Fresh Brewed, But Iced, Decaf Mint Tea (To Sweet Or Not To Sweet)

My favorite things in life are (good) family, friends, food and fashion. I already have a fashion blog (http://popfizzvintage.blogspot.com/) and felt I needed a separate space to share recipes, vent about our food situation here in the U.S., and discuss anything culinary.

I'll start with a simple recipe and explain why after.

Fresh Brewed, But Iced, Decaf Mint Tea

 

What you need:

• 10 Decaffeinated Tea Bags (Regular/Black Tea)
• Fresh Mint Leaves
• Agave Nectar or Honey (IF you like sweetened tea)

This recipe makes 2 quarts of tea.

Fill a 2 quart pitcher with water and then dump out about 1/4. Add this water to a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil.

In the meantime, take all the teabags out of their little wraps so that they are ready to go. Snap all the leaves of of 2-3 branches of mint and toss them into the bottom of the pitcher. Take a wooden spoon and muddle (crush) the mint leaves.

Once the water comes to a boil, remove the pan from the heat and add the tea bags to steep for 2-3 minutes. (I hold the bags in my hand and spin them until they twist up and then drape the tags over the side of the pot for easier handling).

Remove the tea bags and pour the tea into the pitcher and stir. While it's still hot, add as much honey or agave nectar (or, if you must, sugar -but organic!) to taste, stirring until it is all dissolved. Fill the rest of the pitcher up with ice stir until melted/cooled.

Now it is ready to be poured over ice and drunk up or stored in the fridge for later.

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Why decaf? Why not sugar?

Sugar, especially in its high fructose corn syrup form, is one of the leading causes of the obesity epidemic here in the U.S. Scientists at Princeton recently did a study where they gave lab rats the same caloric intake, but gave one group table sugar, and the other HFCS, and they both gained weight, but I don't need to tell you which one gained more.

Caffeine! I loooove coffee. I'm addicted to caffeine, but recently my husband and I started trying to have a baby and long-story-short, caffeine and alcohol have been nixed from the things-I'm-allowed-to-imbibe list. Booooo.

PERSONL RANT TIME: I mean, seriously, trying to order anything other than water or wine in a restaurant that is safe to drink is impossible. Anything from a soda fountain is bad for you with either high fructose corn syrup, sodium, caffeine or artificial sweeteners. What's left? Decaf coffee, but then they bring me fake creamer full of trans fats and either white sugar or Sweet-n-Lo. *bangs head on table* I'll just have water.