Black Cherry Iced Tea

Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 quarts water
• 1 lb fresh black cherries, pitted or 2 (10 ounce) bags frozen pitted black cherries, thawed
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 whole star anise
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 16 green tea bags
• mint sprig, for serving

Recipe

• 1 bring the water to a boil in a large saucepan. add the black cherries, sugar, lemon juice, star anise and the vanilla bean with its seeds.
• 2 simmer the cherries over low heat for 15 minutes, crushing them against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon. remove the cherries from the heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour.
• 3 strain the cherry juice through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan, pressing on the solids.
• 4 discard the solids. bring the cherry juice to a boil over moderate heat. remove from the heat, add the tea bags and let steep for 5 minutes. discard the tea bags and let cool to room temperature.
• 5 transfer the cherry tea to a large pitcher and refrigerate until chilled or for up to 2 days. serve the tea over ice, garnished with mint sprigs.