Honey Free Herbal Arnold Palmer with Fresh Herbs
This drink is the ultimate warm-weather refresher — a fragrant, herb-forward twist on the classic half-and-half that feels genuinely special without requiring much effort. Black tea gets steeped alongside fresh mint and basil, pulling out layers of flavor that make the whole thing taste like a garden in a glass. Optional culinary lavender adds a soft floral note if you want to lean into the aromatics even further. The lemonade side is bright and tart, built from real lemon juice and a quick granulated sugar simple syrup — no store-bought shortcuts, no hidden sweeteners to second-guess. That matters here, because plenty of bottled lemonades and flavored teas sneak in honey or agave without much fanfare, making it genuinely hard to find a version you can trust. Making it from scratch means you control every ingredient, and the result is cleaner and more vibrant than anything from a bottle anyway. Serve it over a tall glass of ice with a sprig of mint and a lemon slice, and it looks as good as it tastes.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the herbal tea
- 4 cups water, divided
- 3 black tea bags
- 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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