Refreshing!

I've always loved iced tea, but I find that most commercial iced tea mixes contain far to much sugar. Because of that, I didn't drink it very often, as sugar just makes me thirstier. Not to mention it's just plain not good to have too much of it. So in the last year, I've gotten more into making homemade iced tea, which is so much better than the commercial powdered preparations. I never did it much before because by the time I thought about it, I wanted some right at that moment, and as it takes awhile for the tea to cool down, it's not exactly an instant drink.

I tend to drink a fair bit of hot tea at home, but I don't normally finish a whole pot. One evening I was about to dump the remainder of the tea down the drain, when it occurred to me to pour it in a jug and make a bit of iced tea to have the next day. After doing this a few times, I started brewing tea specifically to make my own iced tea, and I've been enjoying it immensely. Normally I use Orange Pekoe tea, add a bit of sugar and lemon juice, and let the concoction chill in the fridge for at least a few hours. It's very tasty and refreshing.

Recently I was digging through my tea cupboard, looking through all my herbal and flavoured teas, and it dawned on me that I could probably come up with a wicked iced tea blend. So today I decided to experiment. In a large Pyrex pitcher, I used three Orange Pekoe tea bags, two Mandarin Orange Spice herbal tea bags, and one Peppermint herbal tea bag. Once they had all steeped, I removed the tea bags and added a bit of sugar and lemon juice. I am very happy to say that this is probably the best iced tea I have ever had. Very refreshing and delicious.

I must say, when I use lemon juice, I use organic, not from concentrate lemon juice. I would advise that if you try making your own iced tea, use that, or squeeze juice from fresh lemons. Stay away from the usual bottled lemon juices - I find they have an odd flavour, and are not as good as the fresh (or organic squeezed and bottled) juices.

I will definitely be making this blend again, and I'm looking forward to playing around with some other flavours. I am already planning on doing a mix with some Apple Pie tea that I have, as well as another with an herbal blueberry tea. For the next couple of days I will be enjoying the current recipe, and I will leave you with a picture to drool over.