I absolutely love sweet tea. As soon as I'm in New York, the first thing I make a mad dash for is either Arizona's Sweet Tea or an extra large cup of McDonald's version of the delicious drink. It makes me so unbelievably sad when my stash of sweet tea runs out upon my return to Montreal.
Lately I've been spending a lot of time (and money) at Cocobun downtown, which is a Hong Kong style pastry shop here in the city. While that's great and all, I found a recipe that basically will make three jugs (equalling almost six litres = almost seventeen small) worth the same price of two smalls made at the shop. Saving money and getting my drinks? Lovely.
Basically all you need is about five black tea bags (Lipton is most commonly used), about two lemons (or more) for taste, and anywhere near a half a cup of (brown) sugar. I like to pour in a tray of ice into my pitcher, then the sugar on top, and then fill the pitcher about a third (as pictured above) with the hot tea to just make sure all the sugar gets blended in nicely. Remember to save your squeezed lemons and cut them into little chunks; I save them in a bowl and then pop them in my drink as I pour for extra flavour. I wouldn't recommend leaving the lemon peel in the actual pitchers because the white of the lemon is quite bitter. In the end you're looking to end up with a mix of lemonade and sweet tea. Enjoy!
RECIPE
– 2½ L/10½ cups of water (boiled)
– 2-3 lemons (juiced and then cut into pieces)
– ½ cup of sugar
– 5-7 Lipton Yellow Label Tea bags (or your black tea of choice)
Boil your water and then let your tea bags steep for at least half an hour. Fill your pitcher about a quarter full of ice cubes. Pour in your sugar. Pour the steeped tea slowly into the pitcher, mixing the ice cubes and sugar as they melt into the tea. Add the juice of the lemons in slowly to taste. Mix some more. Once your done, SaranWrap your left over pieces of lemon, and do a second taste test. Adjust as needed.
Labels: blog, food, vsco
photo taken by the one and only ghost
