Iced Lychee Tea – Green Tea and Red tea

Have you tried fresh lychee? In addition to eating it directly as a fruit, it can be used to make drinks. One of my favorite way of using lychee is to make iced lychee tea. You can use green tea, black tea even oolong tea in this iced version.

I included two versions: lighter iced lychee green tea and strong lychee black tea. The tea liquid is enhanced by the natural sweetness and delightful fragrance of fresh lychees.

This is a surprisingly simple recipe for all the lychee lovers out there. Lychee is just in season and enjoys this unique fruity boba drink that needs only 10 minutes of preparation.

What is Lychee

Lychee is a sweet, soft, white, and juicy fruit that is native to China. But now it is widely cultivated in other countries.

The other name of lychee is litchi. They are fruit grown on an evergreen tree. If you don’t try it, please don’t be scared by the skin. Inside the skin, there is a transparent white and creaming flesh similar to logan.

Fresh lychee is available from May to August in different types. A fully ripened lychee fruit will have a vibrant pink or red color depending on the type.

What does iced lychee tea taste like

In general, iced lychee is a sweet beverage with a strong aroma of lychee fruit. Depending on your choice of tea, it might be slightly different in taste.

Red tea is a type of tea that has been fully oxidized, giving an amazing depth to the drink with its malty earthiness, robust, and sweetness. The lychee offers both sweetness and fragrance.  I also add several slices of lime for both color and taste improvement.

Green tea on the other hand has a fresh, delicate, and very faint bitter flavor. But the flavor can combine well with lychee. If you plan to use green tea, jasmine green tea is highly recommended because the jasmine aroma can bring the taste to another level with the lychee aroma.

How to choose

The two versions have different colors too. You can see iced lychee black tea has a lovely amber color, which is quite appealing. Whole the green tea version has a fairly white color, making it quite special and unique from other ordinary tea drinks. Lime brings a citrusy twist to the drink. 

So it’s your turn to decide which is your favorite iced lychee tea. Or you can try both and let me know what’s your side.

Health Benefits

Lychee iced tea may be one of the healthier tea variants available. If you can manage to skip the sweetener and reach the taste by using a larger amount of fresh lychee, this will be a healthy drink for you.

Both black tea and green tea have antioxidant properties.

Lychee is also a good source of vitamin C, antioxidants, and other nutrients. In fact, 10 lychees have as much vitamin C as a whole orange. So it is a healthy drink.

Ingredients for iced lychee tea

Let’s talk more about our ingredients and how they work together in the fruit tea.

Red Tea

Red tea is actually tisane or herbal tea. It has a nutty, full-bodied flavor that is both refreshing and aromatic. It’s especially delicious when infused with fruits. 

The steeped tea reaches a vibrant reddish-brown hue. When paired with lychee, it shows off a strong and pleasantly sweet malty aroma. 

Jasmine green tea

I use jasmine green tea for the iced green tea version. You can use regular green tea, or green tea bags. Or you can also use oolong tea too.

Lychee

Lychee (Litchee sinensis) is a sweet tropical fruit that originated in China. The aromatic fruit is sweet, with slightly floral and acidic notes. You’ll get a juicy flavor burst with hints of strawberry, watermelon, pear, or citrus. Some also compare the floral taste and aroma to rose.

I love using lychees, especially in the summertime when they’re sweetest and ripest. Lychee imparts a delicate and sweet flavor to the drink. 

Fresh lychee is always the best choice but if you can’t find it, use canned lychee instead. Canned lychee usually is much sweeter because the sugar will be used to lengthen the storage time. So you can skip any sweetener for canned lychee.

An unripe lychee can make the beverage tart and sour. You will need to add more simple syrup to achieve the same bright sweet flavors.

Sweetener

If you are using a large amount of fresh lychee or canned lychee, you don’t need any type of sweetener for the green tea version.

However, since we add some lime in the black version, add simple syrup or honey if you prefer.

Lime for the black tea version only

Several slices of lime can highlight robust black tea and sweet lychee. Lemon can be used to replace lime.

How to Make Iced Lychee Tea

The joy of sipping an indulgent cup of this lychee red tea boba can be achieved in a few easy steps.

Prepare the Tea Base

• I use loose jasmine tea leaves and a red tea bag. Place 2g of jasmine tea leaves or 1 tea bag (or red tea bag) in a pot.
• Add filtered hot water to steep the tea for 3-5 minutes.
• Get the liquid only and set it aside to cool down.

Prepare lychee Base

• Peel the lychee fruit and remove the seeds.

• Once you have enough fruits, add the lychees to a large shaker.

Shake well

• For the green tea version: Muddle the lychee and then add ice cubes, and cooled green tea liquid.
• For the black tea version: muddle the lychee with lime and add ice cubes, cooled black tea liquid.
• Shake to combine well. And transfer to serving cups. That’s it and that’s all.

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