Party Size Blackberry Sweet Tea
Yield:
1 Gallon
Make a Southern summer day more delicious with a party-size gallon of Blackberry Iced Tea, sweetened with homemade blackberry syrup and garnished with fresh blackberries, ideal for backyard BBQs, pool parties, church picnics and potlucks, and big family meals.
Ingredients
- 1 Luzianne® Original Iced Tea Gallon Size tea bag (or 4 Family Size or 16 Individual Cup Size tea bags)
- 3 quarts + 2 1/2 cups fresh cold water, divided
- 1 1/2 cups Blackberry Syrup, recipe follows
- Sugared Blackberries, for garnish, optional, recipe follows
Directions
- Bring 1 quart (32 ounces) cold water to a boil. Add 1 tea bag and steep for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove tea bag, squeeze to capture excess liquid, and discard.
- Add remaining water and ¾ cup Blackberry Syrup (or more to taste) and refrigerate until well chilled. Serve in tall glasses over ice, garnished with Sugared Blackberries, if desired.
Blackberry Syrup
- 3 cups blackberries
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Makes 1 ½ cups. In a medium saucepan, combine blackberries, sugar and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes, the remove from heat and let stand to cool to room temperature. Strain through a fine mesh, pressing on the solids to extract all of the juices. Stir in the vanilla extract.
- Transfer to a resealable container and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
Sugared Blackberries
- Fresh blackberries
- Granulated sugar, in a small bowl for dipping
- Simple syrup, in a small bowl for dipping
- Garnish sticks, for serving
- Working with one blackberry at a time, quickly dip each blackberry into the syrup and then dip into the sugar, rolling the fruit across sugar in order to coat evenly.
- Thread the blackberries onto garnish sticks for serving.
