Starbucks Black Tea Lemonade

So. This summer I've become entirely obsessed with Starbucks' Black iced tea lemonade. Thanks to a generously loaded gift card I received, I've been able to fund this ridiculous habit; even so I knew such a simple concoction could easily be done at home!

After a few tries, this is the winner! There are quite a few different black tea variants and after some research and taste testing I'm here to save you the effort and inform you that Starbucks uses Orange pekoe and pekoe cut black tea (believe it or not, this will make a difference-not a big one if you don't mind, but if you're going for as close as possible, this will be your pick)

• Boil 5 cups of water on the stove & then remove from heat

•Stir in 1/2 cup of sugar

• Drop in 2 family sized (shown above) tea bags or 3 regular tea bags and let seep for 2-3 minutes 

• Pour a 12oz can can of frozen lemonade into your pitcher 

• add 5 cups of cold water 

• Combine the two and chill in the fridge 

update 11/4/12: I've made this about once a week and have found that the frozen lemonades pulp causes some yucky filming in the tea when it's consumed over a period longer than a day or so- I started using powdered country time lemonade and it works PERFECTLY!

The breakdown

$1.98 for 1 Package of 24 family sized tea bags=12 pitchers

>> $1.98÷12=.17

$1.24 for 12 oz frozen lemonade

>> 1.24 + .17 = $1.41 (per pitcher)

$1.41 per pitcher ÷ 8 servings = $0.17 per serving

The verdict? I've had this drink almost once a day for the last week (yes, the shame is palpable...before you judge the coupon queen remember I have a gift card!!), the point? It tastes exactly the same! The black tea gives it just enough kick to help you past that 3 o'clock hurdle, and since it is a water based drink it's wonderfully refreshing!

enjoy friends, happy savings!