Recipe(tried): Mama's Sweet Tea

Hi, Gina! I do love sweet tea and a few places, like Cracker Barrel, that have "good" sweet tea.

This was my mama's way of making tea, so I've been doing it for years!

MAMA'S SWEET TEA

2 family-size LIPTON Tea Bags--It's the only kind of tea that we ever use
3/4-1 cup of sugar
2 cups boiling water

Put the tea bags in a half-gallon pitcher. Add the sugar and the water. Stir the sugar, tea, water mixture until the sugar has dissolved. Let the tea "steep" for 10-15 minutes. When the tea has steeped, fill the half-gallon pitcher with cold water. Stir this mixture and taste. Remove the tea bags. If it's too sweet, add the juice from one fresh lemon. If it isn't sweet enough, add 2 T. sugar until it is sweetened to your liking. Serve the tea in tall glasses with ice. I always add my lemon slice to the glass before pouring the tea. Pouring the tea over the lemon slice lets it have a nice, robust flavor.

If you have "leftover" tea, place the pitcher of tea into the refrigerator. Bring 1/2-3/4 cup of water to a boil. Add the boiling water to the tea to "cut the sweetness" and to make the tea clear again.

P.S.--Save the tea bags. When you get 4-6, rip the paper away from the bags and add the tea grounds to the area around your roses. My roses love the leftover tea!

If you have leftover unsweetened tea, you can pour this on ferns. I have many, many ferns and they love to have their "spot of tea." However, make sure that it is unsweetened tea. If not, the ants will chew those green plants down to nothing!

I hope that this helps!