Ask for an Arnold Palmer at a diner in the US and you’ll get a tall glass of iced tea and lemonade, half and half. It’s the grown-up soda order: tart, cold, a little sweet, and nobody asks questions.
The catch is the sweetness. Bottled versions are heavy on sugar, and plenty of home lemonade recipes call for around a cup per pitcher. So here’s an Arnold Palmer drink with about a third of that in the pitcher, and half the glass is unsweetened tea, so it lands at roughly half the sugar of a classic.
Quick answer: An Arnold Palmer is half iced tea and half lemonade over ice. For a lighter homemade version, use strong unsweetened black tea and a lemonade made with 1 cup of lemon juice, 3 cups of water and just ⅓ cup of sugar. Pour half and half, or lean toward the tea.
Ingredients
- 4 cups strong unsweetened black iced tea, chilled
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
- 3 cups cold water
- ⅓ cup sugar (65 g)
- Ice, lemon wheels
Makes about 8 glasses, with leftover lemonade for the next one.
How to make an Arnold Palmer
- Brew the tea. Steep 5 black tea bags in 2 cups of boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes. Take out the bags, add 2 cups of cold water and chill. Iowa State University Extension gives that steeping window, and says to drink refrigerated tea within three days.
- Dissolve the sugar. Stir ⅓ cup sugar into ⅓ cup of hot water. Cool slightly.
- Juice the lemons. Strain out the seeds. You want 1 cup.
- Mix the lemonade. Combine juice, syrup and 3 cups cold water in a pitcher. Taste. It should be properly tart.
- Build the glass. Fill with ice, pour half tea and half lemonade, and stir once.
Why the half-sugar version works
Classic lemonade is a lot of sugar masking a lot of sourness. Here the tea does something useful: its tannins give some bitterness and body, so the drink tastes balanced without needing as much sweetener. When you cut the sugar, the first glass tastes tarter than you remember. Most people find the second sips better than the first.
If you want to go lighter still, pour two-thirds tea to one-third lemonade. Or leave out the syrup and sweeten only the lemonade glass by glass with 1 tsp of honey.
Variations
- Sparkling Arnold Palmer: replace the water in the lemonade with sparkling water, added just before serving.
- Peach Palmer: drop 3 slices of ripe peach into the glass.
- Green tea Palmer: brew green tea slightly cooler, 2 to 3 minutes, for a lighter taste.
- Caffeine-free: use rooibos or hibiscus tea in place of black tea.
- Mint: muddle 4 mint leaves in the bottom of the glass first.
How an Arnold Palmer replaces your can of soda
Sweet and sour, cold, in a tall glass: it’s a soda drinker’s drink without being soda. And it has caffeine from the tea, which matters if the can at 3 p.m. is about the lift. The FDA lists about 71 mg in 12 ounces of black tea, and 23 to 83 mg in a 12-ounce caffeinated soda. A half-tea glass will land under that.
On the sugar side, the CDC says one 12-ounce can of soda has more than 10 teaspoons (about 42 grams) of added sugar. This recipe puts ⅓ cup of sugar (16 teaspoons) into a pitcher that makes 4 cups of lemonade. A full glass is half lemonade, so a single glass has about 2 teaspoons. That’s a real drop, but it isn’t zero, so be honest with yourself that it’s a lighter drink, not an unsweetened one.
The ritual is the lemon wheel on the rim and the glass in your hand. Keep a jug of each in the fridge and the order of “half and half” takes ten seconds.
Log it in FizzFree
A lighter Arnold Palmer is a good swap for the afternoon can, but only if you enjoy it enough to repeat it. In FizzFree, add it to your Swap Shelf and tap whether the swap worked.
FizzFree is a habit tracker and not medical advice. If you have a health condition or take medication, talk to your doctor before changing what you drink.
Questions
What is in an Arnold Palmer?
An Arnold Palmer is half iced tea and half lemonade, poured over ice. The traditional version uses unsweetened black tea and sweetened lemonade, so almost all of the sugar comes from the lemonade side.
Why is it called an Arnold Palmer?
It's named after the golfer Arnold Palmer, who was known for ordering the mix of iced tea and lemonade. The name stuck, and today it covers any half-and-half pour of the two.
How do I make an Arnold Palmer with less sugar?
Use unsweetened tea, make your own lemonade with about ⅓ cup of sugar a pitcher, and pour less lemonade than tea, such as a third lemonade to two-thirds tea. Fresh lemon juice tastes strong enough that you won't miss the rest.
Does an Arnold Palmer have caffeine?
Yes. The tea half is black tea, which contains caffeine. The FDA lists about 71 mg in 12 ounces of black tea, so a half-and-half glass has less than a full glass of tea. Use decaf tea if you want to avoid it.
Can I make it with green tea or herbal tea?
Yes. Green tea makes a lighter, grassier version, and an herbal tea such as hibiscus or peppermint gives you a caffeine-free one. Black tea is the traditional choice because it holds up against the lemon.
FizzFree is a habit tracker and not medical advice. If you have a health condition or take medication, talk to your doctor before changing what you drink.