When Southerners say “tea,” they mean basic black—as in Lipton or Tetley, not English Breakfast or Earl Grey—iced and sweet. It is the ubiquitous, unofficial drink of the South.

Ingredients

　　Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a saucepan and remove from the heat. Halve and squeeze 3 lemons, setting aside the juice and reserving the squeezed halves. Add 8 bags black tea, 6 to 8 fresh mint sprigs, the reserved squeezed lemon halves, and 1/2 cup sugar and stir to mix and submerge the mint and tea bags. Cover and let steep for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove and discard the bags, mint, and lemon halves. Add 4 more cups water and the reserved lemon juice and stir to mix. Taste for sweetness and add up to 1/4 cup additional sugar to taste, if desired, stirring to mix until the sugar dissolves. Serve cold over ice, garnished with sprigs of mint and wedges of lemon.

　　Reprinted with permission from Sara Foster's Southern Kitchen: Soulful, Traditional, Seasonal by Sara Foster. Copyright © 2011 by Sara Foster. Published by Random House. All Rights Reserved.Sara Foster is the owner of Foster's Market, the acclaimed gourmet take-out store/cafés in Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the author of several cookbooks including The Foster's Market Cookbook, winner of the Best Cookbook Award from the Southeast Booksellers Association. She has appeared numerous times on Martha Stewart Living Television and NBC's Today show. She has also been featured in magazines such as More, House Beautiful, and Southern Living, and is featured regularly in Bon Appétit.