Any sweet tea recipes?

[jennifer293]

I guess everyone in the South can pass along a recipe for sweet tea!

Lipton makes "Cold Brew" and it makes great tea in less time. I use 2 family size bags for a 2-quart pitcher. You just add water to make 2 qts and remove the bags after 5 or 10 minutes. I add a 'heaping' cup of sugar to the pitcher and that makes tea that is terrifically sweet for my family. They make the Cold Brew in decaffeinated too, but I haven't tried it. Figure I might as well have a little caffeine with my sugar!

This is waht we use..boling water takes too long..

Sometimes in the summertime..... I take a glass pitcher and I put water in it and 2 small tea bags and 2 cups of sugar and let it sit in the sun all day. It is really good that way as well, but it has to be really hot out for it to taste right.

 

[branv]

I wish I liked the cold brew bags, it would make things alot easier! But when I tasted the tea from them, for me and DH, we were "blech!" I've always liked my tea really strong, which is quite a balance in terms or strong but not bitter. (And unfortunately, most restaurants tea is like drinking brown water.) The reason tea gets bitter is b/c the bags steep for too long. To make tea stronger but not bitter, I suggest you use more bags and decrease the steeping time until you're happy with the results.

I'm also a bit of a traitor in that I think sweet tea is usually too darn sweet, so when I go to a restaurant I order half sweet, half plain (if it tells you anything, when I sweeten my own plain tea at restaurants, I only use 1/2 a packet of sweet and low). DH likes his tea plain (notice I say "plain" instead of unsweetened ), so I make strong tea by putting 3-4 family sized bags into a 2-qt pitcher and pouring boiling water over them, steeping about 7-10 minutes and do not add sugar. I make a simple syrup on the side which I keep in the fridge in a jar: it's 1 cup water with one cup sugar, boiled. I add that into my glass of tea to taste, while DH gets to drink his plain. This would also work for people who are cold brewing since they don't get to use the heat of the water to dissolve their sugar. No more sugar sludge

 

[caribear]

This is how we make "sweet tea". It is something my DH's family has always made.

7 tea bags in about a gallon of water. Bring to boil with bags in it. We just use a big old pot. Then add 1 cup sugar and 1/2 can frozen lemonade concentrate (minute maid) after it comes to a rolling boil. Cool in fridge or counter overnight and bottle. DH doesn't like the lemon pulp, so we strain ours first through a thin wire strainer.

It is YUMMY!

The added lemonade concentrate sounds yummy! I might have to try adding some to my next batch of tea! I am just finishing up the last batch I made....and while the tea was not bitter this time...it was very sweet....I did use 1 cup of the unrefined sugar, so I think that might have made it a little sweeter than normal. I used 2 quarts of water, 2 family sized tea bags and 1cup sugar....I did not add extra water to the original 2 quarts of boiled water....maybe I should have...

 

[NeverlandClub23]

This is waht we use..boling water takes too long..

Sometimes in the summertime..... I take a glass pitcher and I put water in it and 2 small tea bags and 2 cups of sugar and let it sit in the sun all day. It is really good that way as well, but it has to be really hot out for it to taste right.

I love Sun Tea. My family used to make it ALL of the time when we would go on camping trips.

 

[NotUrsula]

In most restaurants in the South the standard sugar syrup ratio for tea is 2 cps to 1 gallon water. The number of tea bags used varies widely, as does the brand and the steeping time, but most restaurants don't steep it for long. I usually only steep it for 15 minutes.

BTW, you can make the sugar syrup (simple syrup) ahead of time and keep it for up to a month as long as it is in a sealed container. Most people I know who don't like fully-sweetened tea keep some around to sweeten to taste; it's MUCH better than using sugar as an add-in for already-chilled tea. If I'm making just the syrup to keep around, I double the ratio, as in 1 cp sugar to one quart water; that accounts for the fact that there is already water in the unsweetened iced tea you will be adding it to.

PS: I thought it went without saying that you should never boil water with tea in it, but the poster after me is correct; you never want to do that. I do bring my water to boil before adding the tea, but I let it rest off the heat for a few minutes first.

 

[ticktock]

Ticktock's DH here:
Don't boil the water.....I get the water right up to the boiling point, remove the pan from the heat and drop in four/five regular size tea bags. You can actually hear the point when the tea bags go in the water. The initial heat will bring the water to the boiling point and there will be a slight hissing sound and lots of bubbles on the bottom of the pan. There will be a point when the water stops hissing and this is the boiling point. Remove from heat and drop the tea bags. Steep for desired strength (3 minutes) and remove bags. Add one cup of sugar and stir to mix. I have found that this produces the best sweet tea, but this is my opinion and taste. I also use only one pot for making tea. Little Pot is perfect and it's only job is making sweet tea..............