Somewhere it's hot weather and time for iced tea. I bought a mint plant for out in the yard because I love it in a frosty glass of tea.

The temperature has been in the 80s in Las Vegas so the paper there published some iced tea recipes. One of them said to simmer the tea bags for 3 to 5 minutes, but I'm not sure about that. Southerners seem to agree that for sweet tea you need to put the sugar (real sugar) in the hot tea for best flavor.

Sometimes I make sun tea - a gallon jug of water with tea bags out in the sun until you like the color, but the article pointed out there could be germs in the water, so it's better to use boiling water.

Based upon what I've read, this is how I'm making my next batch of sweet iced tea:

Put the sugar in the bottom of a pitcher and wet it down with about half a cup of water so it can start dissolving. Start out with enough cold water to fill the pitcher half full and heat it to boiling. Pour it into the pitcher and add your tea bags, lots of them. Brew until it's really dark. Take out the tea bags and squeeze out excess water. Refrigerate until ready to serve. When ready, dilute it with some cold water and ice. Serve with a sprig of fresh mint.

Here's a recipe for Almond Vanilla Iced Tea:

4 cups boiling water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 tea bags
4 cups cold water
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine boiling water, lemon juice, sugar, and tea bags and steep for 10 minutes. Add cold water, almond extract and vanilla extract, mixing well. Remove tea bags and chill.

Makes 1/2 gallon.