Lychee Tea Recipe

Lychee tea is a sweet, delicious fruit-infused green iced tea with floral notes. Enjoy a glass of lychee iced tea on a hot summer day as a cool, refreshing beverage. (This drink is naturally gluten-free and dairy-free.)

For more refreshing beverages, try our Pineapple and Cucumber Juice, Cantaloupe Juice, and this easy Frosé recipe.

Lychee iced tea is bound to become your new favorite drink. It has a sweet, crisp, clean taste, that quenches your thirst and keeps you cool on the hottest of days. The light, floral taste of Jasmine green tea is a tasty base for a drink that’s enhanced with lychee puree, mint, lemon, and a natural sweetener.

Reasons This Lychee Tea Recipe Works

• Great Summer Beverage! With sweet floral notes, this drink is perfect for the season or when you want a taste of summer all year round. It also works great as a nonalcoholic beverage for parties.
• Easy to Make! This drink may look and taste sophisticated but it’s a breeze to make! And as the tea steeps, your kitchen will be filled with a wonderful floral aroma.
• Versatile! This drink is easy to customize to your liking. Swap the tea base, sweeteners, herbs, and more!

What is lychee?

Lychee is a tropical fruit grown mainly in Southeast Asia. It is part of the soapberry family. It’s characterized by its red bumpy skin, and sweet, translucent flesh. Lychee fruits are used to make everything from cocktails, like the infamous lychee martini, to boba drinks, sorbet, and more!

You can get fresh lychee in the summer but canned lychee is available year round.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Canned Lychee: Believe it or not, canned lychee is preferred for this recipe because the lychee syrup enhances the flavor. You will use both when making lychee tea.
• Hot Water: This is the liquid base of the drink and is used to steep the tea.
• Jasmine Green Tea Bags: This fragrant tea has a light, aromatic quality, and a delicate floral flavor. You can also use regular green tea or your preferred herbal tea.
• Agave Syrup or Honey: Use this as a natural sweetener. To keep this recipe vegan use agave syrup.
• Fresh Mint Sprigs: This adds an invigorating quality and a pop of fresh herby flavor.
• Lemon: The citrus complements the lychee and green tea flavor. You can also add sliced orange or lime as well.

Tips To Nail the Recipe

• Do not steep your tea for too long or it may become bitter — 4-5 minutes is more than enough time.
• Let the lychee tea sit in the fridge for at least an hour for the flavor to infuse.
• Feel free to eat any of the remaining lychee in the tea. But be careful not to eat any seeds if you are using fresh lychee. (Remove the seeds before adding them to the tea.)
• Allow the tea to chill before adding ice. Otherwise, you’re just watering down the flavor because the ice cubes will melt instantly.

Recipe Variations

• Fresh Lychee: If using fresh lychee, you will need to add simple syrup, lychee syrup, or extra sweeteners, like agave or honey, when blending the lychee. For fresh lychee: blend 1 cup lychees (skin and pits removed) with ¼ cup honey or agave syrup (or lychee syrup) + 2 tbsp water (add more sweetener as desired).
• Lychee Rose Tea: Enhance the floral notes of this drink by adding dried rosebuds. 
• Spice: Add fresh ginger to add some warm spice to the drink. You could also swap one of the green tea bags for a ginger tea bag instead.
• Fruit: Add more citrus like orange and lime slices.
• Tea: Although I prefer green tea as the base for lychee iced tea, you can use whatever tea variety suits your personal taste. Try oolong tea, black tea, red tea, or hibiscus. You can also use loose leaf tea instead of tea bags. (Use two teaspoons of loose leaves for each tea bag.)

Storage

Store leftover tea in the fridge and consume it within 3 days. I suggest removing the lemon slices so the drink doesn’t turn bitter.

FAQs

Does lychee tea have caffeine?

That depends on which tea you use as the base. For this recipe, I use green tea so it is caffeinated but not nearly as much as coffee, or even black tea. For comparison, coffee has three times more caffeine than this lychee green tea.

What does lychee tea taste like?

Natural lychee flavor is similar to a pear with hints of citrus. When added to jasmine green tea, it is crisp, with floral notes. It is naturally sweet but light. Agave adds more sweetness.

Are you supposed to eat lychee?

You can absolutely eat fresh lychee but only the white flesh is edible. Remove and discard the husk and stone before consuming.

I Hope You Enjoy This Lychee Iced Tea Recipe!

If you try the recipe, don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know what you think in the comments. Leave a quick review & star rating ★ below! Take pictures, tag #goodfoodbaddie, and share them with me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest! I love seeing my recipes come to life in your kitchen.

More Delicious Tea Recipes To Try!

• Hibiscus Tea with Ginger, Turmeric, and Citrus
• Honey Citrus Mint Tea
• 4-Ingredient Elderberry Tea
• Rosemary Tea with Blueberry & Pomegranate