Summer is fast approaching and ice tea goes great as a summer quencher for those hot days. Here are a few tips/tricks to liven up your ice tea drinks.
(Note- basic recipe for iced tea: boil 4 cups water and 10 tea bags of your choice. Let cool.)

Add summer flavors by adding fruit or different flavoring agents to your brewed ice tea:

• Cherry Lime iced tea – add 2 cups cherry juice and lime syrup
• Apple pie iced tea – add 2 cups apple juice and cinnamon syrup
• Nantucket iced tea – add 2 cups cranberry juice and lime syrup
• Orangeade iced tea – add 2 cups lemonade and orange syrup
• Cranrasberry tea –add 2 cups cranberry-raspberry juice and lemon syrup

Note: Simple syrup is made by equal parts sugar and equal parts water. Simply heat over medium high heat until sugar is dissolved. This prevents your drinks from having that granulated taste. Use this liquid as a sweetening agent.  

To add flavors to the simple syrup (e.g., Lemon syrup), add 1 tablespoon grated citrus zest (lemon, lime, or orange), or add a cinnamon stick.  

Start with adding 1/2 cup of this sweet syrup to the basic tea or whatever suits your taste.