Hugh Hefner and me-when-I-look-at-my-weather-app have one thing in common… We’re both not fond of anything over 25.

The good news is that this week’s cold brew peach iced tea is the perfect way to cool down and refresh up.

No cooking or oven needed. Just delicious liquid cold.

This week’s album: 
The Breakthrough by Mary J. Blige

After gelato, peach ice tea was my go-to for cooling off when baking in Lake Como’s summer heat. (“Fraser, did you work in Lake Como? You must tell us about that some time.” I will.)

Estathé is by far and away my favourite brand of iced tea, but this is probably my inner child enjoying how outrageously sweet it is.

We’re going to try a more grown up version that’s sweetened with honey (you can add as much or as little as you like) and scented with lemon and mint. It tastes far better than anything you can buy in the supermarket and is a lot better for you too.

We’re going to cold brew the iced tea. This is a popular way of making coffee and is seen more and more often these days. The benefit of cold brew is that it removes the risk of ending up with a bitter drink (which can often be the case if you try and flavour tea when brewed with boiling water).

Cold brew’s only negative is that it does require quite a long time for all the flavours to blend together. To combat this inconvenience, make a large batch as once it’s strained it will keep in the fridge for up to five days.

Also delicious, our previous recipe for roasted peach and honey semifreddo.

The below serves 4. It takes 5 mins to prep and 6-12 hours of brewing.

4 ripe peaches
20 mint leaves
1 lemon (peel only)
4 tbsps honey
4 tea bags (english breakfast or earl grey)
Ice to serve

1. Cut the peaches in half, removing the stones, then finely slice them. Add to a large jug and gently muddle/smash (the end of a rolling pin works well) until a rough pulp forms.


2. Add the mint leaves, lemon peel, honey and tea bags.


3. Top up with 1 litre of cold water. Mix well, cover, then transfer to the fridge for a minimum of six hours and maximum of twelve.


4. When ready to serve, strain everything through a fine sieve. For the best result, pass through the sieve once and use the back of a ladle to squeeze all the liquid out and then pass a second time just using a your hand to tap the sieve until all the liquid passes through and a small amount of pulp remains. Divide between glasses filled with ice and garnish with an optional slice of peach and a sprig of mint.

I’m off my fifth shower of the day. This heat is not being kind to my sweat glands.

Enjoy your tea.

Fraser

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