lets break this drink down-
vanilla bean sugar- go to peet’s coffee downtown and buy yourself 1 or 2 vanilla bean pods. they come individually wrapped in a cute little test tube and they are about $2.50 each. this is by far the cheapest you will find then anywhere. if you buy one from, say, raleys, they will run you $12. each. no joke. so buy one or 2 of these, and use the seeds inside for something awesome like the vanilla bean meringue frosting i mentioned in a previous post. then take the now empty vanilla bean pod and put it in your jar of sugar. you DO keep your sugar in an airtight jar, right? so close the lid tight, give it a shake, and wait a couple days. you will now have delicious vanilla bean infused sugar that is awesome in your morning coffee, baking AND this iced tea.
then use the vanilla sugar to make a lightly sweet simple syrup- put 1/4 cup of sugar in a small pot with 1/2 c h2o and turn on high heat. stir and bring to a simmer and turn off when the sugar is all melted. now you have a simple syrup that would be yummy drizzled over store bought angel food cake or in some tea. but we are going to take it a step further and add about 20 fresh mint leaves. from your garden. you have mint growing in your garden, right? because, in all honesty, i have a nearly black thumb and even i can grow mint. and it goes crazy, and requires nada but a little water and sun, and we now currently have a shit- ton (accurate measurement) of mint in the garden and i get to spend the summer concocting clever and tasty ways to use it all…
sorry, i got sidetracked…add about 20 leaves of mint to the vanilla bean simple syrup, stir and let infuse for about 10 minutes. remove mint leaves and put them in your compost bowl ( what?! you don’t have a compost pile?? sheesh. thats a whole other post…) or grind em up in your sink drain and your kitchen will smell lovely and minty. ta- dah! you now have vanilla bean + mint simple syrup. ideal for cocktails or to add to some blackcurrant tea.
any kind of tea will do here, i just had some twinings brand blackcurrant black tea in the pantry and decided to use this. boil 5 cups of water and then immediately take off heat. take 5 or 6 tea bags, and put them in the hot h2o. set timer and let steep 5 minutes. remove tea bags and add them to your new compost pile (you know, the one you just started with the left over mint?) and then let the tea cool for 10 minutes. pour the tea into a large pitcher and fill it the rest of the way with cold water. add the vanilla bean + mint simple syrup. stir. fill a pretty glass all the way full with ice, dont be shy, and then pour in the tea. add of sprig of mint just because you can, and cheers!
it seems like you could add some sort of alcohol to this to make it a cocktail but im not sure what kind…suggestions?









