Addition of 1–4 wt.% lithium into a conventional Al–Cu–Mg alloy allows lower density and higher mechanical properties, which are attractive for aerospace applications. In this study, fundamental investigations including phase and microstructure evolution, resulting in strengthening, of the AA2195 are conducted to observe a possibility of production with commercial level. Precipitation sequence and kinetics during post-annealing were evaluated with variations of temperature and holding time. Microstructures revealed formation and evolution in representative precipitates including θ (Al2Cu), ß′ (Al3Zr), and T (AlxLiyCu) series. Aluminum alloys have low hardness, modulus, and strength before aging, but precipitates such as θ′ (Al2Cu), ß′ (Al3Zr), and T1 (Al2LiCu) show enhanced mechanical properties of AA2195 tempered because of their interaction with dislocation. However, longer holding time and higher annealing temperature result in significant decreases in mechanical properties due to the presence of incoherent precipitates (θ phase) and coarsening of the precipitates via grain-boundary diffusion. In the current study, the tensile strength of 560 MPa was obtained with post-heat treatment without work hardening. This value has never been achieved in other studies. The maximum strength was reported as 500 MPa without a work hardening process. •A relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties to post annealing AA2195.•A formation and dissolution of the precipitates were observed for various treatment.•An optimum post-annealing condition was obtained.