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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!
Quick Look: Raspberry Iced Tea
- 🫖 What it is: Black iced tea sweetened with a homemade fresh raspberry syrup.
- ⭐ Why it works: Simmering and straining the berries gives real fruit flavor with no seeds or pulp.
- 💛 Why you’ll love it: A few simple ingredients and none of the artificial flavors in store-bought tea.
- ⚠️ What to watch for: Chill the tea and syrup before mixing so the ice doesn’t water it down.
- ❄️ Make ahead: Keeps in the fridge up to 4 days and tastes best after a day or two.
Table of Contents
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.
Expert Tips
- Steep off the heat. Take the water off the heat before adding the tea bags, and make sure they’re fully submerged while they steep.
- Press the raspberries. When you strain the syrup, press down on the puree with a spoon to get every bit of juice out. That’s where all the flavor is!
- Chill both before mixing. Cold tea and cold syrup mean your ice won’t melt right away and water down the drink.
- Sweeten at the end. Combine everything first, taste, then add more sugar a little at a time if you like it sweeter.
- Go decaf for the evening. Decaf black tea makes this a great night time drink that won’t mess with your sleep.
- Fresh or frozen both work. The berries get cooked down into syrup, so frozen raspberries are perfect year-round.
Why This Recipe Works
- 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 leftover raspberry iced tea into an airtight container, like a large mason jar, and keep it in the fridge for up to 4 days. It honestly tastes best a day or two after brewing, once the raspberry flavor has had time to develop.
Of course! Green tea works if you still want caffeine with a different flavor (it’s what I use in my Starbucks peach green tea). Herbal teas like spearmint or chamomile make raspberry iced tea night time friendly. I actually used decaffeinated black tea so it wouldn’t mess with my sleep.
This raspberry iced tea is a balanced base, not too strong or too sweet. For sweeter tea, stir in more sugar after everything is combined so you don’t overdo it (I’ve been there, believe me). For more tea flavor, add one or two extra tea bags before brewing.
For a stronger raspberry flavor, add more raspberries to the syrup. Pressing the puree firmly through the sieve also gets more raspberry juice into your raspberry iced tea.
Absolutely! I love using monkfruit sweetener to cut the sugar and calories in raspberry iced tea. Swap it in 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 🙂