Lemon-Lime Infused Sweet Tea

I drink too much soda. So much I have developed a caffeine addiction that gives me headaches when I don't drink it.

Weird?

Yes.

Could it just be in my head?

Yes.

But who cares, it's my blog and commenting anymore on how much artificially flavored carbonated water I consume would be a waste of your time and, more importantly, my time.

Because of this I have made an effort to minimize my soda intake and I am trying to switch to other caffeinated options that may or may not be a smidgen more healthy. That leaves coffee and tea -- and I don't drink coffee. Period.

Luckily, I rather enjoy tea. Hot tea or iced tea, Earl Grey or Green, it's all good. Furthermore, unless I am specifically drinking sweet tea, I don't add any sugar to my tea. Healthy? Maybe, maybe not, but at least I'm trying something...

Enough of that mumbo jumbo and let's get to the recipe at hand. I have been recently experimenting with sweet tea and playing around with what I think tastes good. You can add nothing to it or infuse it with a vast array of fruits and it still will taste wonderful. Below is a recipe I have found to be one of my favorites.

Process

I like using Lipton's Iced Tea as my PTOR (Preferred Tea of Record). You can pick what you want, it's your tea, you drink what you like and I will do the same.

After you pick your tea you're going to have to boil some water. I use two of these tea bags for every quart of water. In this case, I only need two as I have a small pitcher.

The water will
change from this...

Once the water is boiled, pour the water into a pitcher to about the two-thirds mark. This is important for later when the ice is added. I then let the tea steep in the hot water for four to five minutes. Again, your own judgement is all that matters. If you didn't know, the longer the tea is left steeping, the more potent it will become. While this depends on an individual's tastes, it will also make the tea more bitter. Be aware and don't forget about it (like I did the first time and let me just say I needed more than a half cup of sugar...)

After the tea is done steeping, remove the bags and add the sugar. I generally don't like to go too overboard on the sugar or else it will become too syrupy.

... to this. Get it?

Now here is the creative part.  Infusing your tea with something to bring it from "Hey, that tastes good," to "Wow, this is AMAZING!"

Pick your fruit. I recommend sticking with fruit from the berry or citrus variety, or anything that has very high water content.

If you're wondering why, do this following exercise:

     <insert fruit of choice here> Iced Tea

Say it out loud. Does it sound good? If yes, please continue. If no, try again.

Slice up your fruit to maximize the surface area (I am an engineer, so yes I will use science terms every so often) and plop them in. For this recipe, I decided to use lemon and lime. I used one full lemon and one-half of a lime. I have noticed that the lime flavor goes a long way in this sweet tea. I let the fruit soak in the still hot tea for ten minutes to get flavors into the tea.

After the ten minutes or so, you then add ice to fill up the pitcher. If you filled the pitcher all the way to the top, you might have to find a new pitcher.  If you listened to me earlier you could ignore the previous sentence.

Once the tea is cold you are finished (hence "iced" tea).

A recommendation I do have depends on whether you will serve the tea immediately or put into the refrigerator for later. If you plan on serving immediately, leave the fruit in and enjoy. If you plan to save the sweet tea for later, I would take out the fruit. The fruit can get a little nasty over time if you just let them sit for a few days.

                              
Lemon-Lime Infused Sweet Tea


Ingredients

2 Lipton Iced Tea Bags (2 tea bags per quart of H2O) *
1 quart water
1/2 cup sugar
1 lemon (cut into slices) **
1/2 lime (cut into slices) **
Lots of ice


* Feel free to pick your own tea of choice
** Mix and match your favorite fruits until you get a combo you like


Directions

1. Boil water
2. After water is boiling, carefully pour into a pitcher about two-thirds of the way full and let tea bags steep in the water for 4 to 5 minutes
3. Remove tea bags and add sugar.  Mix until dissolved.
4. Add lemon and lime slices, let sit for 5 to 10 minutes.  You can remove these after or leave them in, it's your call.  Unless I am serving the sweet tea immediately, I like to remove them so they don't "go bad" soaking in the tea.
5. Add ice and enjoy!