My very favorite drink is sweet tea with lemon.  Actually, like most things, this drink was better when I was a child.  I was responsible for preparing it for the family, and the very first step would be to go outside and get some mint leaves.  Then I would fill a small, battered tin pot halfway full of water, drop in the mint and about four Lipton tea bags.

While the water and mint came to a boil, I would get out a large plastic pitcher and put about a cup and a half of sugar in it.  Then I would take the boiling pot off of the stove, get a strainer, and strain the tea/mint mixture into the pitcher.  The boiling mixture would dissolve the sugar.  I would stir well, get a lemon, cut it in half, and squeeze one half of the lemon into the pitcher.

Then I would fill the pitcher with water until it was about two thirds full, after which point I would fill the remainder of the space with ice cubes, stir again and put it into the refrigerator. I would do all this under the watchful eye of my mother as she glanced through her metal reading glasses at my handy work, then up to me with a loving and approving smile.

Remember, this recipe doesn't work without the battered tin pot!  Even though it's been thirty years, it still anchors my mother's kitchen!