When the weather hits 90º all I can think about is drinking Sweet Tea. For such a simple beverage – tea, sugar, water – there are about a million different ways to make it. One of my favorites and easiest recipes:

Sweet Tea

• 2 large quart size orange pekoe or black tea bags (or one ounce of loose tea that you can strain)
• 1-2 cups of sugar depending on taste
• 3 cups of water

Heat three cups of water to boiling. Stir in your sugar until the water goes from cloudy to clear. Turn off heat and add tea bags letting them steep in the water for at least 20 minutes. Pour tea, sugar mixture into a large pitcher and add in very cold water to fill.

At this point in the recipe you can let your creativity take over…add ice, sprigs of mint, lemon slices, orange slices, you can even add sliced cucumber (good with iced green tea). Another trick to for you to try…at the tea steeping stage add a pinch of baking soda to the boiling water – it mellows out the tea for a very unique smooth taste.

Filed under: Food & Drink, Texas by Stephen : No Comments »