My Favorite Overnight Tea

I remember that my mom and grandmother always had a giant pitcher of sweet tea in the fridge. It was so great to come in from the hot sun and have a big glass of cold iced tea!  I'm off the sweet tea now (I can't believe we used to consume that much sugar in a day), but I still love tea. My new favorite is mint green tea. And I always have it in a large pitcher in the fridge - just like mom and granny. Here's how I make it:

I add to a quart size Mason jar two or three bags of organic green tea, a cutting from one of my mint plants, and sometimes (as you can see in the picture), some fresh ginger. I pour some hot water over it (you can also do cold) and let it sit in my window overnight. In the morning I pour it over ice in my favorite pitcher.

But I don't throw out that jar yet.......I pour new water over the same tea bags and mint and set the jar right back in the window. By the time the original (and stronger) tea is gone, I have an almost de-caf version ready to go for dinner and the evening. (I also like having the mason jar of tea in my window.)

I start the process all over before bedtime. It's a great way to always have tea in the fridge. You could try it with any flavor and even add lemon. (And growing your own mint is so easy -you can even get it in the Wal-mart garden section.) This is especially good if you are trying to get off sweet-tea.