Passion Tea Lemonade with Melon Syrup

Post by: Christian Elizabeth, Audra’s daughter

As you probably know I am a huge fan of Starbucks coffees, teas, Frappuccino's, and all of their baked goods. My last Starbucks post was my take on a Mocha Coconut Frappuccino click here if you missed that post.
Well, I am here today to unveil another one of Starbucks drinks. If you a fan of passion tea lemonade you must know there used to exists a thing called melon syrup and I would have a few pumps added in my tea. Well there came a day when the Barista told me that they had discontinued the syrup and the tea has never tasted the same. So I did what any faithful fan of this drink would do. I went on a riot and never order the drink again in memory of my dearly beloved melon syrup. There is no reason to be on riot anymore because I have created a recipe that taste just like Starbucks used to make it. And here it is…

Ingredients
(makes one gallon)
2 filter Tea Bags of Tazo Iced Passion Tea
2 quarts of boiling water
2 quarts of Lemonade
(I used the brand Simply Lemonade but any brand or prepared lemonade would be fine)

Melon Syrup
1 cup of fresh pureed watermelon
½ cup of sugar

Cool Fact on Ingredients: Tazo Passion Tea is the same band they use at Starbucks ;) 

Directions:

1. Place tea bags into a gallon size pitcher. Bring water to a boil and then pour the boiling water into the pitcher with the tea bags. I leave the tea bags to brew for about an hour to an hour and a half. You really want the tea to have a strong flavor . This also gives the tea a chance to cool after being at a boiling point. Once finished brewing, compress the tea bags between two spoons until all of the extra tea is drained out.

2. To make the melon syrup, I placed fresh watermelon in a blender until I had one cup of its sweet juice. Then pour 1/2 cup of the juice into a small sauce pan. Add half a cup of sugar and place on low heat. whisk constantly until the sugar has completely dissolved. Once sugar is dissolved, let it cool. Then pour 3/4 cup of melon syrup into the passion tea.

3. Add lemonade and the extra 1/2 cup of watermelon puree to the pitcher and stir well! Consume and enjoy within 24 hours.

Do you know how much you just saved?

Starbucks price for a gallon of tea is about $26.60 (though you can not purchase a gallon of Starbucks tea, this is how much it would be according to their current price per ounce of tea)

Price to make this gallon of tea is around $3.23 (taken that you already have watermelon and sugar on hand)

Isn’t saving fun, especially when it taste so good too! Since this recipe makes a whole gallon the whole family can enjoy a Starbucks treat at a fraction of the cost. My brother Liam quite enjoyed this drink. After taking the picture below he grabbed my cup and quickly consumed the deliciousness, but no worries because there was a whole gallon in the fridge waiting for me. This summer fun drink pairs really well with my mother’s
Grilled Fish Tacos, check out the recipe here.