Tea time

I owe a blog entry on our wedding, of course, but for now let me post the sweet tea recipe that I served at the wedding, as i've had several people ask.

First, I use Harney and Sons 2 QT black tea bags. Best tea I've had, and a pretty good deal considering they make so much tea at a time. You can get them in NYC at their store, or online here:

https://www.harney.com/organic-plain-black-iced-tea-1.html (get the bags, not loose tea).

I made in bulk, and that came out to 7 bags for 3 gallons. It's supposed to be 2 bags / gallon, but I like it strong.

First, boil 1 cup of water with 1 cup of sugar to make simple syrup. I ended up using 1 1/3 cup of sugar / gallon of tea.

After the syrup is done, let sit while you boil 1 cup of water for every tea bag you're going to use. I'd suggest starting with 1 cup of water + 2 tea bags/gallon. After the water boils, add the tea bags and let them steep for at least 15 minutes. Pour this into a pitcher and add the simple syrup. If you're making 1 gallon, you'll want 1 cup water + 1 1/3 cup sugar worth of syrup.

Fill up the rest of the pitcher with cold water and mix together.

Lastly, get some 16 oz mason jars and fresh mint. You'll put a sprig of mint in each jar and fill with tea, seal up, and refridgerate. Should easily keep for a few weeks. Drink right out of the jars.