Hello there– Looking for a summery drink for our bridal shower last week and wandered across this fruity iced tea. After a little smashing, steeping and blending, we ended up with pitchers full of slightly sweet, summer fresh tea. We set out sugar and sweetener for those who wanted it, but I liked it just as it was–with lots of ice and a few berries and a sprig of mint to top it off.
BLACKBERRY ICED TEA
3 black tea bags
4 cups water
2 cups blackberries*
1/4 cup sugar
1 tab. mint leaves, chopped
2 cups cold water
more berries & mint leaves for garnish
In a large heat proof bowl, put in the blackberries, sugar and mint leaves. Blend them with a stick blender (or in a regular blender–or smash them to bits with a lot of pounding with a wooden spoon! — and then pour them in the bowl).
Then bring the 4 cups of water to a boil. Add the tea bags to the heated water and let them steep for 5 minutes. Then remove the tea bags and pour the tea over the berries.
Let the tea-berry mixture sit for 1 hour. Then pour it through a strainer to strain out the uncrushed berry bits/seeds.
Add 2 more cups of cold water, cover the bowl and set the whole thing in the fridge to chill. Serve the berry tea over lots of ice and garnish with each cup with a couple berries and a sprig of mint.
Makes about 8 glasses of very tea. Hope you like it!
*2 cups of berries is about 12 oz. (2 6 oz. packs)
The Thankful Heart 
So refreshing and tasty! We have been brewing loads of ice tea these past few weeks. Never occurred to me to add wonderful things such as mint and blackberries. We’ll try it! We have blackberries and mint growing outback. 🙂
You’re all set!! Hope you like it Seana!
wow wonderful idea, and so pretty in the glass too!
It’s a nice change from my normal Diet Coke addiction!
oooh diet coke addiction tsk tsk – blackberry iced tea is better any day 🙂
You’re oh so right!
just an opionated european I suppose – I do have the odd diet coke with my luncheon tuna fish sandwich I admit…but blackberry iced tea just sounds very stylish!
Well, that’s because Europeans are naturally way more stylish than Americans. That’s why we love to travel in Europe– to soak up all that beauty and pick up a little style along the way…
Hello Rhonda, that is a very charming thing to say, we will just have to exclude the Swiss hairstyles wont we, for many Europeans, the French, the Italians the Spanish in general I would tend to agree with you, if looking at the entire nation and not just the top privileged group in any one country.
Agreed. I read an article that said most French plumbers have way for style than the average American (no offense to plumbers, of course).
🙂 how funny, I am sure it was a french person that wrote that!
Sounds really good to me, love blackberries and a fruity tea sounds so refreshing. Great idea Rhonda.
It does taste fresh– I like the hint of mint flavor.
What a lovely, refreshing and juicy idea. I often dunk cherries into hot green tea but never have I done it this way…I will now x
Cherries in tea!! Once on a trip to Budapest I had the best cherry flavored tea– but never thought of actually adding cherries to my tea!! Have some in the fridge– tomorrow breakfast, cherry tea! thanks Deena
I made this refreshing drink with home grown blackberries: delicious! 😀
Do you still have blackberries?– we had a meagre crop this year and they were all done by June! I’m a little jealous!
They only started to het ripe at the beginning of July! 🙂
Whoa– you have a whole crop ahead. Happy berry eating!
😉 thanks, sweety! xx