Jacquiline
When it’s sunny in the Northwest you better believe that everyone is outside and acting like it’s summer. In the springtime, Portlanders like myself are not ashamed to pretend it’s 80 degrees out, when in fact it’s only 65 degrees. We are so bold as to wear short sleeves, break out the BBQ and order iced drinks. If you’re not from Portland or the Northwest, don’t laugh. You see, it rains, A LOT! And in the winter and for most of spring, it’s cloudy and cool and our Vitamin D deprived selves wait in anticipation for the next break in the clouds. So when the weather app tells us is going to be sunny, we pretty much get giddy with excitement and I use it as an excuse to whip up this heavenly Raspberry Green Tea Lemonade!
I love that this drink has the perfect balance between the antioxidant rich green tea, tart raspberries, and sweet lemonade. It’s not overly sweet, nor tart, and the raspberry ice cubes make a fun addition that will definitely impress your taste buds and of course, your friends! Depending on the season and availability, it’s super easy to use either fresh or frozen raspberries in this recipe. Both turn out delicious and add that extra fresh taste that processed raspberry lemonade can’t compete with!
With this drink I opted to use store bought lemonade instead of painstakingly squeezing pounds of lemons…I don’t know what it is, but for some reason juicing lemons has always been a nuisance to me. Therefore, I took the easier, yet equally delicious route that juicing two lemons for the ice cubes was enough.
Bonus!! These lemon raspberry ice cubes are a delicious and fun addition to your Raspberry Green Tea Lemonade! If you have the time to add these to your lemonade, you will not regret it!
- 4 cups water
- 5 bags green tea
- 12 ounces frozen raspberries
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 6 cups lemonade preferable not from a can.
- Squeeze out the juice from the lemons and divide evenly in an ice-cube tray.
- Place 1 or more fresh or frozen raspberry in each cube.
- Fill the rest of the tray with water. Then freeze for at least 3 hours or until completely frozen.
- In a tea kettle bring your cups of water to a boil.
- Pour the water in to a bowl or large measuring cup and steep the green teabags in the water for 3-5 minutes. Take the teabags out and carefully transfer the hot tea into a large serving pitcher.
- In a small saucepan over medium/high heat mix together the frozen raspberries and the sugar. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium and let the raspberries cook down for 10 minutes.
- When the raspberries are done pour them into a bowl through a fine mesh strainer. (I used the same large measuring bowl that I poured the tea into).
- With the back of a spoon or spatula, force out as much of the liquid as you can (I got about a half a cup of juice from 12 oz. of raspberries).
- Pour the raspberry juice into the pitcher with the green tea. Lastly, measure out your cups of lemonade and add to the pitcher and stir until combined.
- Let it chill in the refrigerator until cold and serve with the tasty raspberry lemon ice cubes.
- CHEERS!
If a stronger raspberry taste is desired, boil down more raspberries and add to the bowl until satisfied.