Red Currant Iced Tea

Patience needs to be practiced when making iced tea at home. Red Currant Iced Tea is prepared with just a few simple and inexpensive ingredients. Make a large pitcher of it and keep it super cold in your fridge, especially in early summer when red currant bushes are loaded down with the little, red, tart jewels!

I prepared this Red Currant Iced Tea last summer as a last-ditch effort to use up the last of my red currant harvest. Rather than share the recipe last summer, when I knew that most red currants would have been already picked or have fallen from the branches, I saved it until now. You see, in my neck of the woods, currents are almost ready for the picking once again.

This just might be the perfect time to share this recipe with you! Once you’ve harvested your berries, made your jams and jellies, or those delicious currant-laden cakes and squares, maybe you might have enough left over to make a batch of iced tea. After picking so many currants off our bushes, I ran out of recipe ideas. I knew I could use them up this way. Since red currants are very tart, I knew more sugar was needed than I usually add to my drink recipes. And, the little squeeze of lemon was just perfection!

ICED TEA – THE ULTIMATE COLD SUMMER DRINK

I’m a coffee drinker, and I love Starbucks!  Whenever we go there, I always get either a green tea frap, a blonde roast with half and half, or a vanilla soy latte. John.e does not drink coffee and he doesn’t like green tea. So, he would always get the peach iced tea. Then, one day, Starbucks stopped serving the peach iced tea. Now, whenever we go to Starbucks, he has bottled water!

Last summer, McKenna and I did convince him to try one of those kiwi lemonade refreshers. He hated it! I felt so bad, so when we got back home, I made a batch of Red Currant Iced Tea for him. Let me just say, this iced tea costs much less to make at home than any drink you can buy at Starbucks! Now, Dear Reader, I’m going to share that same iced tea recipe with you!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Red Currants – If you don’t have red currants, you can make this same drink with black currants or even gooseberries. The colour will be different, of course, but the taste will be great!
• Tea Bags – Tea bags are just easier to use rather than loose tea. I like to use a stronger tea bag for iced tea, like a Tetley Bold Orange Pekoe.
• Sugar
• Water

HOW TO MAKE RED CURRANT ICED TEA

To make Red Currant Iced Tea at home, all you need is 30 minutes of prep time. It takes just a few simple ingredients and some patience to let the tea cool before adding ice and serving. To be honest, I bet the only ingredient you will need to buy (or harvest!) in order to make this drink, is the red currants; I’m sure you already have sugar and tea in your pantry.

It’s vitally important that you don’t rush this iced tea. I know it’s tempting to just get everything into the pitcher and add a bunch of ice to cool it down quickly. But, if you do, you’ll forfeit all of that work you put into steeping the tea and making a simple syrup from the sugar and the currants.

The ice will water down the iced tea way too much. Besides, since the beverage is rather hot to begin with, the addition of the ice will melt right away and the drink will still be rather warm – if not hot still! Like most good things in life, Dear Reader, patience is a must-have when preparing this tea.

As the recipe card below states, this recipe makes about eight cups. Now, if you’re much like me, a cup of Red Currant Iced Tea is not nearly enough. I like to have a large vessel with lots of ice and a splash of freshly squeezed lemon. I’ll take that with me and sit on the balcony and soak up some rays.

Step 1

In a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, add the red currants, along with one cup of water, and the sugar. Bring to a low boil over medium heat. Once boiled, stir well and turn off the heat. Place the lid on the saucepan. Allow the currant and sugar mixture to sit for thirty minutes while they completely infuse what will soon become a simple syrup.

While that works its magic, bring to a boil seven cups of water in your kettle. Place the tea bags into a large pitcher and, once boiled, pour the hot water into the pitcher. Carefully stir the tea bags around a bit, gently pushing them against the side of the pitcher. This will encourage them to release more tea flavour into the hot water. Place the pitcher in your refrigerator to cool.

Once the red currant and sugar mixture has cooled, transfer the entire lot to a colander that has been lined with cheesecloth and positioned over a bowl. Strain the juice through the cheesecloth and catch the juice in the bowl beneath. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth and twist to get all of the juice out!

Transfer the juice to the pitcher with the tea. Set it back into the fridge until really cold. To serve, add ice to a glass, pour over the Red Currant Iced Tea, and garnish with a slice of fresh lemon.

STORING ICED TEA

If you’re making this for a party or for a large family, I would suggest that you double or even triple the recipe. If you don’t drink it all pretty quickly, there’s no need to worry. Red Currant Iced Tea will be fine in your refrigerator for at least 48 hours. I would not recommend any longer than that. It just doesn’t taste the same if left to sit for a longer period of time.

If you can’t finish it all up, don’t dare throw it out! Pour it into Popsicle moulds and freeze until firm for a great-tasting peach frozen treat. You can also pour the leftover tea into ice cube trays and freeze them. Once frozen, remove from the ice cube trays and place in a Ziploc bag and keep in the freezer. When the mood hits, place the iced tea ice cubes into your blender and make yourself a Red Currant Iced Tea frostie! Yummy, right?