Due to popular demand...
Here's my best southern sweet tea recipe. You'll laugh, because after trying all the "exotic" sweeteners, I ended up sticking with sugar!! :)
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups boiling water
- 6 tea bags (regular size, I do half decaf tea and half regular---hows that for a coffee lover?? Forget half caff lattes, I can make half caff sweet tea!!)
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (more or less, I do this to taste)
- 6 cups cold water (more or less, I actually gauge how much cool water to add by the color of the tea)
Steep baking soda, hot water, and tea for 10-15 minutes. Remove tea bags. Add sugar. Stir till dissolved. Add cold water. refrigerate and/or serve on ice.
This is PERFECT!! The baking soda keeps the tea from becoming bitter, so don't skip that step!
Enjoy!!
7 comments:
I'll have to try this recipe after we move. Then I can be a true (okay, "trying" to be like) Southern gal myself! :)
I've lived in the south for 7 years now and NEVER heard of the baking soda tip! Where did you learn about that? Sugar is the best, but I think agave nectar is a pretty good second.
Dolly, lest you think I'm terribly ingenious with my cooking skills, I googled it. :) Apparently, a pinch of baking soda is a trick for a lot of things...like getting crayon off the wall... not that I know about that or anything... ;)
This was one of my first recipes on my cooking blog - in fact, i just checked and this matches is my recipe exactly! haha even the baking soda, except i like your exact measurements compared to my 'pinch or so'! :) you've inspired me, now, to make it!
Haha, Sarah!! How funny! I could have saved myself the experimentation effort and just looked on your blog!! Oh well! :) It was fun experimenting.
ooo - I made another gallon of the stuff yesterday and I did things a little different. Because I doubled it, I only used 10 tea bags (half n half), steeped for 15 solid minutes WITH mint leaves! (2 8 inch pieces) it was perfect. because of the fewer tea bags, it was a lighter tea and blended really well with the hint of mint. i wonder if you could use mint extract?
great tip, Sarah!! I've tried it with a mint tea bag before because I didn't have any fresh mint. But I bet the fresh stuff is soooo good. You know, I've also tried this recipe with cranberry juice (great cranberry iced tea--like Snapple) and also peach juice/nectar (again like the Snapple peach iced tea, so good)
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