Another DIY Herbal Tea, from the website Recipe Goldmine. In this recipe, tea is made by water steeped in anise seed, which is similar to fennel seed but with a stronger licorice flavor. Can be served hot or chilled. I liked the flavor of honey with this tea better than sugar.

5 cups water
2 1/2 tsp anise seed
sugar, to taste

Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Add anise seed and remove from heat. Cover and steep 20 minutes. Strain out seeds and add sugar (or honey).

Serve immediately hot or chill 1-2 hours and serve over ice.

Anise Tea for One

Here is another version of Anise Tea, this one from About.com. Great on a chilly night or a day when the AC has been turned on for too long. A quick and easy treat to serve one.

1 cup boiling water
1 tsp anise seed
1 tsp honey or to taste

Pour boiling water over anise seed a small heat-resistant bowl or saucepan. Steep for 5-6 minutes.

Strain tea into a mug and sweeten to taste with honey.

To serve iced, chill for 20-30 minutes and serve over ice as shown below. Again, this herbal tea will not be as dark as regular tea.

Here is another iced tea recipe from allrecipes.com, this one with pineapple and lemon. The recipe does not specify what type of tea to use, so plain Lipton would work fine, but I used black Assam. I typically do not use sugar in my tea, but felt it was needed in this case. Adjust the sugar to suit your tastes.

4 cups boiling water
7 tea bags
1 1/2 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
1/4 lemon juice
2 tbsp sugar, or to taste

Pour boiling water over tea bags in a heat-resistant pitcher. Steep for 5 minutes or until desired stregth. Remove tea bags and stir in sugar until dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

Stir in pineapple juice and lemon juice. Chill tea for 1-2 hours.

To serve, pour tea over glasses filled with ice. Garnish with lemon wedges if desired.

This tasty recipe came from http://www.bellybytes.com/recipe/tea/index.html. Part of BellyBytes.com, this list has tons of great hot and iced tea recipes! Consider this a summertime version of apple cider, and if you use chilled apple juice you don’t need to wait for the tea to chill.

4 bags of black tea
3 cups boiling water
1/3 cup honey
3 cups unsweetned apple juice 
Lemon slices

Place tea bags in a heat-safe pitcher or teapot. Pour boiling water over bags and steep about 15 minuts. 

Discard bags and add honey, stirring until honey is dissolved. Add apple juice and stir well.

Serve over ice, garnished with lemon slices.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.