Your Arnold Palmer has entered its fun era.
I love an iced tea and lemonade.
I also love a drink that looks like someone put slightly more effort into it than "I poured two things into a glass."
Enter the Blackberry Lemonade Tea Shandy.
This late-summer mocktail starts with our Full Moon Morning Tea, a bold blend of Assam and Ceylon black teas with sweet orange peel. We add ripe blackberries, fresh lemon, a little honey, and sparkling water to turn it into something juicy, tart, fizzy, and very August.
It's somewhere between an Arnold Palmer, a sparkling blackberry lemonade, and a tea mocktail.
Basically, all excellent things.
And because the black tea has enough body to stand up to fresh fruit and citrus, the tea doesn't disappear underneath everything else. You still get that rich, slightly tannic black tea flavor followed by blackberry, lemon, and a little orange.
Why we're calling it a tea shandy
Traditionally, a shandy combines beer with lemonade or another citrusy mixer.
There is precisely zero beer happening here.
But we're borrowing the basic idea: something flavorful and structured + something citrusy + something bubbly = an extremely refreshing drink.
Instead of beer, we're using strong black tea.
The tannins in Full Moon Morning give the drink a little bite and structure, while lemonade brings sweet-tart citrus and sparkling water lightens everything up.
Add blackberry and suddenly we've wandered quite far from an Arnold Palmer.
In a good way.
Fresh blackberries make this one
August is blackberry season, and this is absolutely the time to use them.
We're not trying to turn the berries into a completely smooth syrup. Just muddle them enough to release their juice.
That gives the drink its gorgeous deep berry color and makes it taste like actual blackberries instead of blackberry-flavored something-or-other.
If seeds bother you, strain the mixture before pouring it over fresh ice.
If they don't?
Congratulations. You've saved yourself a step.
Homemade lemonade makes it even better
You absolutely do not have to make lemonade from scratch for one mocktail.
But if you've got lemons hanging around, a quick homemade version gives you more control over the sweetness.
For a small batch, combine:
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup simple syrup
Taste it.
Want it tarter? More lemon.
Sweeter? More syrup.
We're making lemonade, not performing chemistry under laboratory conditions.
Make it for a crowd
This one is begging to live in a pitcher at a late-summer cookout.
Brew a large batch of Full Moon Morning and chill it completely.
Muddle the blackberries separately, then combine them with the tea and lemonade shortly before serving.
Keep the pitcher refrigerated and wait to add the sparkling water until your guests arrive.
Better yet, leave bottles of sparkling water next to the pitcher and let everyone top their own glass.
The bubbles stay bubbly, and you don't spend the party playing bartender.
Try it with blackberry tea ice cubes
Remember our tea ice cube trick?
This is an excellent place to use it.
Freeze extra Full Moon Morning Tea in an ice cube tray and use those cubes instead of regular ice.
As they melt, they add more tea instead of slowly turning your beautiful blackberry mocktail into flavored water.
You could also freeze a blackberry inside each cube if you're feeling particularly ambitious.
Look at you.
Hosting.
A very good sober summer drink
One of the things I love about this recipe is that it doesn't feel like it's desperately trying to imitate a cocktail.
It's tea.
It's fruit.
It's lemonade.
It's bubbles.
And all four of those things are perfectly capable of being interesting without alcohol.
For people who are sober, sober-curious, cutting back, or simply don't want a cocktail at 2 p.m. on a Saturday, tea mocktails give you the ritual and complexity of making a special drink without needing the booze.
That's exactly what we're after.
Final Sip
By August, summer produce is showing off.
Peaches are everywhere. Tomatoes have taken over the kitchen counter. And blackberries are practically begging to be smashed into something cold and fizzy.
We recommend listening to them.
This Blackberry Lemonade Tea Shandy is bold, juicy, tart, sparkling, and easy enough to make whenever you've got ten minutes and a handful of berries.
It's late summer in a glass.
And frankly, we're not ready to give it up yet.
