Homemade Raspberry Iced Tea

Forget store bought raspberry tea and make your own Homemade Raspberry Iced Tea! Black tea, fresh raspberries, a pinch of baking soda, and your sweetener of choice, and you’re set to go! You’ll have a thirst-quenching drink to enjoy throughout the year! {Vegan-Friendly + Gluten-Free}

Spiriteds, have you ever made your own Homemade Raspberry Iced Tea? Because if you have, then you know how delicious it is. And if you haven’t then you absolutely should. Because why? Because it is so EASY to make and it tastes so absolutely amazing. Earthy, fruity flavors BELONG together. Are they opposites? Do opposites attract here? Have absolutely no idea. But what I DO know, is this recipe is a winner. A staple in our beverage routine.

And it’s all thanks to K-Hubs, who first introduced me to raspberry iced tea when we were dating. At the time, I wasn’t big on tea except to drink it when I felt under the weather. But he regularly ordered it whenever we went out, and eventually I tried it, too. From that point forward, I was HOOKED. HOOKED, I tell you. Raspberry iced tea turned me into a believer, and now, Spiriteds, we have our very own recipe in this virtual recipe tin.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much we enjoy this bevvie. Homemade Raspberry Iced Tea is where the flavor’s at in our house. And if you’re in the mood to make your own, then you’re in the right place. So, grab a saucepan, some black tea, and fresh raspberries, and let’s DO THIS!!!!

Homemade Raspberry Tea is

• A delicious blend of earthy and fruity flavors
• Easy to prepare
• Vegan-friendly
• Gluten-free

Homemade Raspberry Iced tea ingredients

• Boiling water. The key to making this tea is ensuring the water is hot when you add the tea. You’ll want it to steep well.
• Black tea. You don’t need anything fancy here.
• Baking soda. A pinch of baking soda will help reduce the bitterness of the tea.
• Raspberries. I think fresh is absolutely best, however, you can also try frozen, if desired.
• Sweetener of choice. Almost anything goes here. I like agave nectar because the flavor complements the tea so well. But you could also use 100% pure honey or stevia. You can try maple syrup, although it will likely alter the flavor. Not necessarily a bad thing, but good to know going in.

How to make Homemade Raspberry Iced Tea

1. In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Then add the tea bags and remove from heat. Cover the saucepan and let the tea steep for about seven minutes. Once the tea is done steeping, carefully discard the tea bags (the liquid may still be quite hot) and then stir in the baking soda.
2. Next, add the raspberries and let them soak in the tea for at least four hours to overnight. During the soaking process, you can leave the tea sitting on the counter at room temperature while it continues to cool and then transfer the raspberry tea mixture to the refrigerator to finish the soaking process.
3. Once the raspberries have soaked, pour the mixture through a mesh strainer into a bowl. Using the rounded side of a spoon, press down on the raspberries in the strainer to extract the raspberry juice. Discard the raspberry pulp and then pour the tea through the mesh strainer one more time.
4. Stir in your sweetener of choice and serve up, or refrigerate the tea. Contents will settle, so give your tea a good stir before sipping.

Side note: You can steep your tea for as little as five minutes, for a milder flavor, or as long as 10 minutes (or more, if you’d like), for a stronger flavor. To learn more, visit The Republic of Tea’s post Tea 101: How to Steep Tea. 

This recipe is adapted from New Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (12th edition), 2002.

More thirst-quenching drinks!

Here are a smattering of thirst-quenching drinks to tuck away in your virtual recipe tin (or an actual recipe tin, if you’d like to print them out)!

• Homemade Pineapple Iced Tea
• Blueberry Sparkling Water
• Homemade Pineapple Lemonade
• 3-Ingredient Pineapple Fresca Mocktail

Spiriteds, stay well and stay wild! I’m glad you’re here! 🩷

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