Pineapple Sweet Tea

I’m pretending like it’s summer! It’s still pretty cold and rainy here in Salt Lake, but I’m moving onto warmer weather, with or without Mother Nature. The truth is, Whole Foods had pineapples on sale the other day so I bought one. I’ve used the cores to make pineapple water in the past, but somehow, this time, I had the brilliant idea to try putting it in sweet tea. It did not disappoint!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• The core of a fresh pineapple 
• 3 quart size tea bags (sometimes called family size)
• 3 cups water
• 3 cups ice
• ⅓ cup sugar

This recipe ended up being all 3s which makes it really easy to remember. First, bring your water just to a boil. I just do it in the microwave, but you could do it in a kettle or on the stovetop. Add your teabags and allow them to steep for 3 minutes. (see what I mean about the 3s?)

While that’s doing its thing, put 3 cups of ice in a pitcher. After 3 minutes, the tea should be nice and dark. I should probably say, I like my tea quite strong. Not bitter, (that’s actually caused by steeping too long) just lots of tea flavor. If you like yours a bit less strong, go ahead and just use 2 teabags.

To squeeze the water out of the teabags, I like to just place them on a spoon and then wrap the string around and squeeze. I usually do this twice on each one.

Now, go ahead and pour in the sugar.

Stir until it’s completely dissolved, then pour that hot tea over the waiting ice.

Stir briskly until all of the ice has melted.

Now for the pineapple. I like to use pineapple cores for stuff like this. That way they get some use before going in the trash. I’m sure fresh pineapple or even frozen would work just fine if you don’t want to process a whole pineapple. Although, it’s actually quite simple to do. I’ll show how to do it the next time I buy one.

Whatever you decide to use, go ahead and just drop it into the tea. Into the fridge for 24 hours. Yeah, unfortunately this is not an immediate gratification kind of recipe, but you’ll be so happy it’s there tomorrow anyway.

Remove the pineapple and now it can go in the trash.

Pour the finished tea over a nice tall glass of ice.

My usual go to for sweet tea is fresh squeezed lime, but I gotta be honest, I may never go back. This pineapple version is nothing short of amazing!

In the winter, I like my tea hot and black with vanilla sugar, and sometimes cinnamon and milk, but in the summer, it’s cold, fruity and sweet. How do you like your tea?

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