SUMMERTIME ICED TEA

Summertime Iced Tea image

Provided by Cindi M Bauer

Number Of Ingredients 9

8 cups water
14 tea bags (orange pekoe and black)
25 fresh spearmint leaves
1 cup sugar
1 (12 oz.) can frozen lemonade concentrate
4 cups cold water
lemon slices, to garnish
sprigs of fresh spearmint, to garnish
1 gallon size heat-proof glass jar

Steps:

1. Place the spearmint leaves and tea bags in a heat-proof gallon size jar.
2. In a large saucepan, bring the 8 cups of water to almost a boil, just until you see a few bubbles starting to come to the surface.
3. Pour the heated water into the large heat-proof jar; cover the jar with a glass plate. I used an 8-1/2 inch glass dessert plate, and let stand for 15-20 minutes.
4. After the tea has steeped, discard the teabags and mint leaves. Add the sugar, and stir thoroughly.
5. Cover the jar with the plate, and let set at room temp to cool. (I let mine sit for 1 hr. & 30 mins.)
6. Now add the frozen lemonade and cold water; stir well.
7. Refrigerate to chill and serve later, or pour into beverage glasses filled with a few large ice cubes, and serve immediately.
8. Garnish beverage glasses with lemon slices, and sprigs of fresh spearmint leaves, if desired.
9. Note: I just wanted to let everyone know... The other day I made this iced tea, but found I only had 12 mint leaves, so I also used 2 Bigelow Plantation Black Spearmint Tea Bags (along with 12 black flavored tea bags). I felt the taste of the spearmint really came through, and the tea was quite refreshing and delicious!