my {iced} tea party

today i wanted to join in with the wild olive tea party week by sharing my favourite recipe for lemon iced tea. here in lancashire, ice tea isn't a popular drink, and it's pretty difficult to buy in the shops. my relatives who recently visited from north america had a suitcase weighed down with lipton's mix for me, but sadly they can't stock me up as often as i would like!

today is a great example of english summer time, rain and more rain! a summery drink is perfect for cheering me up. through trial and error i have developed the following quick recipe for making my own lemon iced tea. 

this makes 2 tall glasses.

1} take one medium organic unwaxed lemon. grate the peel into a small pan. add 4 or 5 (depending on how sweet you are!) big spoons of sugar to the pan and the same amount of cold water.

2} bring the mixture to a boil, and stir for a few minutes until all the sugar is dissolved.

3} in a jug, add 3 regular teabags (english breakfast is my favourite but you can use whatever tea you love most!) to a couple of cups of boiling water. cover with a tea towel and leave for 5 minutes. You can use this time to find a mini umbrella or make some pinwheels to decorate your glasses!

4} remove the teabags from the jug, and add all the juice you can squeeze out of the lemon. add in the sugary mixture from the pan and give it all a good stir.

5} pop in the fridge for an hour then serve with some ice. 

then you can sit back and pretend your in the sunshine. this also makes a great base for a naughty cocktail if it's a friday night!

enjoy!

{em} x