Mint-Cucumber Sweet Tea

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Sweet tea is practically its own food group down here, and come July we start dressing ours up with whatever’s cooling in the garden. This one gets a good handful of mint and thin cucumber rounds steeped right in, so it drinks more like a porch cooler than plain old tea. Nothing stiff about it, just something cold to hand somebody who just walked in from the heat.

Ingredients

• 6 cups water
• 6 family-size black tea bags (or 1/3 cup loose black tea)
• 1 cup fresh mint leaves, loosely packed, plus extra sprigs for garnish
• 3/4 to 1 cup granulated sugar, to taste
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced, plus extra for garnish
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 cups cold water
• Ice, for serving

Instructions

1. Bring the 6 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Remove from heat, add the tea bags and half the mint, and let steep 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Remove the tea bags and mint, and while the tea is still hot, stir in the sugar until fully dissolved.
3. Lightly muddle a few cucumber slices in the bottom of a large pitcher, just enough to release some juice.
4. Pour the hot tea into the pitcher, add the remaining cucumber slices, the rest of the fresh mint, and the lemon juice.
5. Stir in the 2 cups of cold water to bring it down to drinking strength.
6. Refrigerate at least 2 hours to chill through and let the cucumber and mint flavor the tea.
7. Serve over ice with a sprig of mint and a cucumber slice in each glass.

Cool, green, and just sweet enough, this is what we keep in the fridge all summer for anybody who comes by. Want to grow your own? Check our guide for cucumbers.