Recipe of the Week: Iced Tea

Summertime and iced tea - they go together. There are many ways to make iced tea. Sun tea is as simple as putting teabags in a jar of water and letting it sit in the sun. My preferred method is using a tea maker (a coffee maker that has always been used exclusively for tea).

To make plain tea: put two small tea bags or one family sized bag in the brew basket for 10-12 cups of tea. As soon as it is brewed, turn off the tea maker and let the tea cool before pouring it over ice.

I very rarely make plain tea. There are just too many things from my garden to add. The last few days I’ve cut up (with scissors) three large stevia leaves and a handful of citrusy mint to add to the brew basket with one small tea bag. Put the tea bag on top because the acid from the tea helps leech the good flavor/sweetness from the stevia and mint. After it is cool - the tea is just the right strength and sweetness to simply pour over ice and enjoy.

Some other things I am going to try from the garden: 

• Lemon balm. I have a huge amount of it and it seems to lose its flavor when it is dried so I might as well use as much as possible while it can be cut and used fresh.
• Rosemary. I’ve read about putting a spring of rosemary in lemonade. It would probably be a good additive to tea as well. My rosemary is growing well and probably would branch out more if I trimmed it a bit.
• Chocolate mint. I have two flower beds with chocolate mint…and it seems to grow about as fast as I can use it. 

Enjoy iced tea!