Sweet Tea Recipe

One of the simple pleasures I remember from my childhood is iced tea.  My mom would make sun tea on our back patio and it was such a delight!  I can remember watching it brew and then the delicious taste that I equated with goodness coming straight from the sun! 

I feel like this is something I need to bring back into my life since we have so many commercial iced teas around now.  Last summer, when McDonald's was advertising $1 Mickey D's Sweet Tea, my kids fell in love with it.  With it's styrofoam cup, I was not loving it.  I thought about all of the bottles, mostly plastic now, that are being thrown away with each sip of store-bought bottled tea and how much could be saved, financially and environmentally, by making our own.

Here's a link I found to a sweet tea recipe that is close to McDonald's, if that's what you like:
http://askville.amazon.com/looove-McDonalds-Sweet-Tea-make/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=3014389

The recipe I use is so simple, but it makes me happy every time I make it:

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil.  Add 2 family-size tea bags or 5-6 regular tea bags.  Turn off heat and set timer for 3 minutes.  Add 2 more cups of water and squeeze (& compost) tea bags.  Add 1 TB local honey, 1 squeeze fresh lemon, 1/2 c. sugar (more or less to taste).  Stir.  Add 2 more cups of water & stir.  Makes 2 quarts. 

Sometimes we don't use honey, add oranges and lemons instead of sweeteners, add fresh mint, etc.  I taught my 2 oldest sons how to make this and they love to experiment and vary the recipe.

Next summer I will try to make sun tea again.  But for now, we have our sweet tea with no styrofoam or plastic waste - hooray!  Do you have a favorite drink recipe to share that eliminates plastic packaging?