Southern Sweet Tea

Course Drinks

Cuisine American, Southern

Keyword southern-style-sweet-tea, southern-sweet-tea-recipe, sweet-iced-tea

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 5

Chill time 4

Total Time 4 10

Servings servings

Calories 96kcal

In a 4 quart saucepan bring 1 quart of water to a rolling boil.
Remove from heat, add tea bags to the boiling water. Let stand and steep for 5-8 minutes.
Remove tea bags and discard. Add sugar and baking soda to the warm tea, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved.
Pour tea into a one gallon pitcher adding remaining 3 quarts of cold water, stir well.
Chill for at least 4 hours, then enjoy poured over ice cubes garnished with a sprig of mint and lemon wedges.

- Best Tea -What is the best tea to use when making cool and refreshing sweet tea? That would certainly be up to the cook. Most people in the South use either Lipton or Luzianne for sweet tea making. It's perfectly fine to use your favorite brand.

- Sugar - If you need to replace granulated sugar with a sugar substitute like splenda or Truvia or another brand that you enjoy, you can. The same rule applies, stir until it's completely dissolved and sweeten to your taste.

- Baking Soda - Baking soda prevents bitterness and the tea from becoming cloudy. If you're making a gallon of sweet tea and plan to serve it the same day, you may not need to add it. If you're making sweet tea in advance, add the baking soda. It doesn't affect the flavor at all but keeps the tea crystal clear.

- Allow Ample Time for the Tea to Develop Flavor - I recommend making the tea a bit on the strong side. The reason is, while sipping ice tea over ice, it naturally waters it down just a little and strong tea will maintain its flavor.

- Garnishes - Sprigs of mint and lemon slices or lemon wedges are optional, but they're commonly offered along with sweet tea in the South.

- Lemon Juice - If you'd like to add lemon juice to this iced tea recipe you can. Replace 1 cup of water with 1 cup of fresh lemon juice for lemon tea.