by Lydia Ellison

My mom’s best friend is named Laura and she came into my life when I was 10 years old. I looked up to Laura so much as a young girl because she wore a hot pink bikini to sun tan in her suburban driveway on the weekends, she loved Madonna and she drove a white Camaro. My brother’s and I loved the nights when Laura would come over and her and my Mom would make shrimp and scallop stir fry for dinner (not the highlight of the night for me) and Laura would tell us animated stories about her day at work and let her brush her long hair. She was like our cool big sister.

Of course I am still thankful to Laura for teaching me the Vogue dance but more pertinent to my life these days is her recipe for Sweet Mint Tea. It was her Grandmother’s recipe and Laura always had a pitcher of it in her fridge. My mom has been making this tea to much acclaim for the last 15 years and always has a pitcher in her fridge now, made with fresh mint from her garden. Now that I am about the age Laure was when she first came into our life, I notice I too have a pitcher in my fridge at least once a week (though I use a natural sweetener instead of white sugar). Once you try this recipe you will too.

Sweet Mint Tea

makes 1 pitcher

2 or 3 bags of Black Tea (I like PG tips)

4-5 sprigs of fresh mint

the juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup of Agave syrup or 1/3 cup of sugar

Fill your pitcher with boiling water and add tea bags and mint sprigs and the Agave syrup or sugar and mix until dissolved. Allow to seep on the counter for 30 minutes. Remove the tea bags leaving all of the mint leaves in the tea and add the juice of one lemon stirring again. Allow the tea to cool down before you put it in the fridge overnight. The tea MUST chill overnight in the fridge where it will get slightly murky and fantastically potent. Serve over ice.