Cherry tea

A great twist on the traditional tea, made with fresh cherries, black tea and lemon. Hot and iced recipe versions included, which makes this tea the perfect drink for any season.

Why make this recipe?

• Great as a iced tea in summer with fresh cherries, ice cubes and a dash of lemon
• Perfect as a hot fruit tea for any time of the year

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 tablespoon black tea leaves or use about 2 black tea bags
• 1 cup cherries pitted and stalks removed
• 3 tablespoons sugar or to taste
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice or to taste
• ice cubes if making an iced version

INSTRUCTIONS

• Boil the water first in a medium sized saucepan and pour over the black tea. Leave to infuse for 3 minutes or so (depending on how strong you like your tea).
• Add cherries and sugar. Mix and let the sugar fully disolve before letting the whole mixture to simmer for 5 minutes to soften the cherries.
• Pour the cherries mixture through a fine sieve and using a spoon make sure that you get as much of the cherries through the sieve as possible. Discard the leftover cherries.
• Add the lemon juice and taste.
• Serve hot or cool down for iced cherry tea.
• Leave to cool down first and then move to fridge to chill properly.
• Serve with extra ice cubes

Flavour ideas

Iced cherry tea

• Cherry & Lime (instead of lemon)
• Add a gin or rum to spice up your drink

Hot cherry tea

• Add warming spice to your hot tea, such as aniseed, cinnamon, cloves
• Add a dash of whisky or brandy to make your drink extra special

What to do if you don’t have a fresh cherries

Cherry fruit tea bags

You have a couple of different options here. You can buy cherry fruit teabags and use them instead of the cherries. I would use about 2-3 teabags for this recipe to make sure the tea is strong enough.

Frozen or tinned (canned) cherries

Another option is to use frozen or tinned cherries, although I’d prefer to use frozen ones. It’s best to freeze your own, if you have the chance to do this in the summer.

If you are using tinned or canned cherries check first how much sugar is in the syrup. It’s not a problem as such, but don’t add any more sugar from the recipe, until you are happy with the flavour. I’d also use the syrup as part of the water to add extra flavour.