Sweet Tea Sparkling Apple Cider

Sweet Tea Sparkling Apple Cider is the best fall/Thanksgiving cocktail! With just 6 ingredients, it's easy to make and full of festive fall flavors!

Sweet Tea Sparkling Apple Cider

Happy almost-Thanksgiving week! Do you have your menu set? Are you getting together with family or having a Friendsgiving? Either way – here’s a sweet and oh-so-pretty cocktail that would be lovely for your turkey day.

Sweet Tea Sparkling Apple Cider ingredients Sweet Tea Sparkling Apple Cider ingredients

This one couldn’t be easier: mix apple cider with iced tea, let it chill for about 2 hours with diced apples, cinnamon sticks and star anise. When your guests arrive, pull it out of the fridge and serve with sparkling wine. That’s it!

Sweet Tea Sparkling Apple Cider in a pitcher Sweet Tea Sparkling Apple Cider poured into a glass

5.0 from 1 reviews

Sweet Tea Sparkling Apple Cider

 
Author:
Serves: serves 8
Ingredients
  • 32 oz. apple cider or apple juice
  • 18 oz. sweet or unsweet black iced tea (such as Pure Leaf)
  • 5 cinnamon sticks
  • 5 star anise
  • 2 small apples, diced
  • 1 bottle of sparkling wine*
Instructions
  1. Fill a large pitcher with the apple cider, sweet tea, cinnamon, star anise and apples. Stir and chill for 2 hours. Pour into champagne flutes, filling each ½ full. Top off with sparkling wine.
Notes
*I recommend choosing a sparkling wine that's more dry than fruity since this cocktail is pretty sweet already.

For a more mulled flavor, you can simmer the spices with the apple juice and the tea. Chill, and continue the recipe.

 

9 comments

Leave a comment:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe (after making it):  

  1. Kate
    11.17.2023

    Sounds great! Can you add the sparkling wine when you are mixing the other ingredients, or is it necessary to add the wine when topping off the drinks? Also, is prosecco a good wine choice?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      11.19.2023

      Hi Kate, you could mix it all together but, since it’s fizzy, I like to top it at the end.

  2. Seth B
    11.21.2016

    I think I’ll make a pitcher of this for the kiddos on Thanksgiving and also a pitcher for the adults with some rum in it!

    Thanks for posting! Bottoms up!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      11.21.2016

      Sounds yummy! cheers!

  3. feite
    11.20.2016

    it seems wonderful i want to drink that it so easy to make and it looks fresh and amazingly goood;)

  4. Love this recipe! Black tea is my go-to caffeine source and sparkling wine is my favorite alcoholic beverage. So obviously, this fall-inspired cocktail appealed to me immediately. I can’t wait to try it out!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      11.21.2016

      Me too 🙂 I hope you enjoy!

  5. Jenny
    11.19.2016

    Would sparkling juice work, for the kids?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      11.21.2016

      it would! You might want to use unsweet tea to cut back on some of the sweetness.

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.