Fruit Tea Recipes

Enjoying an Afternoon Fruit Tea Beverage, c. 1920s
(Source: Don Bell)

Grandma's favorite fruit tea recipes make delicious beverages you'll be proud to serve to your guests. Back in her day, a gesture of true hospitality meant making a fresh pot of tea when company came.

The teas she loved to serve had a perfectly satisfying, all-natural, fruity taste. Impress your friends by serving these refreshing beverages at your next get-together. Make them feel really special.

Enjoy refreshing iced teas, comforting hot teas, a delicious dessert tea a la mode, and the authentic Russian tea served with lemon. Whether summer or winter, there's a delicious fruit tea beverage to choose from.

Old Fashioned Fruit Tea Recipes

Mom's Recipe Scrapbooks (c. 1920s)

Refreshing Fruit Tea Beverages
(Source: ©iStock/coramueller)

Rhubarb Iced Tea Drink

Tea freshly brewed, 1 quart; juice and rinds of 2 lemons or 1 orange; 1 lemon, cut into thick wedges; sugar, 1-1/2 cups; rhubarb to taste.

Mix together tea, rhubarb, lemon, and sugar. Cook until rhubarb is tender. Strain and cool. Pour over broken ice in cups or glasses.

Rhubarb iced tea is especially refreshing and delicious.

Strawberry and Black Currant Tea

Strawberry and black currant leaves make a very good substitute for tea when properly treated.

Raisin Tea Drink

Wright's Book of 3000 Practical Receipts (1869)

Stoned raisins, 1 pound; water, 5 quarts. Boil to one gallon and strain. Serve hot or with ice.

Lemon Tea à La Russe (Russian Lemon Tea)

Aunt Babette's Cook Book (1889)

Lay a slice of lemon in the bottom of each cup, sprinkle with sugar, and pour hot, strong tea over it. Use no cream.

Iced Lemon Tea Drink

Buckeye Cookery And Practical Housekeeping (1877)

Tea made as for iced tea (or that left in the teapot after a meal), with sugar to taste, a slice or two of lemon, a little of the juice, and some pieces of cracked ice, makes a delightful drink. Serve in glasses.

Orange Iced Tea with Lemon and Ice Cream

Second Edition of the Neighborhood Cook Book (1914)

You have to try this dessert-like fruit tea recipe! This would be perfect to serve on any special occasion. Indeed, it would make any occasion special.

Chill a pitcher of freshly made tea of the desired strength. Sweeten with orange syrup instead of sugar, being careful not to get it too sweet. Then squeeze in enough lemon juice to give it a little twang, and set on ice again to get thoroughly chilled.

Have ready a bowl of chipped ice, a bowl of vanilla ice cream, and a pitcher of cold tea. Fill a dainty glass one-third full of ice, pour on tea until it is two-thirds full, and then drop a spoonful of ice cream on top and serve at once on a plate.

Ask Your Mother If She Had This 1953 Toy Tea Set
(PD Source: Dell Comics, 1953)

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