Mint Key Lime Iced Tea

Homemade mint simple syrup + key lime juice + strong black tea + ice = The Perfect Refreshment! 

I've never seen it this crowded!

I like a good mojito, one in which you can't taste any of the rum... and ones made even better with the addition of fresh fruit.... but for those thirsty sober days... a virgin mojito is something that will make any day better. A few weeks ago, I went to the beach (on one of those rare beautifully "hot" weekends which also went hand and hand with a test-free Monday) and in tow, had a nice pitcher of limeade with crushed mint leaves in it. It was good, just not as good as I thought it could be. The mint flavor wasn't as pronounced, and I was not a fan of all those small bits of mint floating around in my drink. I looked up some recipes to make with my leftover mint, they were starting to wilt, and well, I paid good money for a bundle... $1.89 to be exact... at Mollie Stones... I was desperate for mint! The mint was fresh, and very beautiful... just.. the flavor could have been extracted a little bit better. I decided to make a mint syrup, in which I would boil some water and sugar, with a bunch of chopped up mint and let it infuse into the syrup for a few hours (off the heat that is) ... and that did the trick. I poured the syrup through a very fine sieve ( one that I use for my teas) ... and stored the sugary goodness in my fridge. I don't know the shelf life of it.. I assume it can last awhile since it has a high sugar content... but who knows how clean my mint is... oh well.. more mint lemonades / iced tea it is!

Recipe:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1+ cup packed mint, more or less to taste, you just want a large bundle of it, roughly chopped into 1 inch pieces

1. In a saucepan, stir sugar and water together until dissolved over low heat, increase heat to medium, and bring to a gentle boil.
2. Place the mint into the pan, and let simmer for 5 minutes over med-lo heat. Use a wooden spoon to mash it up a bit. Take off heat and let cool for 3 hours.
3. Strain the mixture into a clean container. Make sure the sieve is very fine so you don't have little mint leaves in your syrup! Place into refrigerator until ready for use.

Mint Key Lime Iced Tea :
I eyeballed a lot of this, but around 1.5 tbsp mint syrup, 2 tsp key lime juice, 2 bags of lipton black tea steeped for 45 seconds in 3/4 cup hot water, mix everything together and add ice, stir and adjust if needed. I used key lime juice from concentrate.