Backyard Blackberry ICED (has 4 sachets, each one makes a gallon) tea is a full-bodied black tea blend with Maine blackberries.  It is a warm and lightly fruited blend. 

The black tea base is a combination of Assam and Ceylon (named from the regions they are grown).  The tea leaves are grown and dried to remain whole.  As you steep the tea in hot water, you will be able to view the leaves opening back up to release the tea flavors.

Backyard Blackberry was named from the blackberries growing wild in Becca’s yard on Deer Isle, Maine. 

Excellent iced. 

ICED:  The Blackberry blend is lovely iced on a hot summer day.  Use 1 sachet of the tea blend steeped in 1 gallon of boiling water for 4 minutes.  Add sweetener to taste and cool in refrigerator.  (If steeped over 4 minutes the tea will burn and have a bitter taste – if this happens, add a ¼ teaspoon baking soda.  Adding the baking soda will also clear up the tea if it becomes cloudy. 

Backyard Blackberry iced looks beautiful in a glass container with ice and fresh blackberries.  You could also make mocktails or add a blackberry liquor or any alcohol to make cocktails yummy.

This years’ blackberries came from a new farm in Lisbon Falls.  Pam Sullivan and her daughter grew and harvested beautiful patches of fresh blackberries.  We traveled up the coast during August to get the blackberries before returning to the Tea Blending House to dry them.  The blackberries take about twenty-four hours to full dry.