Author Notes: Over the Fourth of July weekend, my husband and I ventured to Los Angeles to visit family and friends. We arrived at my cousin Dan and his wife Monica’s house one afternoon, and Dan excitedly offered us each a glass of what turned out to be his rendition of our grandmother’s “famous” mint iced tea. We gleefully gulped the cool, sweet, aromatic tea, which I hadn’t had in years. It’s a taste memory that will always bring me back to sitting in my grandparents’ large kitchen or under the umbrella by their pool on a summer day, sipping iced tea out of a tall, colored glass. My grandmother used Lipton iced tea mix, but she lifted it above the ordinary by infusing her tea with a generous amount of mint water, which she made by pouring boiling water over a huge handful of fresh mint that she’d just picked from the garden. Inspired by Dan’s brilliant — and timely — recreation of my grandmother’s tea, I decided to make some myself at home last week using tea bags instead of mix (you can use either — I won’t judge!). —Merrill Stubbs
Makes: 1 quart
Ingredients
-
2
tea bags, or the equivalent in loose tea (I used English Breakfast, but you can really use any tea you like)
-
1
cup packed fresh mint leaves
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3 to 4
tablespoons sugar (turbinado is good here, but you could also use honey, maple syrup or agave)
-
Lemon slices for serving
Directions
- Boil a kettle of water, and put the tea and the mint into a large, heatproof pot or pitcher. Pour a quart of boiling water into the pot, add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Carefully taste a little and add more sugar if you like. Set the tea aside to cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until cold.
- Strain and serve over plenty of ice with lemon wedges.
![Mint Iced Tea 2 Mint Iced Tea](https://wikirecipes.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/17a63abc-97e2-4f7c-9438-b0e27e1e3c32-food52_07-05-11-93.jpg)
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![Mint Iced Tea 3 Mint Iced Tea](https://wikirecipes.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/e93ab436-0154-4f40-96e2-1a5a98c02a09-food52_07-05-11-15.jpg)
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