Sunday, August 10, 2008

Lavender iced tea

I used a tea-maker for this, but I can provide instructions for making this if you don't have one.

You'll need:
5 regular black tea bags (whatever your favorite kind is)
2 tablespoons lavender
3 tablespoons honey
Ice and water

Tea-maker: Pour the amount of water needed to brew 2 quarts of tea into the tea maker, using your tea-maker's instructions. Do NOT put ice in the pitcher, however. Put a coffee filter in the brew basket, then put the tea bags (remove the tags; they can add an unpleasant flavor to the tea) and lavender in the coffee filter. Brew the tea. Stir in the honey once the tea is finished; you want to do this while it's hot so it will dissolve quickly (so this is why you're waiting on the ice). Top off the pitcher with ice to the 2-quart mark. You're done :)

No tea maker?
Bring 4 cups water to a boil. Put the lavender in a tea ball (if you don't have one, you can put it into some cheesecloth or a square of linen, then tie it off with a piece of string), and put the lavender and tea bags into a pitcher. Pour the water over the tea bags and lavender. Let steep for about 5 minutes, then remove the bags and lavender (use a slotted spoon if you took the tags off the bags). Stir in the honey, then top off the pitcher with ice.

If you use a coffee maker for the brewing step, make sure you scrub out the brew basket and pot with vinegar or borax (borax works GREAT) to keep the tea from tasting like stale coffee.