The Easy Store-Bought Shortcut For Fruity Iced Tea

An ice-cold glass of iced tea is refreshing on its own, but when it's scorching hot out, adding a fruity element takes this drink to the next level. You can incorporate chunks of fresh fruit, a sweet fruit-infused syrup, or diced frozen fruit – but for the easiest addition possible, try using a store-bought fruit puree or pulp. You can typically find a variety of yummy cans at a major grocery store near you, and Amazon offers larger bottles. With a puree, you don't have to settle for a typical fruity taste — you can get fun flavors like pink guava, tamarind, and lulo (a Colombian citrus).

With a pulp or puree, you also don't need to spend any time dicing, blending, or mashing — you can use the mixture straight from the container. If you're buying frozen cans, you will need to thaw them in the refrigerator first, and moving them out of the freezer the night before is your best bet. But once they're ready to go, you can strain your puree, then dump it straight into a pitcher of iced tea and mix. If you're making drinks for a crowd and want to spend your time on other dishes, this is the perfect shortcut to easy, fruity iced tea.

Since fruity pulps and purees typically have a strong flavor, you may want to start off by pairing them with basic teas. Think black tea with a peach, mango, or strawberry puree, or green tea with blueberry, raspberry, or passion fruit. You can also incorporate yummy fruit pulps into a variety of herbal teas to amp up their flavor — for example, chamomile tea with strawberry, peppermint with apple, or ginger with citrus. And if you want a fruit-heavy drink, you can mix and match various teas and purees. Some delicious combinations include peach tea with blueberry pulp, raspberry with apricot, or orange with pomegranate.

It's also important to take note of any added ingredients in a store-bought pulp to determine your drink's sweetness level. Some cans will have sugar added, so you may want to omit any extra sweetener. If you get one that's 100% fruit, however, feel free to include some honey or sugar (in syrup form so it dissolves). You may want to add your puree first and do a taste test first since the natural sugars from the fruit may be enough — and if that's the case, all you need to add to a pitcher of iced tea is a store-bought fruit puree.