June is National Iced Tea Month. Yay for the refreshing zero calorie beverage! I find that iced tea can be kind of like gum, because if you feel like munching on something, and instead pour yourself a big glass of iced tea, you will usually be pretty satisfied with that summery, yes I am going to look good in my bathing suit and I’m not going to go near those chocolate chips in the refrigerator if I can help it kind of feeling. If you too love iced tea and want to have some on hand at all times, here are 10 easy steps to make it yourself:

1. Get yourself a big tea ball. Otherwise known as an infuser, but in my family we always call them tea balls. And yes, they must be the big ones. I had a hard time finding one, but mine looks like the one for sale here.

2. Fill your big tea ball with your favorite flavor of loose tea. I like black teas (caffeinated — not herbal, that is) with fruit flavors like peach or mango. Although I just made some vanilla tea yesterday and that’s pretty good too. Adagio Teas looks like they carry just about every flavor you would ever want to sample. If there’s a restaurant or cafe that you buy iced tea at, you should ask if they would sell you some of their loose tea. I buy lots of tropical flavor loose tea from one of my favorite neighborhood spots, La Grande Orange.

3. Boil some water.

4. Set your filled up tea ball in a glass 4-cup measuring cup.

5. Pour boiling water over the tea ball into the measuring cup and fill it to the 4 cup mark.

6. Let the tea steep in the measuring cup for at least one hour. If you forget about it for several hours, that’s okay. According to my dad, the iced tea lover extraordinaire, there is no such thing as iced tea that’s too strong.

7. Take the tea ball out and pour the tea into a big iced tea jug. Mine has a spigot which is handy for dispensing from the fridge, but it’s plastic (ugh) and I’m looking for a glass one. After much googling, the only one-gallon glass jugs with spigots I could find were this watermelon one and another with an equally 70’s sunflower design. I like this simple sturdy-looking Italian glass pitcher, but the downside is that it only holds 2 liters (about a half gallon).

8. Fill the rest of the jug with water. I use the filtered water from the refrigerator door because our tap water isn’t all that tasty.

9. Put the jug in the refrigerator

10. Enjoy over ice!