Artificial Food Coloring Free Herbal Arnold Palmer with Fresh Herbs

Total time45 min

Prep time10 min

Cook time5 min

Artificial Food Coloring Free Herbal Arnold Palmer with Fresh Herbs

Few drinks are as refreshing as a classic Arnold Palmer, but most bottled versions are loaded with artificial dyes and synthetic flavoring that have no business being in your glass. This from-scratch take skips all of that entirely, relying on real black tea steeped with fresh mint and basil — plus an optional hit of culinary lavender — for a flavor that's genuinely complex and beautiful. The lemonade side of the equation is just as clean: freshly squeezed lemon juice, cold water, and a simple homemade syrup made from nothing but sugar and water. Every single color in this drink comes from real ingredients, so that soft golden hue and the flecks of green herb are exactly what they look like. Pouring the two halves together over ice creates this gorgeous layered effect before you stir it all into something cool, floral, and a little citrusy. It's the kind of drink that feels fancy enough for a dinner party but easy enough to make on a random Tuesday afternoon. Garnish with a sprig of mint and a lemon slice and it honestly looks like something from a restaurant menu.

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Ingredients

4 servings

For the herbal tea

4 cups water, divided
3 black tea bags
Lipton Black Tea, 8 oz Twinings of London Black Tea English Breakfast - 20 Count Twinings of London Black Tea English Breakfast Decaffeinated - 20 Count PG Tips Black Tea - 40 Count Stash Black Tea English Breakfast - 20 Count
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½ cup fresh mint leaves, lightly packed
¼ cup fresh basil leaves, lightly packed
1 tbsp dried culinary lavender (optional)

For the simple syrup

½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup water

For the lemonade

¾ cup fresh lemon juice (from about 4–5 lemons)
1 ½ cups cold water

For serving

ice, for serving
fresh mint sprigs, for serving (optional)
lemon slices, for serving (optional)

Instructions

1
Bring 2 cups of the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from the heat, add the tea bags, mint leaves, basil leaves, and dried lavender (if using), and steep for 5 minutes.
2
Remove and discard the tea bags. Strain the tea through a fine-mesh strainer into a pitcher, pressing the herbs gently to extract their liquid, then discard the solids. Stir in the remaining 2 cups of cold water and let the tea cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.

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