Perhaps you’ve visited a Panera Bread restaurant and have loved their Iced Green Tea. Yeah, you’re not alone. A lot of people like it and it’s delicious. If you’re like us when you enjoy something that you really like at a restaurant you might want to replicate it at home. Maybe it’s just because you enjoy the flavor and want to consume it more often. Or maybe you want to have it available for a fraction of the cost. Whatever the reason, we’ve got you covered with our delicious Panera bread iced green tea recipe.
Refreshing Copycat Panera PassionFruit Papaya Green Tea
Our copycat Panera Bread Iced Green Tea Recipe is both delicious and refreshing. Because it’s served in a glass of ice, it’s perfect for a hot summer day or for really any occasion.
What Is Green Tea
Green tea is made from the Camellia Sinensis plant. Its dried leaves and leaf buds are used to make several kinds of tea, including black tea.
A brewed green tea is typically green, yellow or light brown in color, and its flavor is typically grass-like, sweet, or seaweed like.
What You’ll Need For Homemade Panera Green Tea
To make our homemade Panera Green Tea, you’ll need the following ingredients:
Passionfruit Papaya Green Tea Bags
Honeydew Melon Syrup
Papaya Nectar
water
How Much Sugar in Panera Green Tea?
Panera Green Tea restaurant version is loaded with sugar! The 20oz Panera Passion Papaya Green Tea has 34 grams of sugar according to their website menu nutrition facts. 34 grams of sugar is about ¼ cup.
The recommended daily allowance of sugar for women is 25 grams or 6 teaspoons. And the recommended daily allowance for men is 37.5 grams or 9 teaspoons.
We don’t know about you, but we don’t like to eat all our sugar for the day in one glass of tea. This is another great reason to make it at home so you can control the sugar content.
Steeping Green Tea
Green tea is one of the most sensitive teas to steep. This being the case, you’ll want to use hot water that has a temperature range of 175F to 185F and allow it to steep for 1 to 2 minutes or until the desired concentration has been reached.
Sweetening Your Tea
There are many ways you can sweeten your tea. Our recipe includes ingredients that contain mild amounts of sugar, so it will be naturally sweetened.
But if you don’t have access to the flavoring agents in our recipe, you might need to add a sweetener.
The use of honey effectively removes bitterness from the flavor and it our go to sweetener for tea.
Some other natural sweeteners you might be interested in trying are: Agave syrup, maple syrup, and coconut sugar. Sugar and artificial sweeteners are also possibilities to fill this role.
Panera’s Secret Formula for Iced Popular Green Tea Goes Viral on TikTok
This last week, Panera’s so called secret formula for their ever so popular green tea was divulged and went viral on TikTok when one of their employees posted a video of how it’s made.
As an interesting side note, the employee suggested adding a bit of Sprite or Sierra Mist to your glass of green tea up the flavor.
This could also be done in your homemade recipe version. Or add lemon and lime slices to enhance the flavors.
This Major Bakery Chain’s Tea Recipe Is Exploding In Popularity Right Now
Evidently the Panera employee created the TikTok video in response to a lady’s comment on his channel.
Her comment read, “if you find the secret formula to the green tea please fill a sister in”. I’d dare say the secret formula is out!
Panera Employee Shows How Its Famous Green Teas Are Made: So Surprised
If you think Panera makes its green tea with care, using a special recipe, you might be surprised. Because, nope, that’s not how it’s done.
When the Panera employee posted his TikTok video about how its famous green teas are made, he showed a jug of concentrate and the simple instructions of mixing 1 jug with 5 gallons of water.
And that’s it. The jug of concentrate is even purchased from a third-party company.
Frequently Asked Questions
Following are some questions that are asked frequently about making Panera Bread’s Iced Green Tea Recipe.
What Are The Flavors In Panera’s Green Tea?
Panera’s Green Tea is said to be flavored with PassionFruit and Papaya. The ingredient list on The Republic of Tea restaurant concentrate jug with the title “PassionFruit Papaya Green Tea” is as follows: filtered water, sugar, brewed green tea, natural flavor, citric acid, ascorbic acid, fruit juice (color), beta carotene (color).
How Do I Make Iced Green Tea Like The Kind at Panera Bread?
If you’re able to find a source to buy the same The Republic of Tea PassionFruit Papaya Green Tea concentrate then you’d have an identical flavor match.
However, after our research it seems that it’s not possible for individuals to purchase this exact product. It is only sold to restaurants and perhaps it’s only sold to Panera.
The best way to make iced green tea like the kind at Panera is to use our recipe below.
What Is The Best Way To Store Copycat Panera Passion Papaya Green Tea?
To store copycat Panera Passion Papaya Green Tea, place it in a glass jar with a lid and store it in the refrigerator.
Green tea can also be frozen, but is best when used fresh.
Does Green Tea Help You Sleep?
Drinking something at bedtime might help you to relax and sleep better. But if you’re sensitive to caffeine, we don’t recommend consuming green tea within 3 hours of when you plan to sleep. It will keep you awake.
Does Green Tea Have Caffeine?
Yes, green tea naturally includes caffeine.
Calories Large 20 oz
We estimate that our homemade Panera Bread Iced Green Tea Recipe includes about 70 calories. Those calories come from the sugar contained in the Honeydew melon syrup and the Papaya nectar.
The sugar content in the homemade version compared to the restaurant version is significantly less.
To decrease the sugar content even further, see the alternate recipe for Just 3 Ingredients below.
Calorie Burn Time
The restaurant version of the 20oz medium serving of Panera bread iced passion papaya green tea has 140 calories. To burn 140 calories it takes the following burn times:
11 minutes of swimming
20 minutes of biking
15 minutes of jogging
36 minutes of walking
How to Make Copycat Panera Bread Green Tea
Following is our recipe to make copycat Panera Green Tea with a passionfruit papaya enhanced flavor.
Ingredients
8 bags Passionfruit Papaya Green Tea Bags
8 cups water
5 tablespoons Honeydew Melon Syrup
3 tablespoons Papaya Nectar
Instructions
1. Bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Add the tea bags and remove from the heat. Let sit until cooled. Remove tea bags.
2. Stir in honeydew melon syrup and papaya nectar.
3. Pour into a glass jar and add lemon or lime slices as a garnish.
4. Serve over a glass of ice cubes. Enjoy!
Recommended Ingredients:
Did You Know This About Panera Bread?! Drink Hack!
Even though Panera’s ingredient list on their jug of concentrate simply indicates natural flavor is used, our recipe using papaya nectar and honeydew melon syrup makes it taste just like theirs.
Have You Ever Tried a Copycat Panera Bread Green Tea Recipe Before?
If you’ve tried our recipe, please leave us a review in the comments to let us know what you think. We read every single one.
Panera Iced Green Tea Nutrition Information
We estimate that there are 6 servings in our recipe above. The following nutrition facts are based on 1/6th of the recipe.
Please note that nutrition information will vary based on the brand of the ingredients used.
70 calories
0g fat, 0g cholesterol, 0mg sodium
8g Total Carbohydrates
8g Sugar
0g Protein
Alternate Recipes
Following are some alternative recipes for green tea.
Just 3 Ingredients
If you want to make Panera Bread Iced Green Tea Recipe with a little bit of a lighter flavor, you can use just 3 ingredients of: 3 tbsp honey, 2 tsp lemon juice, 6 cups water, 7 tea bags Passionfruit Papaya Green Tea.
The 3-ingredient recipe will also decrease the sugar content of the mixture as well.
Instant Pot Copycat Panera Green Tea
Use our full recipe above and add water and tea bags to your instant pot. Set your pot to manual high pressure for 4 minutes.
Do a natural release for 15 minutes then release and open lid. Add flavoring syrups and stir. Let cool.
Printable Recipe
Panera Bread Iced Green Tea Recipe
Equipment
- saucepan
Ingredients
- 8 bags Passionfruit Papaya Green Tea Bags
- 8 cups water
- 5 tablespoons Honeydew Melon Syrup
- 3 tablespoons Papaya Nectar
Instructions
- Bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Add the tea bags and remove from the heat. Let sit until cooled. Remove tea bags.
- Stir in honeydew melon syrup and papaya nectar.
- Pour into a glass jar and add lemon or lime slices.
- Serve over a glass of ice cubes. Enjoy!
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What brand of tea do you like to use?! I’m having a hard time finding Passionfruit Papaya Green Tea Bags
Usually it’s just one or the other or black tea or the matcha
Great question! You can find all 3 ingredients through online vendors like Amazon.
Passionfruit Papaya Green Tea is made by Terravita
Papaya Nectar Juice is made by Goya
Honeydew Melon is made by Amoretti
Thanks for reading CookThink!