oil. The classic syrup ingredients are sugar, water, citric acid (E330), and potassium sorbate (E202) used as a preservative.

Starbucks uses about 3 pumps or 3 tablespoons of classic syrup for a tall (12 oz) drink making the Shaken Iced Green Tea Lemonade 100 calories, almost as many calories as a Coca-Cola!

I recommend ordering the unsweentened version. It still contains sugar from the lemonade, but it is much lower in calories at only 35 calories.

Green tea

Starbucks uses Tazo Zen Full Leaf Tea . It is a blend of tea with green tea from China, lemongrass, and spearmint. It has more of a minty flavor rather than a green tea taste – perfect if you don’t like the taste of green tea!

For this recipe, however, you can really use any loose leaf green tea. Use whichever one is your favorite – sencha, gyokuro, etc.

Some recipes suggest making a large batch of green tea and storing it in the refrigerator, but this is not the best idea. Green tea catechins degrade over time. To get the most antioxidants, just brew enough for the day and make a new batch the next day.

Lemons

Pre-made lemonades from the store usually contain a lot of sugar, are from concentrate, or include natural flavors. The ingredient list of natural flavors is a mystery. It is made in a lab and is anything but natural.

Fresh lemons are a much healthier substitute. Lemons are an excellent source of Vitamin C and antioxidants. A 1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice contains 23.61 mg of vitamin C, or about 30% of your daily value (DV based on a 2,000 calorie diet).

Sugar

If you like it sweet, try using honey. Honey is a natural sugar containing vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and it has a healthy Glycemic Index (GI). Honey tends to be sweeter than sugar, so add it gradually until you find out how much you like.


Recipe (makes a 12 oz drink)

Ingredients:

Green tea (loose leaf or tea bags)

1 or 2 lemons (or 1/3 cup lemonade)

1 cup water

1/3 cup ice

Optional: 1 teaspoon sweetener (honey, sugar, etc.)

Steps:

  1. Make the green tea
    • Brew about 1 cup of green tea (as directed depending on the type of green tea).
    • Optional: Add sweetener while the tea is hot, and stir.
    • Let the tea cool down to room temperature.
  2. Make the lemonade
    • Squeeze lemons to make about 1/4 cup of lemon juice.
    • Add 1 cup of water and stir.
    • Measure 1/3 cup of the lemonade mixture, and refrigerate the remaining for future tea!
  3. Mix green tea and lemonade
    • Pour 1/3 cup green tea and 1/3 cup lemonade into a shaker.
    • Add 1/3 cup of ice.
    • Shake together.
    • Pour into a glass and enjoy your delicious Green Tea Lemonade!

Are you looking for the best green tea?

I am now selling the tea I drink on Daily Matcha. Discover the most delicious green tea from Japan!

This article contains links to DailyMatcha.com. Daily Matcha is our store where we sell green tea directly from Japan. Your purchases support our effort to raise awareness about green tea. Thank you!

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