Southern Sweet Tea
Spring is just around the corner and that means it’s time for some refreshing Southern Sweet Tea.
If you are like me, you love a refreshing glass of real Southern Sweet Tea. Here is a really easy sweet tea that everyone will love and is great for any occasion – especially hot summer days.
Instructions:
- Sweetener – use 1 cup of sugar to two cups of water. Heat over medium/high heat in sauce pot until sugar is fully dissolved. Remove from heat
- Tea – Using a larger sauce pot, bring 6 cups water to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and add 4 Family Size Luzianne tea bags to the pot and steep for 5 minutes. You can go longer but your tea will get stronger – if you like that then go a little longer. I use Luzianne tea but you can use whatever brand you like.
- Once your tea has steeped for 5 minutes, remove the tea bags and discard. No need to squeeze the bags out.
- An important step for smooth, refreshing sweet tea. Add a pinch of Baking Soda to neutralize the tannins in the tea. Very important if you want really smooth tea.
- Fill a 3-quart container with about 2 quarts of ice – this will be your dilution of the tea.
- Pour the sweetener and tea over the ice at the same time. I find that mixture is just the way I like it – the perfect balance of sweetness and good tea flavor.
- Optional – I like to add a little fresh lemon to add some additional flavor. A manual citrus juicer really comes in handy here – makes squeezing the juice out of the lemon very easy and catches the seeds at the same time. Bonus!!Β I use one average size lemon and that gives it great lemon flavor without overpowering the tea.Β Add slices to each glass if you like.
- Stir to mix and cool the tea. Tea is instantly ready to drink over a glass of ice.
There you have it folks. Real Southern Sweet Tea and easy to make.
Enjoy!!
Photo credit – Glass picture of tea is courtesy of Today.com Β Other photos are taken by me. Β
I didn’t think about the baking soda. Interesting!
It works – smooth and refreshing tea. My wife loves it as much as I do and she even makes it from this recipe when we run out. Good stuff.
baking soda in tea? I never heard of doing that. I’ll try that though. I wonder if that’s why sweet tea tastes good
Yes – give it a try. Makes for very smooth and refreshing tea. Just a little will do the trick. Thanks for reading
Thanks for the recipe! I will definitely try this one π And I forgot to tell you that your chicken soup is now my goto recipe π
That’s awesome. The soup is a family fav for us and we mix it up once in a while – sometimes noodles, sometimes tortellini, and once in a while dumplings π
Ahhh, I’m from the Midwest but have never been able to get behind Sweet Tea! A heathen, I know!
Oh please try it. I never did either until I tried REALLY good sweet tea. Then I searched and asked around how to make it just like I had fallen in love with. Once you get hooked, thereβs no turning back. βΊοΈ Thanks for stopping by ππ»
Very special indeed.
Refreshing!
W springtime! π
It is and so good too. I have been making this recipe for a while and do not recall where I first saw it but it really is the best Sweet Tea Iβve ever had. Goes great with grilled foods and sunshine βΊοΈπ
We just need the sunshine then! ππ
For sure – been cold and rainy here in the middle U.S.
The big cold has left us in Paris… but the weather has become rainy and changeable…