the best ever blackberry mint lemonade

I love lemonade!

And although I love just a simple glass of lemonade, I've become quite smitten with flavored ones as well.

You know, the ones that are infused with things like mint, fruits, vanilla, and even herbs.

Vanilla Bean Lemonade won my heart; that is, until I made THIS refreshing blackberry lemonade infused with mint.

Oh. my. gosh.

It is soooo good.

The sweet factor in this lemonade is a MINT infused simple syrup! YUM!

There's something magical about adding infused simple syrups to drinks.

Boiling water and sugar allows the sugar to completely dissolve, which creates a SMOOTH drink; and then adding an herb, like mint ~ for example ~ gives the syrup a WOW factor!

I made this recently for our little guy's Gentleman's Tea, and again for friends over Memorial Weekend . . . and it was loved by all!

It's a perfect addition to any Summer-time menu!

 . . . or any menu for that matter (smile!)

Ingredients

3 cups water

1 cup sugar

18 mint leaves, torn

2 cups frozen/fresh blackberries

ice

3 mint sprigs

4 cups natural store-bought lemonade

mint sprigs

Preparation

Bring the water and sugar to boil in a small pot. Stir the water/sugar mixture until the sugar is dissolved then turn off the heat. Add the torn mint leave and give the pot a stir. Allow the simple syrup to cool.

Add the blackberries to a blender. Place a strainer over the mouth of the blender and pour the mint simple syrup into the container. Discard the mint leaves. 

Blend the simple syrup and the blackberries on low speed for just a few seconds at a time, just enough to break the berries apart but not enough to puree them.

Fill a juice pitcher halfway with ice and add the mint sprigs. Pour the lemonade and the blackberry mixture over the ice. Stir the blackberry mint lemonade and add more ice if necessary before serving.

bon appetit!

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