Raspberry Iced Tea Margarita
As unusual as this sounds, the Raspberry Iced Tea Margarita has to be one of the most refreshing margaritas I’ve ever made. It’s lighter on the alcohol and one of my favorite daytime summer beverages.
This past Saturday I hosted several bloggers from the Denver Bloggers Club for a Cocktail Hour at my home. I was prepared to offer tips I’ve learned over the years on basic cocktail making as well as segue into additional techniques for photographing the results of my bartending activities. There were 13 bloggers in attendance that shared a wide variety of focuses; food/cocktails, parenting, hiking, Gluten Free/healthy, and more.
I set up a margarita bar, featuring the base from my BEST Fresh Margarita with options for different fruits to muddle with the base and an assortment of garnishes. I’ve taken that basic recipe a step further today with this take on something new to me…making this Raspberry Iced Tea Margarita with Sweet Tea and Fresh Raspberries for our Monthly Progressive Eats event which is all about TEA; the brain child of Heather who blogs at All Roads Lead to the Kitchen. Great idea right?
Now; I had planned to do something other worldly with tea, maybe something in the smoker or slow cooker but honestly, I had to get real. As I mentioned on Friday I had food poisoning early last week and what little energy I had was focused on getting ready for the Saturday event. So I took the easy route (at least for me) this month and decided a cocktail was in order. Since my favorite margarita was such a hit with a large group I thought another one so soon after would be well received too and it was fun; I had never, EVER contemplated combining the words ‘Iced Tea’ and ‘Margarita’ but it worked beautifully.
It may have been a long time coming but it was worth the wait. It reminded me a bit of an Arnold Palmer; a mixture of sweet, tart, and a slight tea taste, and in this case, one accentuated with raspberries. If I could discern one problem it would have been the inclination to down it too quickly…it was so wet and refreshing I had to remind myself to not gulp it like a tea but to sip it like a cocktail.
This recipe is not too far off from what we did on Saturday but it’s unique in that it includes the tea component. Next time you’re here you had better check with me before you down a glass from that pitcher in my fridge as this one is going to be in regular rotation; the perfect summer libation.
Interested in hosting your own margarita party? I think my guests were surprised at two things. How easy they are to make using fresh ingredients and even better? How amazingly good they taste. I heard a LOT of yums being thrown around!
Many thanks to Sprouts Farmers Market for co-sponsoring this event; we were a good team. They provided us with a great selection of goodies to munch on and I just made sure everyone had a cocktail! Win-win right?
This is a fun recipe to try and while you’re at it, be sure to peruse the recipes listed below from The Progressive Eats crew for our other tea-centric dishes. There is a main course, bread, sides and dessert as well as another cocktail. It’s all about the TEA!
Welcome to Progressive Eats, our virtual version of a Progressive Dinner Party. Our menu this month features recipes that have one special ingredient in common – TEA! We had a lot of fun creating them, and hope you’ll enjoy trying them, too. Our event is hosted by Heather who blogs at All Roads Lead to the Kitchen. Our menu includes everything from beverages to bread, an entree to sides, and of course some desserts so we can finish on a sweet note.
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a progressive dinner involves going from house to house, enjoying a different course at each location. With Progressive Eats, a theme is chosen each month, members share recipes suitable for a delicious meal or party, and you can hop from blog to blog to check them out.
TEA Party (recipes featuring tea)
Drinks
- Matcha Pisco by Spice Roots
- Raspberry Iced Tea Margarita by Creative Culinary (You’re Here!)
Bread
- Earl Grey Dinner Rolls by The Redhead Baker
Main Course
- Tea Smoked Duck (Gluten Free) by The Heritage Cook
Veggies/Side Dishes
- Vanilla Black Tea Rice Pilaf by All Roads Lead to the Kitchen
Desserts
- Chai-infused Madeleines by Mother Would Know
- Glazed Lemon Tea Scones by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
- Strawberry Blueberry Hibiscus Crumble by The Wimpy Vegetarian
Special thanks to Anshie Dhar with the blog Spiceroots for her photos of the event; I was way too busy in the kitchen!
Raspberry Iced Tea Margarita
Ingredients
For the Raspberry Simple Syrup:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ pint raspberries
For the Margarita:
- 2 cups brewed iced tea
- 4 oz tequila
- 2 oz orange liqueur
- 3 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
- 3 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ cup raspberry simple syrup
For Garnish:
- Lime slices lemon slices, and raspberries
Instructions
To Make the Raspberry Simple Syrup:
- Boil the water and sugar until the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat to medium low and add the raspberries.
- Simmer until berries become soft; about 5 minutes and then turn off heat and let steep until cool. Strain through a mesh strainer to remove pulp and seeds before using.
To Make the Cocktail:
- Mix equal parts sugar and Kosher salt for rim (optional - add a bit of lime zest)
- Moisten rim of glass with lime wedge, then dip rim in sugar/salt combination. Fill glass with ice.
- Mix tea, tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, lemon juice and raspberry simple syrup in pitcher with ice and stir until cold; pour over ice in glasses. Adjust raspberry syrup as needed for desire sweetness.
- Garnish with fruit.
How do you make the raspberry simple syrup? I saw the ‘see notes’ notation in directions, but, couldn’t find the notes. Thanks.
One thing food bloggers can’t seem to count on is software for that recipe information that does it’s job right all the time! So I’ve located the data and formatted it into the recipe; thanks so much for the heads up!
Glad you’re on the mend – hard to be sick anytime, but especially with deadlines and a party to prepare for. In my book, margaritas are the perfect summer cocktail. I only wish I’d be in Denver for your party/photography session. Your cocktails always look so incredible. I’m sure your tips on how to photograph them would be incredibly helpful to those of us who know well how to imbibe, but how to photograph, alas, not so well 🙂
First, I’m glad you’re feeling better. Food poisoning is the worst.
Second, your margarita bar/blogger event is pretty genius–looks like you guys had a ton of fun! And I am intrigued by the tea margarita. As I was reading, I was thinking, Dang that looks refreshing! And when you described it as “wet,” I knew it would be. This one is on my list, for sure!
And thank you for the kind comment you left on the post about my dad. I appreciate it. xo
What a great creation Barb! Beautiful and very festive – a party in a pitcher!!
What a fun party and you got the nibbles as a special treat. That raspberry iced tea margarita would have been enough for me. I’d love to have a party like that.
What a fun party! And I love how you used tea this month – I would never ever have considered this either!! Hope you’re feeling better!
Sounds like a fun event! Can never go wrong with a Margarita variation — such good flavor. This looks wonderful– thanks.
I want to be a Denver blogger! What a fun get together!! I love how you can easily tweak the basic margarita recipe and make an iced tea version. Genius.
Looks really refreshing. Hopefully I will be able to drink up some soon. It was lovely meeting you after such a long time, Barb.
Yes it was. Silly girl. 🙂