southern sweet and I mean sweet ice tea recipe??

[Mic]

I have lived in NC all my life, and can remember when only SWEET tea was served. Now, because of diabetes and the influx of non-North Carolinians, all restaurants serve both sweet and unsweet tea. Around here, there used to be a reastaurant that served only unsweet...but it wasn't open very long(wonder why?) I make mine the way my great-grandmother and grandmother did. The old-fashioned way is to boil a large pot of water on the stove(at least 1/2 gallon to about 3/4 gallon of water), drop in 3-4 large family-size tea bags(Luzianne and Lipton are the more popular brands around here), and let them "seep" (or sit) in the water for at least 5 minutes, but no more than 30 minutes(as the tea still needs to be warm when you add the sugar). Remove the tea bags, and pour the tea into a gallon-size jug, add 1 to 1.5 cups of sugar(some folks use up to 2 cups, but I would go into a sugar coma if I used that much), and finish filling the jug with cold tap water, stirring as you add the water. I have to admit, I HATE the strings on the tea bags, and only one supermarket used to sell the Luzianne round(stringless) bags. Now I buy the gallon-size tea bags at Sam's Club(Lipton 48-count), so I only have to use 1 bag per gallon of tea. Since I only make it in gallon jugs at home, this works fine for me. When we go to Disney, I buy a box of the family-size tea bags to take with me, as the pitchers in the DVC rooms are only half-gallon size. The first thing I do when I get to the room is to call housekeeping for a second pitcher, and boil a large pot of water. I make a jug of sweet tea and a jug of "splenda" tea for DH(who is diabetic) immediately, then replenish as needed using 2 tea bags and a little less water for the half-gallon pitchers throughout the week. The real secret to "southern sweet tea" is that we add the sugar while the tea is still hot, so it dissolves completely. And we are not afraid to use too much sugar, either!

 

[Golf4food]

We love our sweet tea so much we have started calling it Sweet Georgia Wine.lol

I often refer to it as "Sweet Nectar of Life". If I could have it injected directly into my veins via I.V., I might consider it.

And yes, to echo earlier comments, Luizianne is by far the best option for brewing good sweet tea - order it on ebay if you have to. Lipton ain't Suthron enough.

 

[phragmipedium]

As an Oregonian I suppose I'm worse than a Yankee. I've never had tea sweetened with simple syrup - but I do sweeten my own; I don't care for unsweetened.

I have a question - a longtime family friend of mine from the South buys Arizona tea because you can't order sweet tea here - and he puts peanuts in it sometimes. He does that with Coke too. Is that another Southern phenomenon or just a quirk of my friend?

 

[sorul82?]

12 steps to making proper Southern sweet tea

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1. Get your tea pot out of the cabinet or off the drying rack.
Note: a tea pot is not to be confused with a tea kettle. It is a regular pot that you only use for making tea.
2. Get out 4 tea bags, open the wrappers, and be certain not to tear off the paper tabs.
3. Twist them around each other a few times and clip to the pot handle using a clothes pin.
4. Fill pot 3/4 full, put on the stove, and turn burner to high.
5. Wait for tea to boil.
Note: Do NOT leave the stove when making tea. Tell Lois or Eula Mae that you will call them back after you make your tea.
6. While you are waiting for your tea to boil, rinse out your pitcher. NEVER let your pitcher soak in soapy water. Soap flavored tea anyone?
7. Put two cups of sugar in your pitcher.
8. If your tea is still not boiling, go ahead and get your glass out of the cabinet, but don't put the ice in yet.
9. When tea starts to boil, IMMEDIATELY remove it from the stove; you don't want your tea bags to bust.
10. Pour tea into the pitcher and stir with a wooden spoon.
11. I put the tea bags back in the pot and fill up the pot with cold water and gently press on the bags with the wooden spoon being careful not to bust the bags, then pour into the pitcher.
12. Repeat 11 until your pitcher is full. Fill your glass with ice, pour yourself some tea, and put the pitcher in the fridge.

If you are expecting company, or if it's Sunday, rinse your pot and start another batch. Otherwise, immediately wash your pot and have it in the ready.

 

[sorul82?]

As an Oregonian I suppose I'm worse than a Yankee. I've never had tea sweetened with simple syrup - but I do sweeten my own; I don't care for unsweetened.

I have a question - a longtime family friend of mine from the South buys Arizona tea because you can't order sweet tea here - and he puts peanuts in it sometimes. He does that with Coke too. Is that another Southern phenomenon or just a quirk of my friend?

Yes, it's a southern thing.

 

[crisi]

As an Oregonian I suppose I'm worse than a Yankee. I've never had tea sweetened with simple syrup - but I do sweeten my own; I don't care for unsweetened.

I have a question - a longtime family friend of mine from the South buys Arizona tea because you can't order sweet tea here - and he puts peanuts in it sometimes. He does that with Coke too. Is that another Southern phenomenon or just a quirk of my friend?

I went to a wedding in Wisconsin where they put cherries in the beer.

 

[jcgonczi]

I am as southern as southern comes and am also known for my sweet tea. Here is my "recipe".

Place 4 individual size or 2 family size teas bags (I think Kroger brand is the best) and 1 1/2 cups water in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 5 minutes. Let sit and steep for a minimum of 1 hour. Melt one cup of sugar by stirring into some hot water (however much is needed to melt the sugar) in your tea pitcher. Add cod water until you have 1/2 gallon or 2 quarts of tea. If you want a full gallon, just double everything.

Enjoy!

 

[MerryPoppins]

I'm not a huge fan of iced tea, but even I can taste the difference in tea that was sweetened cold and tea made with syrup. Here's the secret. You have to heat the sugar and water to make syrup. It changes the taste. There's no way to dissolve the sugar in cool tea and have it taste the same. In a restaurant, ask "Do you have sweet tea?" If they only have regular tea and you can sweeten at the table, order something else.

Once you have sweet, hot syrup you can steep your tea and combine them or skip a step and just combine the syrup and more hot water in the teapot/pitcher and throw in the tea bags.

 

[Sethsmom]

and he puts peanuts in it sometimes. He does that with Coke too. Is that another Southern phenomenon or just a quirk of my friend?

When I was a kid we did this all the time. We used to have the real thick glass coke bottles and would put peanuts in the coke. I do not like peanuts as an adult. Maybe I had too many in my cokes as a child.

We also used to play a game with the old coke bottles where the person that had the bottle made the greatest distance away won a quarter.

 

[Carrie772]

I have a question - a longtime family friend of mine from the South buys Arizona tea because you can't order sweet tea here - and he puts peanuts in it sometimes. He does that with Coke too. Is that another Southern phenomenon or just a quirk of my friend?

Yeah. It's as Southern as Moon Pies and R.C. I prefer peanuts in my Coke only if it's a bottled Coke. Unfortunately, those prices are too high for daily drinkin' now. That's a tail-gate treasure!!

Oh, and BTW, if it's dark and carbonated, it's a "Coke." You just have to tell us what kind of Coke you want!

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

As pp's have stated Luzianne or Lipton tea is what we mostly use here. I use Lipton and while I don't do it the old fashion way of boiling the water on the stove w/ the tea bags in it, I bought a Mr Coffee Iced Tea Maker (you can get them at walmart or target or online)(at least here you can) I fill it to the most it will make than I add 5 regular size tea bags and 1 cup of water and let the machine do the work it takes like 15 minutes and that's how I do of coure you can all ways adjust to suit your taste buds. Each pitcher makes about a gallon of tea and I do this for my kiddos bday parties.

 

[DawnM]

Luzianne is pretty good. That is what my DH uses to make his. He boils water on the stove top and puts in sugar. He makes it super strong and then adds water as needed. That way he is assured of not getting it too weak.

I prefer Red Rose tea bags. I can't take Lipton.....it tastes like cardboard to me.

Dawn

Boil Luzianne tea bag, at least 4 or 5, you need to figure out how many you like. When it boils remove from heat, take out the tea bags and dump in the sugar and stir until dissolved. More than a cup for a gallon, maybe 2 or more. I have cut back because I'm dieting. Then add it to your pitcher and add cold water or ice depending on how soon you want to drink it. I like cold water better.

I lived in the south for several years and now live in PA and people come over to my house and ask for my tea!

 

[MiniGirl]

Yeah. It's as Southern as Moon Pies and R.C. I prefer peanuts in my Coke only if it's a bottled Coke. Unfortunately, those prices are too high for daily drinkin' now. That's a tail-gate treasure!!

Oh, and BTW, if it's dark and carbonated, it's a "Coke." You just have to tell us what kind of Coke you want!

This is so funny. I used to be a flight attendant and there was another girl from Louisiana (I'm from there originally, too) in my class. When we first started flying, she would ask "Which flavor" every time someone asked her for a Coke. I had to explain that while I knew what she meant, most people mean a plain old regular Coca-Cola when they say Coke. Persoanlly, I mean Diet Coke when I say Coke, so I'm guilty of it as well, but I knew it was a southern thang.

I also can't believe there are 4 pages of sweet tea recipes. I'll add ours to the mix though. We boil some water. We don't measure it. We just fill up the pot, but I think it is a 2 quart saucepan (but maybe 4). When the water comes to a boil, we out almost a cup of sugar. Then we put in a few teabage an take it off the heat to steep. After awhile we pour the tea into our tea container and fill the saucepan again with cold water, squeeze out the tea bags ad dump that into the container, and then finish filling it with cold water. Very simple. I think the common thread is to put the sugar in while the beverage is hot (whether you put it in tea or water) so it can dissolve and go from there.

 

[Minnie's Pal]

Orange Pekoe tea (it's decaf. I believe)

I put 6 regular size tea bags in a coffee maker
run around 6+ cups of water through it
I put 1 & 1/2 cups of sugar into the pitcher (for super sweet, put 2 cups)
add hot tea into pitcher, mix until the sugar is dissolved then add water while you stir until the pitcher is full

 

[lovetheprincesses]

I use the Mr. Coffee Iced Tea maker for the EASIEST tea. I use 3 family size decaf Luzianne family size bags to the tea maker and then add 1.5 cups of sugar for 3 quarts of tea.

 

[mdsouth]

I just want to thank the person who started this thread and to all who replied! Thanks for the wonderful memories!

Yeah. It's as Southern as Moon Pies and R.C. I prefer peanuts in my Coke only if it's a bottled Coke. Unfortunately, those prices are too high for daily drinkin' now. That's a tail-gate treasure!!

Oh, and BTW, if it's dark and carbonated, it's a "Coke." You just have to tell us what kind of Coke you want!

This quote says it all! My dad grew up in SC and now my brother and his family live there. We use to go down every two weeks in the summer to visit my grandparents and cousins. And then of course, even though my dad was a transplant to the north - he was a true southerner all his life! He always had a stash of peanuts and moon pies around the house! He recently passed away, and I am finding myself wanting sweet tea again!

My mother (a Yankee) learned to make sweet tea, pound cake (made with a pound of real butter) and other southern dishes from her mother-in-law and sister-in-law. So even though we lived in the north, my dad did not lack for his southern cooking! I am a Yankee and we drank sweat tea every day growing up for dinner!

 

[problemchild718]

Can you say "extra hip"? All I need to do is look at the stuff and I'd gain weight with all that sugar!!!

 

[MimiKay]

OK, ya'll.... here's how a Mississippi Girl does it!!!!

I get 4 cups water and add 4 family size tea bags, then put in microwave for 4 minutes. Let sit for a couple of minutes, then add 1 & 1/2 to 2 cups of sugar and dissolve, then add enough water to make a 1/2 gallon or regular size tea pitcher!!!!!!!!!

I make at least 1 pitcher a day for my DH and two DS!!!!

 

[jessica52877]

The way I was taught to do it, is to fill a small saucepan with water and about 5 tea bags. Bring to a boil. Put 1/2c-1c in the bottom of your pitcher, and then pour the boiling tea on top of it (helps it dissolve). Then, stick the pitcher under the faucet and fill the rest up, stirring with a wooden spoon all the while. I personally boil the tea longer, and I'm easy on the sugar...but I'm a Yankee =)

This is exactly how I make it. 1 cup makes it taste like it is from restaurants, 1/2 cup makes it pretty good, but not nearly as sweet, so if you go right in the middle it seems to be a good mix. I hate adding so much sugar to something.

I can't make it often because we'll drink a gallon in less than a day!

 

[Mono~rail]

As pp's have stated Luzianne or Lipton tea is what we mostly use here. I use Lipton and while I don't do it the old fashion way of boiling the water on the stove w/ the tea bags in it, I bought a Mr Coffee Iced Tea Maker (you can get them at walmart or target or online)(at least here you can) I fill it to the most it will make than I add 5 regular size tea bags and 1 cup of water and let the machine do the work it takes like 15 minutes and that's how I do of coure you can all ways adjust to suit your taste buds. Each pitcher makes about a gallon of tea and I do this for my kiddos bday parties.

I think you and I could be long lost relatives or something with our ice tea makers and love for pillowcase dresses.

I've lived in Louisiana all my life, and I've never known a day when there wasn't a jug of sweet tea in the ice box. Recently though, my mom bought one of the Mr Coffee Ice Tea Makers and I followed suit. Growing up, mama and Ma Maw (mama's mother) always had a jug. Mama always makes a fresh jug before supper every evening.

I used to just boil a pot of water, put about 4 or 5 family size tea bags in, and put a plate over it while it steeped for 30 min or so. After steeping, I would pour it over a cup of sugar in the gallon pitcher. In my family, we use a cup of sugar for every gallon. The hot tea melts the sugar then take it to the sink and add cold tap water to finish filling the jug.

With the ice tea maker, I do like the above poster and put in as much water as the maker will hold. I put 6 family size tea bags and I set the brew strength to the strongest. I put the sugar in the jug and let the hot brew melt it as it trickles in. Then I take it to the sink and finish filling the jug with cold tap water.

I'm planning to try some simple sugar and see if that makes a difference with my sweetening. I do make my tea strong because I like it to have some kick to it. I can't drink any past 4 in the afternoon or I have trouble going to sleep. Seriously, I fix a glass of tea to take with me every time I leave the house.