Honeysuckle Iced Tea is a sweet, floral, and refreshing drink made from honeysuckle blossoms ~ it’s the perfect thing to sip on a warm summer day!
honeysuckle iced tea celebrates the arrival of spring
With Easter and Passover behind us, spring is really and truly here. The honeysuckle vine draped across my front porch is in bloom, and every time I go in or out I’m blown away by the scent. I’ve been determined to use those incredible – edible flowers somehow. I’m always inspired by ingredients I can find in my own yard, (or my neighbor’s!) Over the last three years we’ve moved so often that I’ve tried to reduce the sting by challenging myself to find the elements in each new landscape that I can incorporate into my cooking.
I tried to make you a honeysuckle ice cream, but I’m going to have to keep working on that one, the flavor just didn’t come through. (Update: recipe for Honeysuckle Ice Cream here!) Honeysuckle tea is more mainstream, in fact its been used medicinally by the Chinese for thousands of years. I love it for its delicate scent, and the nectar is sweeter than honey. I was amazed by how much flavor I got out of a jarful of flowers. If you have access to a vine, you’ve got to try this.
honeysuckle tea is made with the delicate white and yellow flowers of the Japanese honeysuckle vine
It’s considered an invasive species, so gardeners and conservationists don’t like it, but it is pretty common, so chances are there’s a vine or two near you. The flowers come in pairs, and you’ll want to pluck them right at their base, where the nectar is. Look for freshly opened flowers, and avoid or pick out the leaves, stems, and berries.
how to make honeysuckle tea
- The tea is made by pouring scalding water over the blossoms, and letting it cool at room temperature.
- Then you can chill your infusion in the refrigerator.
- I left mine overnight before straining it through a coffee filter.
what does honeysuckle tea taste like?
honeysuckle tea has a lovely pale celadon color, a light floral scent, and a surprisingly sweet flavor.
Pour over ice, and add a sprig of mint. Whatever you do, though, don’t add honey before tasting your tea — it’s incredibly sweet all by itself. You might want a squeeze of lemon if you don’t like sweet tea.
If you’ve got a honeysuckle vine blooming nearby, be sure to try my other honeysuckle recipes:
safety note: gathering and foraging wild edibles is fun and safe when you know what you’re doing. Make sure you can identify the plants that you are picking, and don’t pick from roadsides or anywhere where pesticides have been used. If you need help identifying Japanese Honeysuckle, check out this article.
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Honeysuckle Iced Tea
Ingredients
- 2 cups honeysuckle blossoms, more or less
garnish
- fresh mint sprigs
- a few honeysuckle blossoms
Instructions
- Pluck the blossoms from the honeysuckle vine. Discard any leaves or green parts. Try to take the freshly opened flowers, and even the buds that are about to open. Put them in a pitcher or mason jar.
- Cover with about 2 1/2 cups water that has been heated to just boiling. Give it a good stir and let steep at room temperature for several hours. Then refrigerate overnight.
- Strain the tea through a fine mesh strainer, cheesecloth, or a coffee filter. The coffee filter will yield a crystal clear tea.
- Serve cold over ice with a mint sprig and a few blossoms for garnish.
Notes
Don’t forget to pin this Honeysuckle Iced Tea!
I want to know how long this tea csn last-I made my newest batch over this past weekend & have 4 botyles of it
It will last longer if you’ve strained it very finely, like through the coffee filter. But generally I would drink up within a couple of weeks.
I just got my brewing! Thank you for this great post!
I’m new to this website. I love your honesty. It’s so refreshing. I also love honeysuckle. I’m anxious to try the tea. Thank you
Thanks Claudia <3
Is this a concentrate or the actual amount of tea it makes? Like is it single serve or makes multiple servings with the 2 cups of honeysuckle?
This is the actual tea, so you would make a bigger batch for more servings. If you wanted a lighter flavor you could treat it as a concentrate, and dilute with more water, or even green tea.
Great post, Sue! The photos look amazing and sweet. Thank you for sharing your recipe. According to my research, honeysuckle is good for treating digestive disorders, colds, headache, diabetes and cancer. My mom loves to make smoothies and teas that contain nutritional benefits and I would definitely recommend this to her.
Thanks Aika!
Wow! I love the smell, so a tea actually sounds really good. Love this idea Sue, and your photos are lovely.
Thanks Cynthia, I have fun experimenting with these blossoms, and since I have a vine out front I try to do something different with them every year.
Mmmm….this looks divine! A refreshing treat for a hot summer day! Can’t wait to try it! Thank you for sharing the magic!
I know this is a late post but I just found this. I’d like your thoughts on where I went wrong. My tea came out rather bitter. I don’t want to add anything to it and I’m not a person that likes to add sugar to tea. Any ideas?
Is it possible you got bits of green in your tea, Jason? The green parts of the flower can be bitter.
With honeysuckle tea currently in the spotlights for it’s effectiveness against flu, it’s great to come across such a nice recipe. The pics look amazing. Out of all the iced tea recipes that I have come across this is one that I have to try 😉
Can you dry the flowers for storage? I wonder if they will still taste the same. I have a massive amount if Honeysuckle that covers my whole backyard fence, can’t wait to try this:)
You could try, absolutely. Most teas are in dried form, so I don’t see why not!