Iced Tea Concentrate

Iced Tea Concentrate

16  Cups  Water

1  box  Family-Size Tea Bags  (24-count)

4  Cups  Sugar, or to taste  (I'm trying to cut back on my family's Sugar and I use only 2 cups Sugar, which isn't much at all.  Start with 4 cups; if you like it Southern Style you may want as much as 6 cups Sugar.)

Bring the Water to a boil in a large pan.

Add Tea Bags; cover and let steep for 30 minutes.

While the Tea is steeping, place Sugar in a large, pourable storage container.

When the steep time is complete, removed Tea Bags, draining thoroughly.  Pour Tea over Sugar, stirring to dissolve.  Store in refrigerator.

To make a pitcher of Iced Tea, dilute the Concentrate to a ratio of 4:1, that is, four parts Water to one part Concentrate.

Serve over ice in your Great-Grandmother's Iced Tea glass with an antique silver spoon for stirring.

Makes 1 Gallon Concentrate, 5 Gallons of prepared Iced Tea.

Iced Tea Concentrate is wonderful to keep on hand out in the garage fridge--when the pitcher in the house is empty there is no panic to make more before the men come in on a hot day--just dilute the concentrate and Iced Tea is ready!  I like to use decaffeinated tea bags, which unfortunately are only available at Wal-Mart or Target in the winter.  I also like to use the store brand because they are not individually wrapped--one less step in the process.  This is especially good when made with Mint Tea; you'll need about 40 regular-size tea bags.  You can also use this to make Fake It >> Arizona Raspberry Tea.

I give credit to my Mom for this recipe; she has made Iced Tea from concentrate for as long as I can remember.