Cranberry sangria filled with fall's best flavors like oranges, cranberries, and Earl Grey black tea makes a simple and irresistible red wine sangria.

Cranberry Orange Sangria with 2 wine glasses — Photo Credit: lifeisbetterwithtea.com

I usually don't enter recipe contests, but this one looked like fun. I entered my cranberry sangria a "Summer Breeze Recipe Challenge".

You'd be amazed at the versatility of black tea when it comes to incorporating tea into a recipe. I've already made a red wine Sangria with Limoncello, tea, and lemonade infused with fruit but it never occurred to me to use cranberries in a sangria. This turned out to be a pleasant and delicious surprise.

Cranberry Sangria in August

Fresh cranberries usually aren't readily available in late August. This cranberry sangria makes a great transition beverage from the flavors of summer into all things autumn. I used Cape Cod Select premium frozen cranberries.

Shades of Earl Grey - $19.95
from: Firebelly Teas Inc.

Make-Ahead Cranberry Sangria

The thing I love most about making sangria is that it's one of the easiest big-batch cocktails you can make. It’s the ultimate make-ahead cocktail and it always impresses. You just throw everything into a pitcher and you’re done. It's hard to mess up and always tastes amazing.

Today’s cranberry sangria is filled with so many incredible fall flavors. I started by researching what flavors go best with cranberries. Then I adapted the recipe from my Easy Sangria with Sweet Tea.

Sangria is basically a wine infused with fruit and usually a liqueur. It's often cut with a club soda if you're looking for some fiz. But I used black tea instead.

You’ll simply need some fresh or frozen cranberries and orange slices for the fruit.

Pro Tips:

Which wine to use? Since I love Pinot Noir, that's what I used. But any mild red wine is perfect. The wine doesn’t have to be expensive. I used a $12 bottle of Pinot Noir.

As for the liqueur, I used an orange-flavored Cointreau Triple Sec that melds beautifully with the amazing fruit flavor combination of cranberry and oranges. Serious Eats has a really nice field guide on orange liqueurs if you're undecided about which orange-flavored liqueur to use.

For the black tea, I used my favorite Earl Grey because it's a nice bergamot orange flavored tea. The strong Ceylon and Assam black tea is able to compete with the heavier red wine and cranberry flavors. As you know, Earl Grey is a black tea infused with bergamot oil so it's a perfect tea to blend with an orange liqueur, as I did with my Enchanting Earl Grey Tea Cocktail.

I let my sangria infuse overnight in the refrigerator. The longer you let your sangria sit before drinking it, the more the fruit will infuse its flavors into the cocktail. And the more the alcohol will soak into the fruit. Everything about this cranberry sangria is fabulously delicious.

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Cranberry Sangria Recipe

Recipe