How to Make Blackberry Tea

I love Iced Tea, so sometimes when we go out to eat I'll order one of the popular fruit flavored teas. So I decided to find a recipe for delicious Blackberry Tea that I could enjoy at home. This recipe from Southern Living did not disappoint at all. While blackberry season is over here in our area, you can use frozen berries for this incredible tasting tea. Make this early in the day you want to serve it.While this Blackberry Tea is easy to make, you have to allow for chilling. The blackberries are topped with sugar and crushed, then tea is poured over the berries and it must set for about an hour. The tea is poured through a wire mesh strainer so there are no seeds or pulp in the finished tea. How does it taste? To me, divine. I couldn't drink just one glass full. I'm thinking this tea will be a special treat over Labor Day, but I'll need more than 1 pitcher full. If you enjoy flavored teas, I think you'll love this one.

Blackberry Tea
Slightly adapted from Southern Living

3 cups blackberries, fresh or frozen berries can be used- I used a 16 ounce bag of frozen berries, which was 3 cups.
1 cup granulated sugar
4 cups boiling water
2 family sized tea bags
2 1/2 cold water
extra blackberries for garnish, if desired

1. In a large container combine the blackberries and the sugar. Using a wooden spoon, smash the sugar and berries together.
2. Add the 4 cups of boiling water to the 2 family sized tea bags. Let tea steep for 3 minutes. Discard the tea bags.
3. Pour the tea over the blackberry mixture and let stand 1 hour. Stir to dissolve sugar, if needed.
4. Pour the tea mixture through a wire mesh stainer into a 2 quart pitcher. (Discard the crushed solids, or save for another use, such as adding to a smoothie.)
Pour the cold water into the tea. Cover and chill until ready to serve. Garnish with extra berries or mint if desired. Enjoy!

Also, check out my Pomegranate Tea and Homemade Lemonade recipes.

Pomegranate Tea

Don't you love all the flavors of tea that you can get when you go out to eat? There's a flavor for every mood that you could ever be in! So, today when I was pondering what to make next with the pomegranate juice that the folks from Pom Wonderful sent me, I remembered the wonderful Pomegranate Tea that I'd had a couple of months a go at a restaurant. So, I decided to try making my own. My husband and I love it! Even my kids thought it was good, but they would have preferred that I had left out the orange slices. Personally, I really enjoyed the subtle citrus flavor from the orange slices. In fact, I kept sipping it while trying to get a good picture, so the glass was never quite full! I added some sugar to the tea, but of course you can opt to leave it out, or use artificial sweetener, whatever your preference here. We felt so healthy drinking all of the antidoxidants in this delicious tea! Let's make this real quick so you can have some too!

POMEGRANATE TEA
6 cups cold water
1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice
2 family size tea bags( I used Lipton, but it's your choice)
1/2-1 cup sugar
about 2 cups ice
fresh orange slices, if desired
In a sauce pan bring water to a boil and remove from heat. Add the 2 tea bags and steep for about 10 minutes. Add the 1/2 cup sugar, if using, stir until dissolved, and let tea cool off if you are going to pour it in a glass pitcher. When tea has cooled, pour it in a pitcher, add the pomegranate juice, orange slices and the ice. Pour some into an ice filled glass, sip slowly, and enjoy! It' a treat for yourself or a great tea to serve to guests. This is an addictive tea, be warned! Do you like sugar in your tea, and if so how much?