Pineapple Sage Iced Tea

Pineapple sage grows quickly and soon was the dominant plant growing straight up the middle of my herb pot....what to do with all of this sage?! Summer in Boston, and a house without central AC does not exactly lend itself well to something like a roast chicken with pineapple sage....so I soon found Rita's recipe for Pineapple Sage Iced Tea! Perfect!

I made a single batch of this tea, and it was gone within the afternoon! I doubled the recipe and it came out great. I'm posting the single batch recipe here. I've also made this with lemon and with lime, both taste great, so use what you have on hand.

Pineapple Sage Iced Tea

1/2 cup packed pineapple sage leaves

1/4 cup honey

1 lemon or lime

1/2 pineapple juice (freeze into ice cubes - optional. Also optional, the mini ice cube tray below, but c'mon how cute is it?!)

1 qt. boiling water

 Start by boiling 1 qt. of water. While waiting for the water to boil,  firmly pack the sage leaves into 1/2 cup (note that I haven't yet filled or packed the 1/2 cup in the picture below).

Juice 1 lemon or lime ( Oh how I love my mini juicer from Brimfield!)

In a large saucepan, combine the pineapple sage leaves, honey, and juice (more or less to taste) from 1 lemon or lime.

 Pour the boiling water in the saucepan and let steep for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, the leaves are wilted and the tea is a nice, light, golden color.

(If you're making this as a hot tea, strain out the leaves at this point, and you may want to reboil the tea to get it nice and hot)

For iced tea, strain your tea right into a big pitcher!

Serve with pineapple ice cubes, a sprig of mint, and you are ready to be refreshed! 

Enjoy!