Lavender Iced Tea

Well it had to happen sometime. The temperature has crept up into the nineties this week. And in amongst our whinings about the upcoming summer we decided to make some Iced Tea. It's a summer treat. Something to combat the 100+ degrees when we hole up inside and draw the curtains. We're not there yet, but this will calm our anxiety about the coming inferno.

yield: 3 quarts

Tea

2 qt. water + 1 qt. added at end

10 Lipton or other black tea bags

Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 1/2 tsp dried lavender buds - roll them in your palms or fingers to crush them and release their flavour

Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Knot tea bags together for easy retrieval and when pot boils, dump them in. Turn off the heat and let steep for half hour or until mixture cools. To make the simple syrup, combine sugar and water in a sauce pot. Stir to wet all the sugar and put on low heat. At this point make sure there are no sugar crystals clinging to the edges of the pot. They will cloud the syrup. Simply wipe them off using a wet pastry brush or your finger. I'm not particular. When sugar appears to have entirely or almost entirely dissolved up the heat to medium or medium high (depending on patience). Let simple syrup come to a rolling boil for ten seconds. Turn off heat. Add lavender buds. Let steep for 10 minutes. Strain out lavender, add to tea, and add remaining quart of water. Voila!