Recipe: Iced Green Tea with Mint & Ginger

As summer slowly winds down and with only a handful of grilling weekends left, it's time to savor some hot-weather favorites — like this twist on the classic iced tea. Kick off your Labor Day weekend with a simple and refreshing glass of iced green tea flavored with ginger, mint, and honey. For this batch of homemade iced tea, I chose to steer clear of flavored tea bags and opted for plain green tea sachets instead. Then I infused the tea myself with fresh, zesty ginger slices, fragrant mint leaves, and lemon juice.
This refreshing iced tea is the perfect beverage to guzzle down with your last burgers of summer.

Iced Green Tea with Ginger, Mint and Honey

Serves 6 to 8

6 cups water
1/4 cup ginger, peeled and sliced
3 to 6 bags green tea (depending on how strong you like your tea)
1/2 cup mint leaves, tightly packed, plus extra to serve
1/3 cup honey
1 lemon, divided
In a medium-sized pot, combine the water and ginger slices. Bring to a boil. Once the water boils, remove from heat and add the tea bags and mint leaves. Cover the pot and steep for about 15 minutes.
Strain the brewed tea; separating the liquid from the mint leaves and tea bags. Mix in the honey and juice from half of the lemon into the tea. Transfer to a pitcher and cool to room temperature before refrigerating.
Slice the second half of the lemon. When ready to serve, add 1 to 2 lemon slices into each glass, along with a few mint leaves and ice cubes. Once the tea has cooled, pour it into the glasses and serve.

Recipe Notes:

• If your bags of green tea have paper tags, remove them before steeping so the tags don't fall off into the water.