Refreshing iced tea and sweet lemonade come together in this Starbucks Iced Black Tea Lemonade copycat drink. Recreate this summer classic at home in only 5 minutes!
Recipe Highlights
- Starbucks Iced Black Tea Lemonade is an Iced Black Tea shaken with sweetened lemonade. The drink is made without any syrups, but it’s sweet from the sugar that’s in the pre-made lemonade.
- This easy recipe recreates a grande size (16 ounce) cup of Starbucks Iced Black Tea Lemonade using 4 ingredients.
- An iced tea concentrate is used to make this drink at Starbucks, but this version is made by brewing hot tea using tea bags which is quickly cooled with ice in a cocktail shaker. A jar with tight lid will also work if you don’t have a cocktail shaker.
- It takes just 5 minutes to make this drink, including the time to steep the tea.
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Starbucks Iced Black Tea Lemonade
Starbucks makes this Arnold Palmer drink using ice, lemonade, and Teavana’s black tea concentrate. The lemonade and ice dilute the black tea concentrate.
The 3 ingredients are poured into a cocktail shaker and shaken 10 times to make sure the tea is chilled and all ingredients are mixed well.
The drink is sweetened by the lemonade, which is pre-made and contains sugar.
A common adjustment at Starbucks is to reduce the amount of ice (light ice or extra ice) or add a flavored syrup like raspberry.
This drink comes in 4 sizes: tall (12 ounces), grande (16 ounces), venti (24 ounces), and trenta (30 ounces!).
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Ingredient Notes
- Tazo Awake English Breakfast tea bags
Teavana’s Royal English Breakfast tea concentrate that Starbucks uses to make their iced tea isn’t available for purchase anywhere. A good substitute is Tazo’s Awake English Breakfast tea, which is very similar. There’s also the Tazo Unsweetened Iced Black Tea concentrate, but it tastes awful, so don’t get it to make the drink. - Water
If possible, use filtered water for a better tasting tea. - Lemonade
Starbucks uses their own sweetened lemonade in this drink, which isn’t available for purchase. Use your favorite lemonade to make the drink. My favorite is from Trader Joe’s. - Ice
Filtered water makes better tasting ice.
Photo Credit: amazon.com
Step-by-Step Instructions
For full ingredients and instructions, scroll down to see the recipe.
- Put tea bags and hot water into a teapot.
Use simmered water to steep tea instead of boiling hot water. Simmer water on the stovetop or use an electric kettle with a temperature setting. - Cover and steep.
- Put lemonade, ice, and hot tea into a cocktail shaker. Shake.
If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, use a large jar with a tight lid. - Pour Iced Black Tea Lemonade into a cup.
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Ways to Customize This Drink
This drink is already sweetened from the lemonade but if you like it sweeter, or want to adjust the flavor, here are some options.
Simple syrup
Simple syrup is the easiest way to sweeten an iced drink since it’ll dissolve easily into a cold beverage. It’s quick and easy to make your own simple syrup at home using just 2 ingredients.
Raspberry syrup
Some Starbucks customers ask for raspberry syrup added to their drink to make it a more fruity Arnold Palmer.
Peach syrup
Another fruity option is adding peach juice or syrup to Starbucks’ standard recipe. Try adding my homemade peach syrup.
RELATED: 12 Simple Syrups Recipes
Expert Tips
- The tea used in the Starbucks drink is an English Breakfast tea, which is a blend of black teas. Every tea company makes their own custom blend so none are exactly alike, but they all have similar tasting notes.
- Even though Starbucks uses a black tea concentrate, the tastiest way to recreate the drink is to brew hot tea then cool it down quickly with ice using a cocktail shaker. Avoid Tazo’s iced tea concentrate since it tastes horrible.
- If you don’t have English Breakfast tea, any black tea blend (Irish Breakfast, Scottish Breakfast, etc.), or just plain Assam tea will work.
- To use loose tea, replace the 2 tea bags with 1 heaping tablespoon of English breakfast tea.
- Use an electric kettle to set the correct temperature and time to boil your water.
- Starbucks doesn’t sweeten their Black Iced Tea but their lemonade is already sweetened. If you want to make yours sweeter, or adjust the flavors, use a simple syrup or a flavored syrup. It mixes way easier into a cold drink than regular sugar.
- The more you shake the iced tea, the more foam you’ll see on the surface. If you like a lot of foam, keep shaking it, about 40 times.
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Questions You May Have
Starbucks uses Teavana English breakfast tea concentrate, dilutes it with lemonade, then mixes it with ice in a cocktail shaker. Everything is then poured into a cup.
Yes. There’s caffeine in all black teas.
Steep time is key when making a cup of tea. If it’s bitter, then the tea was steeped for too long or the water was too hot.
The cocktail shaker is used to quickly cool down the hot tea using ice. It’s the ice-chill method of making iced tea. If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, any large jar with a tight lid will work.
Starbucks iced drinks are half liquid and half ice. In a grande sized drink, which is 16 ounces, 8 ounces is tea and lemonade with 8 ounces of ice.
Related
- Iced Black Tea
- 17 Starbucks Lemonade Drinks (Including Secret Menu)
- Starbucks Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte Copycat
- Best Starbucks Iced Teas
- Best Starbucks Syrups
- 23 Popular Starbucks Secret Tea Menu Drinks
- 21 Best Starbucks Tea Drinks
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Starbucks Iced Black Tea Lemonade
INGREDIENTS
- ½ cup hot water
- 2 Tazo Awake English Breakfast tea bags
- ½ cup lemonade
- 1 ½ cups ice
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put tea bags and hot water into a teapot.Use simmered water to steep tea instead of boiling hot water. Simmer water on the stovetop or use an electric kettle with a temperature setting. Set the water temperature to 190°F when using the electric kettle.
- Cover and steep for 3 minutes. Discard tea bags.Steeping for longer may make your green tea bitter.
- Put lemonade, ice, and hot tea into a cocktail shaker. Shake 10 times. Put lemonade and ice in first, then the hot tea. If you don't have a cocktail shaker, use a large jar with a tight lid.
- Pour drink into a cup.
EQUIPMENT
NOTES
- Teavana’s Royal English Breakfast tea concentrate that Starbucks uses to make their iced tea isn’t available for purchase anywhere. A good substitute is Tazo’s Awake English Breakfast tea, which is very similar.
- Starbucks uses a black tea concentrate to make the drink but the tastiest way to recreate the beverage is to brew hot tea then cool it down quickly with ice using a cocktail shaker. Avoid Tazo’s iced tea concentrate since it tastes horrible.
- If you don’t have English Breakfast tea, any black tea blend (Irish Breakfast, Scottish Breakfast, etc.), or just plain Assam tea will work.
- To use loose tea, replace the 2 tea bags with 1 heaping tablespoon of English Breakfast tea.
- Use an electric kettle to set the correct temperature and time to boil your water.
- Starbucks doesn’t sweeten their Iced Black Tea but their lemonade is already sweetened. If you want to make yours sweeter, or adjust the flavors, use a simple syrup or a flavored syrup. It mixes way easier into a cold drink than regular sugar.
- The more you shake the iced tea, the more foam you’ll see on the surface. If you like a lot of foam, keep shaking it, about 40 times.
Starbucks uses their own sweetened lemonade in this drink, which isn’t available for purchase. Use your favorite lemonade to make the drink. My favorite is from Trader Joe’s.