I don’t know about you, but I have a need for iced tea when it’s hot outside. And since I live in South Florida, that’s pretty much year-round. I mostly stick to just adding sugar, but every now and then I’ll add something a little more adult. That usually means a touch of bourbon, but then I found this Sparkling Blackberry Tea Cocktail, and my choice of liquor was turned upside down. Instead of my usual bourbon, this recipe adults up the tea with sparkling wine and dry vermouth. I know, it blew my mind too! Tea with sparkling wine and vermouth? This sounds like one of those recipes I’ll either love or hate. Let’s find out which!
This Sparkling Blackberry Tea Cocktail combines tea, blackberries, sparkling wine and dry vermouth for a festive sparkling cocktail that’s perfect for holiday parties.
The Ingredients
My husband and I are tea drinkers, so I had a good selection on hand. Still, I looked for the type mentioned in the recipe, but it’s no longer made. Shame, because it sounded so good! But after going through every tea in the house, I narrowed my choices to Earl Gray and French vanilla. The French vanilla won out.
I had sugar, of course, and a bottle of dry vermouth on the bar. That left me to shop for the sage, blackberries, lemon, and sparkling wine. I chose my trusty favorite, LaMarca Prosecco. Tip: A 187ml bottle of prosecco is enough to make two cocktails.
The Process
This cocktail was easy to make, but I did have to plan ahead so the simple syrup and tea concentrate were able to cool. I suppose I could have made them the same day, but I decided to make them the day before the cocktail. Here’s how my tie was spent:
- 31 minutes to prep the syrup & tea (not including time to chill)
- 4 minutes to make the cocktail
- 35 minutes total
That’s in line with the 30-minute total time listed on the recipe.
Prepping the Ingredients
The tea concentrate was easy to make with the blackberry simple syrup. I started boiling water for both, then pulled one saucepan aside to steep the tea bags. That left me free to see to the blackberry simple syrup, which required a little more work.
Not much more, mind you, but I did have to make sure the sugar dissolved, then wait for the berries to steep. The tea finished while I was waiting, so I wrung out the bags over the back of a spoon and put the mixture into a sealed container.
After that, I strained the syrup through a mesh sieve, pressing the blackberries with the back of a wooden spoon to make sure I extracted all the flavor. The syrup went into another sealed container, and both went into the refrigerator to chill overnight.
Making the Cocktail
The next day was time to find out if I had made the right decision on the flavor of the tea. Would French vanilla work with prosecco and dry vermouth? I have to tell you I was anxious to find out!
So I got out a stemless wine glass, ice cube trays, and cocktail picks. I went all out, and it was a lot of fun. Four minutes after I began, I had a lovely Sparkling Blackberry Tea Cocktail sitting on my kitchen counter, just waiting to be sampled.
