Bring 1.2 liters water to 95 to 98°C. Add the black tea and the pinch of salt, then steep for 4 minutes. Strain immediately and set aside. Do not oversteep, or the tea will turn harsh and tannic once chilled. Black tea's tannins tolerate this fuller, near-boiling heat well, but continuing to steep past the specified window still draws out increasingly harsh compounds regardless of the tea's own heat tolerance — the 4-minute mark is calibrated to extract genuine strength and depth without crossing into that harsher territory.

In a saucepan combine the pitted cherries, 180g sugar, and 350ml water. Bring just to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cherries soften and release their juices. Lightly crush some of the fruit with a spoon, but do not cook it down into a jammy mixture. You want a bright, clean cherry concentrate, not a thick compote. Keeping this simmer genuinely gentle, rather than pushing toward a hard boil or extending the cook, is what softens the cherries enough to release their juice and colour without also reducing the mixture toward the thicker, more cooked-down sweetness a longer or harder cook would produce.

Remove the cherry mixture from the heat. Lightly bruise the 3 rosemary sprigs between your fingers and add them to the hot cherry concentrate. Cover and steep for 8 to 10 minutes, then taste. Once the rosemary note is noticeable but not piney or medicinal, strain out the cherries and rosemary. Do not boil the rosemary in the liquid for a long time, or it can become woody and bitter. Infusing the rosemary only after the pan is off active heat, relying on the cherry mixture's own residual warmth for the steep, is what extracts its aromatic oils gently rather than through sustained direct heat — that gentler approach is exactly what protects the herb from developing the woody, bitter character prolonged boiling would cause.

Pour the strained cherry-rosemary concentrate into the brewed black tea. Add 250 to 350ml cold water until the flavor is balanced: strong black tea first, then cherry, then rosemary in the background. The final yield should be about 2 liters. This specific flavour ordering — tea first, cherry second, rosemary trailing — functions as a genuine target worth tasting for directly, since the recipe's own identity depends on rosemary staying clearly secondary rather than taking over the drink.

Refrigerate until fully cold, at least 1 hour. That resting period lets black tea's tannic strength, cherry's fruit depth, and rosemary's herbal note fully integrate together, producing a more unified flavour than serving the drink immediately after mixing.

Fill tall glasses with ice. Add 2 fresh cherries with stems to each glass and a small rosemary sprig standing in the glass. Pour over the chilled tea and serve immediately. Standing a fresh rosemary sprig directly in the glass, alongside whole cherries with their stems still on, gives the drink a genuine visual and aromatic presence at serving that reinforces its layered identity right from the first sip.