Mom's favorite recipe: instant tea

I often joke my mom’s favorite recipe was instant tea. Growing up, I had no idea tea came in bags or that it could be brewed bypassing multiple ways to enjoy this simple beverage.

Now I realize the magic of instant tea is you can make one glass at a time. If you kept adding ice, you rarely had to put in more tea. Plus, the real bonus is no more throwing away rancid tea or taking up room in your refrigerator with a large pitcher.

I guess that was a “secret” not lost on a local pizza place I used to work at in my teen years. Believe it or not, after being given instruction on changing the tea machine, I was surprised it used a Lipton instant tea cannister, turned upside down, to drop in just the right amount of tea for a single glass. We didn’t sell a lot of tea, so I guess that purchase was a genius cost saver on the restaurant’s bottom line!