Orange peel tea is a tasty tea that you can make to change your mood and boost immunity. The tangy flavors of the tea will burst in your mouth long after having it. You can make the simple orange tea into a tea of your choice by adding green or black tea, milk chai, or iced tea.
Updated: 5 December 2020
The tea has a refreshing taste but I like it occasionally only for a change in the evening. Children definitely like it. To make orange peel tea choose fresh organic oranges with a thin peel.
Orange Peel Tea
You might have wondered can I drink boiled orange peels? Well, orange peel water will obviously not taste good. But if you turn it into a hot orange peel tea or cold orange ice tea drink, you can certainly drink it and enjoy the benefits too.
Benefits of Orange peel
We all know that the flavors and vitamins of oranges are more in the peel than in juice. Then? Does it make sense to throw all those vitamins in the garbage? Of course not.
Have you ever wondered what is orange tea good for? Orange peel has 60 different types of flavonoids and 170 types of phytonutrients apart from being rich in vitamins, minerals, pectin, and fibers. Historically, Chinese people had used Orange tea for medicinal purposes for a long time. Here are a few major benefits.
- Relieves respiratory problems like cold, flu, asthma by expelling congestion.
- Helps weight loss by reducing appetite
- anti-inflammatory
- antioxidant
- anti-cancer
- Good for oral health as it removes bad breath and whitens teeth.
- Helps boost overall body immunity by increasing vitamin C intake.
Side effect
It has practically no side effects if consumed in moderation. Increase use can cause diarrhea, or vomiting.
How to store orange peels.
- You can sun dry orange peels.
- You can also oven dry on the lowest setting till the edges of the peel are slightly dry.
- Or you can slice orange peels and leave them on the counter to dry naturally.
- Never store fresh peel in the fridge, always store at room temperature.
Variations: What can I add to orange tea?
When you say orange tea, it means tea with an orange flavor. You can enhance flavor further with ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. You can also add any tea of your choice like green tea or black. A little lemon juice or orange can definitely add a flavor boost. You might also like Calendula tea.
How to store orange tea?
The classic orange tea, which is boiled orange peel water with spices can be stored in a fridge for two days. After adding green tea or black tea, it should be consumed quickly.
How to make?
There is no rocket science in making orange tea. What makes it amazing is YOU! I can't give you your perfect orange tea recipe. In this post, I endeavor to explain exactly what flavors, combos you can make with this tea. And how you can turn boiled orange water into an amazing drink both hot and cold.
Let begin by boiling water. And choose shiny and thin orange peel, slice the peels.
Boil water. Add orange peels and spices. ( I used cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. You can add ginger too. Cloves can be skipped too.)
Boil for 2 minutes. Add honey or sugar or any other sweetener.
Cover and let the tea steep for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes reheat and add lemon juice. Do a taste test, add more sweetener or lemon juice to taste if needed. Strain, and serve your simple or classic orange tea is ready.
Now, this plain orange peel tea is good but it could be better, so read on.
For Orange green tea: After steeping add the green tea and boil for 30 sec. (You may use teabags). Strain and serve your Orange peel green tea.
This is pretty good but if you like black tea, read ahead.
For orange peel black tea after steeping, instead of green tea add black tea and boil for 60 secs. ( You may add the teabag.) Serve hot.
If you want orange ice tea. You can add orange juice and ice in brewed black. Enjoy chilled.
Now let's say you love milk tea or chai tea. So add milk to your black tea and turn it into chai tea. Skip the lemon juice or the milk can curdle.
For orange peel chai, add milk in black tea and boil for another 60 seconds. Strain and serve hot. (I'm chai lover and I like the orange chai tea best but sometimes, not daily.)
So here my quest or craze to try all types of orange tea ends.
Love your tea? Me too, check these!
Orange peel tea recipe
Ingredients
Classic Orange Peel Tea (Plain)
- ½ peel of an orange , (I used kennow orange)
- 2½ cups water
- 2 green cardamom, or ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder, optional
- 2 inch cinnamon, broken in chips or ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- ¼ teaspoon lemon juice, or more to taste (skip if making chai milk tea)
- 2 tablespoon honey or sugar, or any sweetener of your choice to taste.
Add below ingredients to make specific orange tea.
Orange Green Tea
- 2 bag green tea, or 1½ teaspoon loose green tea
Orange Black Tea
- 1-2 black tea bag, or ½-1 teaspoon black tea powder
Orange Chai Tea
- 2 black tea bag, or 2 teaspoon black tea powder
- ½ cup milk
Orange Ice Tea
- 2 black tea bag, or 1 teaspoon black tea powder
- ½ cup orange juice
- 1 cup ice cubes
Instructions
Orange peel tea Plain
- Choose brightest, freshest orange for peel. Remove any spot or marked areas.
- Thinly slice the peel.
- Bring water to boil and add all spices and orange peel. Simmer for 1-2 minutes until color of water changes.
- Add sweetener of your choice and lemon juice.
Steep
- Turn off heat and cover. Let the tea sit for 15 minutes. For stronger taste leave it up to one hour. Do a taste test, adjust lemon and sweetner if needed. Reheat, strain and serve.
Orange Green Tea.
- After steeping in the last step of plain oranfe tea add the green tea and boil for 30 sec. Strain and serve.
Orange Black Tea
- After steeping, in the last step of plain orange tea add black tea and boil for 60 secs. Strain and serve.
Orange peel chai (skip lemon juice)
- After steeping, in the last step of plain orange tea add black tea and boil for 60 secs. Add milk in black tea and boil for another 60 secs. Strain and serve hot.
Orange Ice Tea.
- After steeping, in the last step of plain orange tea add black tea and boil for 60 secs. Strain and let it cool for 10 minutes at least. Then add orange juice and ice. Serve with straw and more ice. Enjoy chilled.
Isabella says
Love this recipe! The perfect steeping time for me was 40 minutes.
Recipe 52 says
Thanks a lot for leaving lovely feedback. I'm so happy you love it.
Patrick says
Can’t wait to try this! We go through a lot of oranges.
Recipe 52 says
Hope your like this! You might like my orange jam without pectin and peel. Do have a look. 😊