quote:

Originally posted by CarolinaBill

Best bags for iced tea are Luzianne – think it’s generally available throughout the country. If in South, try Red Diamond.

Sadly, no Luzianne in New England. I wish! I’m pretty much stuck with Red Rose, which does an entirely passable job.

Actually brewed up a pot over the weekend after we came back from Stillman’s Farm with a ton of plants for the front yard and stoop. (My chile seedlings didn’t stand a chance this year, it having been so cloudy and rainy all spring, so I got some lovely ancho, jalapeno and cherry plants, which are thriving.) After we planted them all, I went in and made a simple syrup infused with two stalks’ worth of the front stoop mint and a tablespoon of Penzey’s lemon zest. Steeped a dozen Red Rose bags in a quart of just-off-the-boil water for five minutes, and poured that and another quart of water over ice, followed by about a half-cup of the syrup. Just right.

Stored the leftovers in a Mason jar in the fridge, as you do, and I just bolted the last three cups of it down, since I have a lot of writing to finish tonight.