Hey Southerners! Sweet Tea Recipe Please!

[DuckLady]

I spent a week in Charlotte, NC recently and got addicted to Sweet Tea. Here in the west, you get your tea unsweetened and you have to add your own stuff. I was amazed and delighted to have tea served sweet with no sugar granule floaties in it. How do you make true Southern Sweet Tea?
I drank GALLONS of it.

 

[lexustami]

I live in Ohio now but I was born and raised in Florida. I LOVE sweet tea. This is how I make it.

Fill up your coffee pot with water. Put 8 tea bags in the carafe and turn on. I put mine in the carafe and not where you would put the coffee grounds. I've tried it both ways but I prefer the tea bags to steep in the water.

In a gallon container add 2 cups of sugar. Pour the hot tea into the container so the sugar melts. Stir well. Fill the rest of the container with cold water. Put in your frig. to get cold. Serve over ice.

I like mine extra sweet. You may want to try 1 1/2 cups of sugar and add more to taste until you find the right sweetness for you.

Take care,

Tami

 

[arlee453]

I can't do tea made in the coffe maker - it always seems to have that faint wiff of coffee in there when I'm done.

I do it the old fashoned way... I take a small cooking pot and fill with water and bring to a boil. Then I turn off the heat and drop in family size tea bags (louisane or lipton are my personal favs). Steep for 5 min, then pour your tea into your container. Add sugar and STIR until all the grains are melted into the water - that's the trick to good 'sweet tea' - to stir the sugar in while the tea is warm.

I use 2 family size bags for 2 qts and 4 for a gallon. I add about a cup to cup and a half of sugar for 2 qts, but you may like more or less - you'll find your 'right' combination.

Once the sugar is melted in, then add cold water to the top, refrigerate and enjoy!

Susan

 

[2mnypets]

I make my southern tea the way I taught when my DH and I lived in North Carolina and Georgia. You can either put the water in the microwave or on the stove. Either way boil the water with the eight to ten tea bags until it has steeped really well and the tea is dark. I add 1 1/2 cups sugar to the hot steepd tea in a pitcher and stir until disolved. Fill the rest of the pitcher with cold water and put in the fridge. I use 8 tea bags if I'm only making one pitcher at a time and 10 if I am making two pitchers. I just let it steep a little while longer after I remove it from the stovetop before I mix it with the sugar if I'm making two pitchers. Just remember that the sugar will go in the pitchers before you add the hot tea. Edited because I forgot to say that my pitchers are gallon sizes.

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

DH loves my tea. (Don't know if it is just because he doesn't have to make it ) LOL

In my opinion the taste of tea depends a lot on your water. If your water doesn't taste good, your tea won't be as good either.
We have well water, so it is pretty good unless we are watering a lot. If we are, then I use bottled spring water.

Anyway, this is how I do it. It takes more time, but DH says it tastes better. For 1 gallon of tea:
I put 2 family size tea bags in a small (1 Qt.) sauce pan. Bring it to a boil, let it get to a rolling boil, turn it down to 1 or 2 on my electric stove. Set my timer for 20 minutes. When the timer goes off, I leave the stove turned on until I get the pitcher ready.
I used to use 1 cup of sugar for 1 gallon, but I have cut back to 3/4 of a cup now. (trying to cut down on sugar)
Put the sugar in the pitcher, turn off stove, pour the tea into the pitcher, I use a spoon to squeeze out all the water from the tea bags.
Stir until the sugar is dissolved, add water to fill pitcher, refrigerate.
You're done!!!

If I don't have the time, I will let the tea boil longer, & let it steep less. Sometimes if I'm in a real rush, I just boil it for about 5 or 6 minutes & mix it. When I do this, I run water into the pan with the tea bags & use it to fill the pitcher, then I get more flavor out of the tea bags with each pan of water.

You will find the method that works best for you from all the replies & try different sugar amounts until you find what you like best.

Jean

 

[pricem11]

We always made 'sun tea'. Put 8-10 black tea bags in a large glass jar (1 to 1.5 gallons). If you like it with lemon, cut a lemon into wedges, squeeze out the juice, but add the juice and the peels to the jar. Fill with warmish water and let sit in the sun for an hour or two. Remove the lemon peels or else they will make the tea bitter if you leave them more than a couple of hours. Sweeten to taste (~ 1 to 2 cups sugar).

 

[robbobbin]

Born and raised Texan here--and I do it exactly like Jean said, just as I watched my grandma do it many times.

 

[nccatnip]

Any of the above methods will work, the only thing I suggest is do not steep your tea bags for more than 5 minutes. It tends to get too strong and bitter.
Again, adding the sugar to hot water makes it dissolve.
Glad you enjoyed your visit to our state!!!!!

 

[Agilityscots]

I'm an Ohioan, but learned how to make sweet tea from a southerner. It's easy and wonderful! I add mint leaves to mine, fresh from the garden, after it's been poured into the pitcher.

Take 7 tea bags and 3/4 c. sugar and put into a saucepan. Add just enough water to dissolve the sugar, usually just enough for the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and boil about 5 minutes; don't let it boil too long or it can become bitter. Remove the teabags, squeezing them with a spoon as you remove them, and pour this concentrate into a 2-qt. pitcher. Add water to the pitcher and chill. Delicious!

Amy

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

Being a transplanted Texan (from Minnesota), I learned how to make sweet tea from a friends Grandmother.


Jean