Tea Tea Tea

We're big fans of green tea (herbal tea, white tea, black tea, really any tea) in our little family.  Hot in the winter and cold in the summer it's always exactly what I needed.  A steaming cup of kombucha green decaf before bed every night settles the stomach and calms the mind.  A tall glass of iced green (or black if Avi's had a bad night and I really need a boost) snaps me into shape every morning.  Even Avi likes to sneak a few sips of my iced green whenever I'm not looking (and yes, I spoke to the nutritionist about it...it's totally fine for her, if not entirely good for her packed with all those germ fighting, immune boosting antioxidants and the such).  I may have even gotten Richie off his morning coffee and onto iced green!

Now I'm not going to go into a whole diatribe on how coffee and it's subsequent caffeine is bad for you, that's for another post, but take my word for it for the time being.  Switching off coffee and onto tea will do you wonders (and make you feel fabulous, less dependent, and pleasantly energetic without any peaks and crashes).

I've made it a habit to brew fresh iced tea in a pitcher to keep in our fridge so it's easily accessible (and cheaper than cafe bought, although that's fun too).  I make tons of different versions, but with the insane heat we had yesterday, I felt compelled to make some kombucha with fresh mint from my terrace garden (Middle Eastern style minus the sweetener).

All you need to do is throw a few tea bags in the bottom of a pitcher, add some boiling water (about a third of the pitcher), throw in some mint leaf twigs, then cover it for 5-10 minutes to let it steep.  Once its fairly dark, add cool filtered water to the top and pop it in the fridge!

I'm always supergrateful to have some fresh and refreshing cold tea to grab before I walk out the door into the sweltering summer!