Blackberry Iced Tea is the perfect mix of refreshing cold tea and zingy, tart blackberries. This beverage will become your new go to for any summertime chill-out.
The smooth taste of ice tea meets the sharp sweetness of blackberries in a beautiful balance of flavors. This tea is a perfect twist on your usual black iced tea, and will leave you craving more.
Blackberry is one of my all time favorite flavors. It goes well with pretty much anything sweet – love it on ice cream! – and balances other ingredients with it’s signature sour taste.
Why not combine two great things? Iced tea is hands down the best summer drink, as it’s super easy to make as well as delicious and versatile. Mixing that with the complex flavor of blackberry bumps this summer beverage to the top of my list.
If you love blackberries, you also have to try this Blackberry Bramble Cocktail and Blackberry Dark & Stormy. Both can be made with or without alcohol. These drinks are the perfect way to use up all those blackberries in the garden.
How to Make Blackberry Iced Tea
First, boil the water and pour it over the tea bags in a heat-resistant pitcher. Steep the tea for 5 minutes, then take out and discard the tea bags.
While the tea is brewing, you can get the blackberry simple syrup ready. Add blackberries, sugar, and water to a pot over medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the fruit is softened, then gently press on the blackberries to release their juices while continually stirring the mixture.
Once the sugar is dissolved and the mixture starts to thicken slightly, remove it from the heat. Let the syrup sit and cool a bit before straining it. Use a fine mesh strainer to remove the solids and seeds and strain out the liquid.
Pour the blackberry simple syrup into the pitcher with the tea. Add in fresh lemon juice and stir to combine. Refrigerate until chilled, around two hours.
Serve the tea over ice with fresh blackberries and a sprigs of fresh basil for garnish.
What is the Best Temperature For Brewing Tea
Depending on what type of tea you’re making you should brew your tea at different temperatures. This recipe uses black tea, and the prime temperature for black tea is between 208 and 212 F.
This is much higher than the brewing heat might be for other types of tea such as green tea, white tea, or oolong. If your water is too cold it won’t bring out the full flavor of the tea, and you’ll be left wanting more of that refreshing cool taste that’s unique to iced tea.
If your water is too hot you may over extract or “burn” the tea, which happens when you over heat the tannins in tea. This can make your tea bitter, and ultimately isn’t optimal.
Tips For Making Blackberry Iced Tea
I always use black tea for this iced tea, because the blackberries are strong enough to hold up to the bitterness and flavor of the black. You can use green tea bags if you want, but it won’t be quite as strong of a tea flavor.
If you want a stronger tea, steep the tea bags for up to an additional 5 minutes.
While making the simple syrup, it’s a good idea to mash up the blackberries while stirring. This will release more of their juice into the syrup, making it even more flavorful.
If you’d like to make the simple syrup ahead of time, to make preparation easier, you can store simple syrup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks. This syrup can also be used in hot tea, cocktails, and even on desserts and breakfast pastries.
Other Iced Tea Flavors to Try
You can never have enough iced tea recipes for summer. If you love this iced tea, you should definitely try a few of our others. We drink a lot of iced tea in the summer, especially with fresh seasonal fruit.
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Blackberry Iced Tea
Blackberry Iced Tea is the perfect mix of refreshing cold tea and zingy, tart blackberries. This beverage will become your new go to for any summertime chill-out.
Ingredients
- 8 cups water
- 5 organic black tea bags, paper tags removed
- 1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (or sugar substitute)
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- Extra blackberries and basil sprigs for garnish
Instructions
- Boil the water and pour over tea bags in a heat-resistant pitcher. Steep for 5 minutes. Remove and discard tea bags.
- While the tea is brewing, add blackberries, sugar and water to a pot over medium heat. Cook about 5 minutes until the fruit is softened, then gently press on the blackberries to release their juices. Once sugar is dissolved and the mixture starts to thicken, remove from heat. Allow it to cool for 5 minutes before straining over a fine mesh strainer to remove the solids.
- Pour the simple syrup into the pitcher with the tea. Add fresh lemon juice and stir to combine. Refrigerate until chilled.
- Serve over ice with fresh blackberries and a sprig of fresh basil for garnish.
Notes
If the simple syrup doesn't add enough sweetness for you, you can sweetened with honey or additional sugar once chilled.
For a low-carb, calorie free drink, replace the sugar 1:1 with a sugar substitute like erythritol or allulose.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 62Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 11mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 1gSugar: 14gProtein: 0g
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Jillian attends college in a small town in Oregon, where she’s is pursuing her passion for people. She enjoys music, writing, and baking in her spare time.
The perfect summer drink! This tea is so good and the little bit of lemon juice makes it so special.
Such a tasty way to cool down on a hot summer day! Easily, a new favorite beverage!
Loved this blackberry iced tea! So refreshing and a great way to use up my leftover blackberries.
I love blackberries and can’t wait to try this! Think I could use green tea bags?!