Turbinado Iced Tea

I originally started with Southern Sweet Iced Tea but I tweaked it a bunch to lower the calories. I'd been using turbinado sugar the whole time and didn't realize that it made such a difference. When we ran out I tried organic sugar and brown sugar but hubby kept saying it wasn't right. Turbinado is raw cane sugar. You may also find it under the name "raw sugar". Here is a definition that I found at http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-turbinado-sugar.htm Turbinado sugar is a delicious alternative to table sugar. Unlike typical granulated sugar, Turbinado sugar crystals are much larger, and are made at an earlier period in the sugar cane processing method. It retains some of the flavor of molasses, a natural byproduct of the sugar process, which makes it a desirable addition to tea or coffee. The first pressing of the sugar cane yields Turbinado sugar. It looks notably different from granulated sugar because it has much larger crystals and is golden to brown in color. It also is considered by some to be “healthier” since it receives less processing than does white sugar.

• Ready In: 20 mins
• Serves: 8
• Yields: 2 quarts

Ingredients

• 5  black tea bags (I use lipton)
• 1  black tea bag (specialty flavor of choice)
• 1⁄3 cup turbinado sugar
• 2  cups boiling water
• 6  cups cold water
•  lemon juice (optional)

Directions

1. Note:You can use 6 regular tea bags but we like to change things up and add 1 bag of a more expensive tea. Some good examples include raspberry, mango, peach etc. A whole brew of specialty tea can be a bit cloying.
2. Set bags into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Pour 2 cups near boiling water over them. Steep for 15 minutes. You would think it turns out bitter but for some reason it seems to do fine. You can try less but then you might want to add another bag.
3. After removing bags, add 1/3 cup turbinado sugar. Stir until dissolved.
4. Pour into a 2 quart container and add the cold water. Using this technique helps the tea to cool down quickly. If you need to use it right away you can replace some of the cold water with ice.
5. Add lemon if desired. Hubby doesn't like it so I have to add it to my cup if I want some.
6. Enjoy!
7. Final Note: I'm not sure if the nutritional info is going to calculate -- According to my calculations, this has only 10 calories per cup and less than 3 carbs!