Mango Peach Refresher Sparkling Iced Tea Recipe

By: Andy Hayes

Some drinks just taste like summer. The mango peach refresher from the Sonic drive-thru is one of them. It's fizzy and sweet and somehow always gone too fast.

Here's the good news. You can make a version at home with loose leaf tea, no drive-thru required. Once you've tried it, it has a way of becoming the afternoon habit you look forward to.

The tea that makes it work

We're using Butterfly Effect, our green and white tea blend with real mango and peach pieces. It also has butterfly pea flower in it, which turns the cold brew a deep blue before you add a single thing.

Cold brewing is the trick. It pulls all that ripe fruit flavor out slowly, with none of the bitterness you can get from hot water and ice. The result is smooth and fruit-forward, with a natural sweetness of its own.

Make the cold brew base

Do this the night before. It takes about two minutes of actual effort.

2 teaspoons Butterfly Effect loose leaf tea
1 cup cold water

Note, we're adding a little more tea than we normally recommend, as we're diluting it with sparkling water in the next step.

Combine in a jar, cover, and pop it in the fridge for 8 to 12 hours. Strain out the leaves when you're done. We use a little extra leaf here for a bolder base, since the sparkling water will mellow it out once you build the drink.

Build your refresher

Makes one glass.

1/2 cup cold brewed Butterfly Effect
1/2 cup sparkling water (San Pellegrino is our go-to, but any sparkling water works)
A glass of ice
Sweetener to taste: simple syrup, honey, or a spoonful of mango or peach purée
A squeeze of lime, optional but kind of a fun bonus

Fill a tall glass with ice. Pour in the cold brew, then top with the sparkling water. Stir in your sweetener of choice. Finish with lime, and watch the color change.