Refreshing Blackberry Iced Tea

If you love sweet tea and fresh blackberries, make this homemade iced blackberry tea and sip on a splash of fruity indulgence. This tea recipe is perfect for the hot summer months and is almost easier to make than to open up a can of the premade stuff. 

A Guilt-free Glass of Heaven

A crisp glass of iced tea is exactly what a hot day calls for—and we have plenty of those in the South. And while I love a glass of sweet tea as much as the next Southerner, there is a whole world of flavored teas that are just as amazing. Enter: Blackberry Iced Tea.

Sure, this has some sugar, but you can adjust it based on your needs and personal sugar intake levels—and a little sugar never hurts.

I like to serve blackberry tea in tall glasses full of ice with a slice of lemon. While mint is great with plain iced tea or iced tea lemonade, I don’t think it adds much to blackberry tea. But if you want to go the Mojito route, add a few sprigs on top.

The secret to getting a lot of blackberry flavor, is to cook the berries to extract all their juice. By adding blackberry juice to the tea, you get lots of blackberry flavor and don’t have to worry about the seeds.

This was a big hit at a cook-out I had recently where I served it with slow cooker ribs, baked beans, macaroni salad with a Coca-Cola Cake for dessert. The tea added just a little sweetness and was so refreshing.

You Don’t Need Much

Unsweetened Iced Tea – You’ll need four family-size black tea bags and a gallon of water. 

Blackberries – fresh, or you could use frozen.

Sugar – if your berries are really sweet, you won’t need much of this at all. If you like your tea sweet, then increase the amount by a cup.

First Things First: Make Unsweetened Iced Tea

Step One: Steep Tea

Gently boil four cups of water in a medium saucepan, a stovetop teapot, or an electric kettle. Remove from heat, immediately add the teabags, and steep for 20 minutes before removing the tea bags from the water. 

Step Two: Ice It

Let the tea cool for 30 minutes or until it reaches room temperature. Once cool, fill a large pitcher with cold water and ice until it reaches the 1-gallon mark.

You will need 4 cups of unsweetened iced tea for the next part! 

Now It’s Time To Add The Blackberries

Step One: Boil Berries

Add whole blackberries, sugar, and water to a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it comes to a boil, turn the temperature down and simmer for about 10 minutes until slightly thickened. 

Step Two: Make Tea

Pour the blackberry mixture through a fine mesh strainer, pressing down on the berries to remove all of the juice. Add the berry juice to the 4 cups of unsweetened tea and stir to combine. 

If the tea is too sweet, you can easily add more tea or water until it’s just right. I prefer just a hint of sweetness, so if you like really sweet tea, increase the amount of sugar that you add to the blackberries. Or you can make some simple syrup and add it to the mixture.

To make simple syrup, add 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water in a glass measuring bowl and microwave for about 3-4 minutes until the sugar has dissolved.

How To Store Iced Tea

In The Fridge: Iced tea is best the day of, but will keep for up to three days. If stored on the counter for more than a day, it will break down and taste old.