Tea

We drink 2 quarts of iced tea daily.  Sometimes more, depending on how much we're at home.  I keep two pitchers in the fridge at a time, and usually make a batch nightly. It surprises me to find out that some people drink tea and don't know how to make it.  I like to keep things easy for me.. so I bought an electric tea kettle just to make tea in.  The one I got cost about $10 and boils 2 cups of water in a few minutes.  I put 5 tea bags and 2 cups of water in the kettle and push the boil button.  While it's heating up, I dump 1/2 cup of sugar in the jug.  After the water boils, my kettle turns off (which is a feature worth paying extra for!) and I like to let it steep for a little while (ok.. I usually forget about it).  Then carefully pour the tea into the pitcher, stir and fill with water or ice. If you're working on the stove, I liked to use a sauce pan (again, I had a specific one I used just for tea).  I used an old pan that the "non-stick" was "stick" again.  I boiled the tea bags and the sugar together.  Let it cool a bit and funnel it into the pitcher.  This actually made better tasting tea, IMO, but having a tea kettle is easier.   I get the enormous 50-pound bag of sugar at Sam's Club once a year or so.  I honestly have no idea how many servings we get out of it.  It costs about $30, so to keep the math simple, we'll say there are 300 1/2 cups... or $.10 a jug.  The tea bags, I get 100 for $1 so an entire jug costs us about $.11.   I like a bit of flavor every once in a while, so I toss a Celestial Seasonings Fruit Tea Sampler in with four black tea bags.  I got the box as a gift, but even if I splurged on it, it bumps the price of the pitcher to $.26.  There are 3-4 servings in each jug.