This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This raspberry iced tea recipe is the perfect drink to cool off with on a hot summer day. Made with fresh raspberries and black tea, this sweet tea is bound to become your new go-to this summer!
Is there anything better than a tall glass of iced tea when you’re out and about during the summer months? It’s definitely a favorite of mine. And the only thing better than traditional iced tea is flavored teas made with natural fresh fruit, like my 3-ingredient peach iced tea. In this recipe, I’ll show you how to make an ice tea bursting with raspberry flavor using a homemade raspberry syrup. Plus this would go so well with this roasted asparagus salad or even this frog eye salad.
Personally I fell in love with raspberry iced tea the first time I visited the US. It was the one in those self serve soda machines that made me realize how good raspberry iced tea is! Now being an adult I figured I would make a better homemade version and it didn’t fail me at all!
Key Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you will need to make this refreshing drink. Scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of the page for the detailed ingredient measurements.
- Black Tea Bags: You can use caffeinated or decaf depending on which time of the day you would like to enjoy it. Regular caffeinated black tea is great to have at breakfast or lunch to keep you going through the day while using decaf will make a nice evening drink. (For a caffeine-free sip with a little kick, my ginger turmeric tonic is another evening favorite.)
- Boiling Water: to brew the tea.
- Raspberries: You can use fresh or frozen. Bought too many? Blend the extras into my 2-ingredient raspberry sorbet.
- Water: to make the raspberry syrup.
- Granulated Sugar: to mix with the water to make a simple syrup for the raspberries.
How to Make Raspberry Iced Tea
- Brew the tea. Bring the water to a light simmer in a pot or electric kettle. Take it off the heat, add the tea bags so they’re fully submerged, and let them steep. Remove the bags, let the tea cool, then chill it in the fridge.
- Start the raspberry syrup. Add the water, sugar, and raspberries to a small saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
- Strain and chill. Once the berries break down, take the pot off the heat and strain the syrup through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing on the puree to get all the juice out. Chill for about 30 minutes, or until cool.
- Combine and serve. Stir the black tea and raspberry syrup together in a large pitcher. Pour over ice and decorate with a few fresh raspberries.
Why do you need to make this recipe?
- This easy recipe only requires a few simple ingredients that you can easily find at the grocery store.
- Pass up on those artificial flavors of most store-bought teas and make this delicious drink with fresh berries at home instead. It’s also amazing poured half and half with my old fashioned homemade lemonade.
- It looks pretty and has a fruity flavor, which is great to bring to bridal showers or baby showers on hot days. Set it out next to my raspberry lemonade and Starbucks strawberry acai refresher for a pretty pink drink station.
Raspberry Iced Tea FAQs
Pour your leftover raspberry tea into an airtight container such as a large mason jar and put it in the fridge. It should last for at least 3 or 4 days. Or you could put it in the freezer and it could last for months. Make sure you are using a freezer safe container to freeze your tea if you chose that option.
Of course! You can use green tea if you still prefer the caffeine but with a different flavor (it is what I use in my Starbucks peach green tea). Or you could use an herbal tea like spearmint or chamomile to add an extra flavor and make it night time friendly. I actually used decaffeinated black tea in this recipe because I wanted something that wouldn’t affect my sleeping schedule too much.
Absolutely. I made this recipe to have a balanced base that is not too strong or too sweet so that people could add more if they wanted it. For a sweeter tea, you could definitely add more sugar. I would suggest doing it after the original recipe has been made and everything has been combined so that you can add slowly and not accidentally put too much sugar, which I’ve done before believe me. If you want more tea flavor, use one or two extra bags before brewing to get it to your desired strength.
Not really, since they’re getting cooked down into syrup. Frozen raspberries are more convenient because they are available year-round.
To intensify the raspberry flavor, you can increase the amount of raspberries used or let them steep longer in the tea after it has cooled down.
Absolutely! I love using monkfruit sweetener in my drinks to reduce the sugar and calories. Substitute it at a 1:1 ratio. You can also sweeten each glass with my strawberry xylitol simple syrup.
Love the cups I used in this recipe? Get them here!
More Refreshing Summer Drinks
If you poured yourself a glass of this raspberry iced tea, I want to know! Leave a ⭐ star rating and a comment below, and tell me if it tasted better than the soda fountain version. Cheers!!
Raspberry Iced Tea Recipe
Ingredients
Iced black tea
- 4 black tea bags
- 4 cup boiling water
Raspberry syrup
- 2 cups raspberries fresh or frozen
- 3 cup water
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
Make the black tea
- Bring 4 cups of water to a light simmer in a pot on the stove or in an electric kettle.4 cup boiling water
- Remove from heat, add in the tea bags making sure they're fully submerged then let those steep for 10 minutes. Carefully remove them and let the black tea cool down before transferring to the fridge to chill.4 black tea bags
Make the raspberry syrup
- Add the water, sugar, and raspberries to a saucepan and bring to a boil then reduce to simmer for 7-9 minutes. Remove from heat and strain using a sieve to remove all the raspberry pieces and seeds. Make sure to press down on the raspberry puree to get all the juice out. Let it chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.2 cups raspberries, 3 cup water, 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Put it all together
- Combine the black tea and the raspberry syrup together in a large pitcher. Stir to combine, then top it off with ice and serve. Add a few raspberries in there to decorate and serve.
Notes
How long can iced raspberry tea be stored for?
This fruity iced tea can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. I find that it tastes best a day or two after being brewed. Letting it sit in the fridge gives it the time it needs to develop all those fruity raspberry flavors!Can I make my tea sweeter?
Absolutely! If you make this raspberry iced tea and find that it’s not sweet enough for you, you can always add more sugar, stir, and enjoy!Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was yummy! I used raspberry tea bags to up the raspberry flavor.
Just FYI, the recipe says ‘Peach syrup” and “peach puree” in the directions, I know you meant raspberry though!
Thank you for letting me know!
Just wanted to let you know that I found a typo in the recipe. In the section about putting the raspberries in a sieve it says to be sure and press the “PEACHES” to remove all of the seeds. Have a great day!
Thank you for catching that 🙂