A Most Excellent Raspberry Iced Tea

I heard a lot about Raspberry Iced Tea during ZWT6. When the dust settled, I went in search. While they all look great, I only have loose tea and Earl Grey bagged to take to work. So I started experimenting (uh oh). I used green tea because I thought that black tea would overpower the delicate raspberries. If anyone makes this with black tea, please leave a comment as to which one & how it turned out! Despite the addition of sugar, this is not a sweet tea. I listed OTHER ADDITIONS because I thought of many other flavors I could add - not necessarily all at once - but haven't gotten around to actually doing it. 'Cooking time' is cooling/steeping time. I hope you enjoy!

• Ready In: 4 hrs 10 mins
• Yields: 2 quarts

Ingredients

• 2  quarts cold water
• 3⁄4 cup granulated sugar
• 1⁄4 cup  loose  green tea leaves
• 2  cups fresh raspberries

• OTHER ADDITIONS

• 1  limes or 1  lemon, sliced thinly
• 1  vanilla bean, halved & scraped
• 1  tablespoon peppercorn
• 1  tablespoon allspice berry
• 1  whole star anise
• 1  cinnamon stick

Directions

1. In a 4qt pot, combine water & sugar. This is the time to add a vanilla bean or your whole spice of choice. Bring to a boil.
2. Turn off heat & add tea leaves. Cover & let stand to steep & cool an hour or so.
3. When somewhat cooled, add fresh raspberries. Continue to let steep/cool a couple more hours.
4. Mash raspberries to be sure all juice is extracted. Pour through a fine mesh strainer, pushing on solids to get all the liquid, into a 2qt. pitcher. Add lemon or lime slices, if desired.
5. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.