Nothing is more satisfying after working in the hot sun as a sip of ice cold ice tea. You have to understand, I was raised on the stuff. Mom was from North Carolina, we lived on ice tea all year long, in fact I believe she even put it in our bottles when we were babies. And not any old ice tea - but Sweet Tea - the kind where the sugar coats the ice cubes when you pour it into the glass.Today, I still have tea in my fridge year round, but after calculating the calories of the sweet tea we grew up on (1000 per pitcher - which I could drink over 2 or 3 days - yikes!) I now make a more health friendly version. I receive a lot of complements on my tea and everyone asks how do I make it. Well....it's a secret....lol. Not really - here is what I do.
Take 4 regular tea bags - lately I've been using decaffeinated so that I can drink the tea in the evenings - it's an adjustment to growing older..lol. I brew it with about 1-2 quarts of boiling water (for me I have a pitcher that fits into my microwave - so I put the 4 tea bags in the pitcher full of water and cook it in the microwave for 5 minutes ) let the tea seep for about 15 to 20 minutes. This is key - you need it to be strong since you will be adding a lot of water to the mix. After the seeping, I pour the tea into a gallon pitcher and add one packet of Crystal Light Peach Tea (it's the 2 quart size pouch). Mix well until all the Crystal Light is dissolved, then add water to fill the pitcher. What I've found is the Crystal Light adds enough favor that I do not notice it does not have sugar - I've also made it with the other flavors of Crystal Light teas - Peach has become my favorite.
To make an Arnold Palmer - I have another small pitcher of the Chrystal Light Lemonade and pour about a third of the glass with the Lemonade and two thirds with the tea - very satisfying.
Happy Sipping!!
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