Name: Southern Spiked Mango Iced Tea
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 5
Ingredients: 4 mangoes (large ); 1 cup water; 1 cup sugar; 1 lime (juiced); 1 1/2 quarts cold water; 6 tea bags; 2 cups mango nectar (homemade or store bought); 2 lemons (sliced); 2 ounces bourbon whiskey; 4 ounces mango iced tea; Lemonade; Ice; Sliced mango (for garnish); Sliced lemon (for garnish)

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Change up your brunch beverage game with this Southern Spiked Mango Iced Tea! Arnold Palmer-style lemon iced tea combined with homemade mango nectar and a shot of your favorite bourbon is a tasty tropical, Southern way to cool down a balmy morning meal.

Oh my goodness, look at me! Posting twice in one week??? It must be a special occasion, right? Or maybe my life is chilling out just enough to allow a little more blog time!

Yeah, that’s not it. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more busy and exhausted and stressed out in my life…but it’s on my own terms, so it’s OK. Right?

This Southern Spiked Mango Iced Tea comes to you at an ironic time in my life, since I just spent the last week in Salt Lake City, Utah.

It’s ironic because (1) Utah is obviously not the South, (2) I had a hard time finding good iced tea while I was there, but I did drink a shot of bourbon, and (3) depending on how heavy-handed you are with your bourbon, you wouldn’t be able to put this guy on a menu there.

WE WANT TO GIVE YOU MORE OF WHAT YOU WANT!

Sweet iced tea is one of those things synonymous with the South, and it’s definitely an acquired taste.

When I was a kid, there was always a pitcher of it in the fridges of my friends’ homes, but never in my own. My family hails from Buffalo, New York – it just wasn’t a thing we were used to. Nana was a coffee fiend, drinking a whole pot in one day sometimes, which I assume is where I got my adulthood affinity for it, too.

I didn’t really get into iced tea until college, and I blame fast food. Those yellow arches drew me in, and that chicken place (the one that’s always closed on the day you want it most) just solidified it for me. Overly-sugary iced tea was where my heart lay.

Now, I use far less sugar, and try to sweeten it naturally with fruit – hence this mango iced tea recipe you see before you.

Another acquired taste I’ve developed recently is for bourbon.

Not straight, though. I’ve never been a shot-drinker, unless it’s Fireball, and even that is in moderation.

I don’t know if it’s the phobia of the hangover sure to come, or just the taste of straight liquors that steers me clear. I’d much rather mix them in to something fruity and herby and refreshing. Drinking a cocktail through a fancy straw or with a little umbrella in it is way more appealing to me than some brown liquid with a ball of ice in it.

Does that make me weird?

Who’s with me?! Are you a frilly sipper, or do you prefer to put hair on your chest?

Either way, if you liked iced tea, you’re going to love this one! If you’re not into making homemade mango nectar (though I highly recommend it!) most grocery stores sell it in their ethnic foods section. The sugary, slightly tart mango adds a nice flavor to this otherwise standard iced tea, and topping it all off with lemonade brightens up the bourbon. Even The Hubs, who is not at all a bourbon fan, enjoyed this drink – enough to finish mine while I wasn’t looking.

(Psst – shout out to Dixie Crystals for the perfect sugar used in my mango nectar! Don’t forget to enter our #BrunchWeek giveaway at the bottom of this post!)