Heat 1.5 liters water to 95 to 98°C. Add the black tea and the pinch of salt. Steep for 4 minutes, then strain immediately. Let the tea cool to room temperature. The tea should be strong but clean. If it steeps too long, the tannins become harsh once chilled. Black tea tolerates this near-boiling heat well, but continuing to steep past that specific 4-minute window still draws out increasingly harsh tannic compounds regardless of the tea's own heat tolerance — that timing is calibrated to extract genuine strength without crossing into that harsher territory.

Place the 600g cranberries in a large bowl. Lightly crush them with a potato masher or pulse them very briefly in a food processor just until split and broken open. Do not puree. Add the honey, orange zest, and fresh orange juice. Stir well and mash again lightly. Let sit for 20 to 30 minutes. Cranberries are firm, so they need to be broken open. Whole untouched cranberries will not release enough flavor during a short cold infusion. That deliberate splitting-open, stopping well short of a full puree, is what gives the cranberries' own juice a genuine path to release during this short maceration without pushing the mixture toward the thicker, more processed texture a full puree would introduce.

Pour the cranberry mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large pitcher or bowl. Press firmly enough to extract the juice, but do not force a thick pulp through. Discard the spent cranberry skins and solids. Pressing firmly here, rather than only gently, is appropriate specifically because this mixture has already been split open and macerated — that combination of physical opening and time has already done the real flavour-releasing work, so a firmer press simply extracts what's already loosened rather than forcing anything new or unwanted through.

Combine the strained cranberry-orange juice with the cooled black tea. Add 1.8 liters cold filtered water and stir well. Taste and adjust: more cold water if too strong; more honey if too tart; a little lemon juice if it tastes flat rather than bright. You are aiming for about 4 liters total. This tasting checkpoint matters directly given how much both cranberry tartness and honey's own sweetness can vary — building in that adjustment stage accounts for that natural variability rather than assuming a fixed recipe always lands at the same balance.

Add the orange wheels or half-wheels to the pitcher. Take the remaining 250g whole cranberries and bluntly press them with your fingers, the back of a spoon, or a flat knife just until some of them split. Add them to the pitcher. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours. The second infusion should make the drink look alive and fresh, with floating fruit, not turn it bitter or overloaded with peel. This second, separately handled batch of only lightly split whole cranberries contributes a fresh, distinct wave of flavour and genuine visual appeal beyond what the first, more thoroughly processed base already extracted.

Add ice to the pitcher shortly before serving, or fill individual glasses with ice. Pour the cranberry orange iced tea over the ice, making sure each glass gets a few cranberries and an orange slice. Adding the ice only at this final stage, rather than earlier, protects the drink from being diluted before the second infusion has had its full window to actually develop.