Blackberry tea is a delicious way to enjoy the sweet taste of blackberries. This recipe makes a simple cup of blackberry tea with four ingredients, including water and tea leaves. If you’re looking for a pick-me-up for the weekend or after a long day at work, this tea is perfect for making at home.
What is Blackberry Tea?
Blackberry tea is a soothing and healthy beverage that is steeped black tea with fresh blackberries. What’s particularly striking about this herbal drink is the rich and bold flavor that brings out the earthy notes of black tea and blends with the sweet notes of blackberries.
What Does Blackberry Tea Taste Like?
Blackberry tea is notable for having the right balance of tartness and sweetness, perfect for any type of weather. When drinking this iced, it’s easy to imagine yourself lost in a tropical haven with ripe sweetness and fruity notes.
Blackberry Tea Benefits
If you’re a fan of blackberry tea, you’ve likely heard that it has many health benefits, but you might not know exactly what those benefits are or why they’re so important for your health. In this article, we’ll explore some of the top reasons why people drink blackberry tea regularly and how drinking it can support your health in ways you never imagined possible.
What is blackberry tea good for? Read on to find out.
High Levels of Vitamins A, B1, B2, C, and E
Vitamin A is essential for good vision, growth, and healthy skin. It’s also crucial for the production of antibodies that defend against disease.
B1 (thiamine) is required to metabolize carbohydrates, proteins, and fat.
B2 (riboflavin) is required for energy production and healthy skin.
Vitamins C and E have positive effects on bone health and antioxidant activity, respectively.
Promotes Healthy Gastrointestinal Function
Blackberry tea has been shown to promote healthy gastrointestinal function. It helps prevent and treat diarrhea, constipation, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
The active components in blackberry leaves are anthocyanins, which are also present in grapes, red wine, and other fruits. Anthocyanins have antioxidant properties that help protect your body from oxidative stress caused by free radicals.
Blackberries contain polyphenols, like epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), quercetin, and rutin. These polyphenols have been tested for their effects on intestinal health in animals with good results, but no human studies have been done so far.
Reduces Inflammation
Some anti-inflammatory foods, like blackberry tea, can help with arthritis. This can be a great way to relieve pain in joints and muscles. Blackberry tea also has anti-inflammatory properties that reduce inflammation throughout your body, which is why it can help with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Improve Social Anxiety
Blackberry tea can help reduce stress and anxiety if you have social anxiety. Blackberry tea contains a wide variety of antioxidants that help improve your overall health and reduce inflammation in the body.
Blackberry seeds also have anti-anxiety properties and are rich in vitamins A and C, which provide antioxidants that may support healthy nervous system function. These vitamins also help protect against free radical damage caused by oxidative stress (damage from oxygen).
In one study, researchers found that those given blackberry extracts experienced significantly less anxiety than those with placebo treatments.
Strengthens Cognitive Abilities
Blackberry tea is a great way to improve your cognitive abilities. It’s thought to speed up brain function and increase mental energy, which can help you stay focused on tasks. It can be used by people with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) or those with trouble focusing on their work because they’re distracted by other things around them.
Blackberry tea is also thought to decrease stress levels in the body, making it useful for those with chronic pain, such as arthritis or fibromyalgia.
The fact that blackberries are so good for your health is not surprising. The reason why you should drink blackberry tea, however, is because it has all these benefits without any harmful side effects. It will also keep you feel fuller for longer periods of time and give your body a boost of energy!
Blackberry Tea Ingredients
Yield: 2 glasses
Preparation Time: 10 to 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 to 30 minutes
Here’s what you need:
- Blackberries (3 cups): Use ripe blackberries whenever possible. Prepare a cheesecloth and coriander to strain the juice later.
- Tea bags or loose leaves (2 bags or 2 tsp of loose leaves)
- Sugar (4 tbsp, optional): If you’re going to use ripe blackberries, adding sugar is optional.
- Water: You’ll need the water for steeping your tea. If you want your tea to have a stronger flavor, you can reduce the water-to-tea ratio rather than prolong the infusion time. For boiling the blackberries, you have to make sure the water completely covers the fruits when you boil them.
- Ice cubes: Blackberry tea is best enjoyed with ice!
How to Make Blackberry Tea
1. Boil water
The right amount of liquid depends on your mug and for how long you want to steep your leaves, but it’s generally somewhere between 120°F (48°C) and 180°F (82°C). If you’re using a stovetop kettle, fill it about halfway with filtered tap water; if you have an electric kettle, fill it until no more bubbles are coming up from the bottom of your pot or cup.
2. Add the tea bag or loose tea leaves to the water
Once you’ve added the tea bag or leaves to the water, let it sit for 3 to 5 minutes. To make sure that your blackberry tea is strong and flavorful, use loose-leaf tea instead of bags. In addition to using more ingredients, this also allows you to control how much spice gets into each cup of blackberry tea.
3. Steep for 3 minutes
You can steep your tea for as little as 30 seconds or up to a full minute if you prefer stronger brews. The amount of time it takes to steep depends on how strong you want the tea to be: the longer you leave it, the more pronounced its flavor will be; shorter steep times yield lighter-tasting beverages.
Brewing time varies depending on how strong you want your brew. If you’re looking for something milder than a cup of hot cocoa but still want some sweetness without adding sugar (or if someone else wants something less sweet), start with just 5 minutes. However, if you want something stronger than you would get from boiling whole berries in water, then try brewing longer—upward of 15 minutes—to allow even more flavor to develop over time!
If you’re unsure what time works best for your tastes and preferences, start with a shorter steeping period, like 45 seconds or so. Adjust accordingly based on how much flavor comes through at each stage of your brewing process.
4. Boil the blackberries
Now that you’ve got the water and black tea ready, it’s time to boil the blackberries. You can allow it to boil for up to 30 minutes or until the fruits are soft enough to crush. Once you start to see the juice come out, lower the heat. Wait for it to reduce completely.
You can add a sweetener, like honey or sugar, but if you prefer to have it unsweetened, you can leave the sugar out. You can add it later when you drink your tea.
Strain the solids using coriander lined with cheesecloth. Add the blackberry tea syrup to the steeped tea.
5. Serve with ice cubes
If you want to make the tea more refreshing, add ice cubes. It will dilute the tea, making your blackberry iced tea more refreshing.
If you want to make it sweeter, add a slice of lemon or lime to your glass with some honey or sweetener on top.
Due to its health benefits, blackberry tea can be a good alternative source of caffeine. If you have underlying medical conditions, consider consulting your medical practitioner first before making it part of your daily regimen.
Also, consuming blackberry tea isn’t advisable during the first trimester of pregnancy. Please check before consuming.
Add Some Sweetness to Your Weekends with Blackberry Tea
Blackberry tea is a delicious and healthy drink you can make at home. Please note that you will need a large pot or teapot for this recipe. You may also want some nice cups to serve the tea from. Better yet, use those glass mugs from your grandmother! You can also experiment with different teas, like chai or mint if available in your area. Try adding some fresh ginger root into the mix, too!
FAQs
Does blackberry stop diarrhea?
Yes, blackberries can help stop diarrhea. It’s an astringent herb with high levels of tannins used to relieve the symptoms of diarrhea.
Are all blackberry leaves edible?
Yes, you can eat blackberry leaves. The leaves of this amazing plant taste like blackberries and are even added to fruit salads.
Can you use fresh blackberry leaves for tea?
While fresh blackberry leaves can be consumed, using fermented blackberry tea leaves would be best for tea because it will allow the rich and tarty flavor of the blackberry to come out.
Does blackberry tea have sugar?
Yes and no. It depends on how you want to enjoy your blackberry tea. You can have it unsweetened to lessen the calorie count, but if you prefer to have it with a little sweetness, you can always add sugar. That’s the beauty of preparing homemade blackberry tea – you can adjust the ingredients to make your drink appealing to you and your family.
