Southern Sweet Tea Recipe...?

[AKL_Megs]

I've been making it the way my grandfather would make it (2 cups boiling water, add 2 cups sugar, boil with 4 family-size tea bags for 10 minutes... fill with cold water.)

It doesn't taste so great anymore...

Recipes, please!!!

 

[EeyoreEma]

I just microwave a huge bowl of water for about 6 minutes - good and hot. Then a cup of sugar in the pitcher along with 3 family sized tea bags, pour the hot water over it, stir to dissolve the sugar, let sit for a while, and then I add a glass or 2 of ice and refrigerate. It sounds similar to what you do, but it's always worked fine for us. DH loves the stuff, except he likes it sweeter than I do.

 

[NotUrsula]

Stop boiling the teabags. Tea should never be cooked. Make your simple syrup (the water and sugar) and then once it is dissolved cut the heat, add 2 quarts regular hot (not boiling) water and add the tea to steep.

IME, the usual ratio of water to sugar for simple syrup for tea is one part sugar to 2 parts water. You're using 1-1 ratio, so you are going for rather sickly sweet.

 

[lovemygoofy]

Way too much sugar and I like my sugar! One cup is enough and boil the water, cut the heat, add the sugar, stir and then pour over your tea bag. Don't boil the tea bags! Let the tea bags set for at least 20 mins before pulling out of the tea.

If you want other flavors of tea such as with fruit, once you boil the water and adding the sugar add in cut up fruits such as peaches or raspberries and then pour over tea bags.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Stop boiling the teabags. Tea should never be cooked. Make your simple syrup (the water and sugar) and then once it is dissolved cut the heat, add 2 quarts regular hot (not boiling) water and add the tea to steep.

IME, the usual ratio of water to sugar for simple syrup for tea is one part sugar to 2 parts water. You're using 1-1 ratio, so you are going for rather sickly sweet.

So, one cup sugar, two cup water? Or, two cup sugar, five cup water?

 

[WDWisOurHappyPlace]

I use this method and my tea comes out great:

http://www.professorshouse.com/food-beverage/food/making-iced-tea.aspx

I also read somewhere, when I researched "making perfect iced tea", that you do not want to squeeze the tea bags when removing after steeping. This makes the tea cloudy. Just lift the tea bags and remove instantly. I do this and have great results.

This is not "official" sweet tea, but just as good, imo.

(I also learned that you do not boil water in microwave, old fashioned kettle is best. Use boiling water for black tea, and just hot, steaming water for green, no boiling. Something about black tea being fermented, green tea not fermented, and it makes a difference.)

 

[december]

I never thought about a recipe for tea, until this week. There seems to be a lot of discussion on the dis about how to make sweet tea. The only thing I measure is the cup of sugar. I take a big boiler, fill it up with water, boil it, turn the heat off, drop in 2 large teabags, let that sit for a little while, put one cup sugar in a gallon pitcher, pour the tea over it, then fill to the top with water from the tap and stir.

 

[minkydog]

I don't have a "recipe" exactly, but I did learn from my ever-so-British grandparents that you NEVER boil your tea. They would be horrified

Always start with cold water. Bring a big pot of water to a boil. Add two family size teabags or 5 individual size teabags. Steep for at least 7-10 minutes. Stir in sugar to taste--start with 1/2 cup. Put ice in your pitcher and pour tea over it. Add cold water to fill your pitcher.

If you want to use non-sugar sweetner, just leave out the sugar and add Splenda, Truvia, Stevia,etc, a little at a time.

We drink our tea with lime--yum! Learned to drink it the Cuban way.

 

[luvsJack]

For one gallon of tea (correction from saying 1/2 gallon in the other thread and being corrected by dh):

Fill pot (I use the smallest pot in my set) with water and bring to boil. Put in tea bags and cover. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Put 1 cup of sugar (or to taste) into a gallon pitcher, pour tea over and stir to melt sugar, fill with cold water.

The number of tea bags can be adjusted to the strength of tea you want. My mom uses two family size bags, my sister uses one, I make tea to dh's taste which is 4 small bags.

And of course the amount of sugar can be adjusted. Try making with 1/2 cup and taste. You can always add more.

 

[court4short]

I suppose I can take a crack at it.

This is how my mom has always made it, and my siblings and I grew up on the stuff. Perhaps it's the reason we're all a little pooh-sized, but hey...we're happy.

First of all, you've got to have the right brand of tea bags. We use nothing but Luzianne tea bags. So you'll need however many tea bags you use for a gallon of tea (this differs since there are small and large bags).

For each gallon we use 2 cups of sugar. So get your gallon pitcher out and go ahead and pour the two cups of sugar in there.

Here's the kicker - my mom doesn't boil or microwave her water for tea. She ties the teabags all together and clips them inside of her coffee pot. Fill the coffee machine will a full pot of water, and run it. (Obviously, you don't put coffee grounds in the machine.) The water will run through warm and stay heated on the machine. Once the coffee pot is full, pour that into your gallon pitcher. Fill the coffee machine up one more time, and run it again with the same tea bags. Poor the second pot into the pitcher and then stir. There won't be enough water yet, but it's best to stir it with just the hot water in their to allow the sugar to dissolve better.

After that, fill the rest of the gallon pitcher with cool water. Stir once more.

And then you're done.

 

[ChristaDeVil]

I never thought about a recipe for tea, until this week. There seems to be a lot of discussion on the dis about how to make sweet tea. The only thing I measure is the cup of sugar. I take a big boiler, fill it up with water, boil it, turn the heat off, drop in 2 large teabags, let that sit for a little while, put one cup sugar in a gallon pitcher, pour the tea over it, then fill to the top with water from the tap and stir.

That's pretty much what I do, also.

 

[luvsJack]

I suppose I can take a crack at it.

This is how my mom has always made it, and my siblings and I grew up on the stuff. Perhaps it's the reason we're all a little pooh-sized, but hey...we're happy.

First of all, you've got to have the right brand of tea bags. We use nothing but Luzianne tea bags. So you'll need however many tea bags you use for a gallon of tea (this differs since there are small and large bags).

For each gallon we use 2 cups of sugar. So get your gallon pitcher out and go ahead and pour the two cups of sugar in there.

Here's the kicker - my mom doesn't boil or microwave her water for tea. She ties the teabags all together and clips them inside of her coffee pot. Fill the coffee machine will a full pot of water, and run it. (Obviously, you don't put coffee grounds in the machine.) The water will run through warm and stay heated on the machine. Once the coffee pot is full, pour that into your gallon pitcher. Fill the coffee machine up one more time, and run it again with the same tea bags. Poor the second pot into the pitcher and then stir. There won't be enough water yet, but it's best to stir it with just the hot water in their to allow the sugar to dissolve better.

After that, fill the rest of the gallon pitcher with cool water. Stir once more.

And then you're done.

My mil has to make several gallons of tea at each weekend or holiday meal (7 kids, 7 spouses, host of grandchildren, 5 great-grands) so she has one coffe pot just for making tea. She used to have one of those tea makers but it didn't make enough at a time.

 

[moburg]

Take a large bag of sugar and add a cup of tea.

 

[minkydog]

First of all, you've got to have the right brand of tea bags. We use nothing but Luzianne tea bags. So you'll need however many tea bags you use for a gallon of tea (this differs since there are small and large bags).

Here's the kicker - my mom doesn't boil or microwave her water for tea.


.

I like Luzianne for my iced tea, but for hot tea there's only one brand: Red Rose.

When we go camping I never fix my tea the traditional way. I just put my Luzianne teabags in a gallon size jar and set it on the counter. You can put it out in the sun, too, but it will still make tea either way. Very smooth, never bitter.

 

[NotUrsula]

So, one cup sugar, two cup water? Or, two cup sugar, five cup water?

One cup sugar, two cups water, just for the simple syrup. Once the syrup is done, you can either reserve it in a bottle or carafe to let drinkers sweeten their own tea, or you can add it to the batch of tea.

2 cups of simple syrup made at this strength is enough to sweeten between 1/2 gallon and one gallon of tea, depending on how sweet you like it. My recipe for pre-sweetened tea calls for two cups of simple syrup per half-gallon of finished tea, but again, I don't make the syrup super-strong.

The irony is that I absolutely hate tea of all kinds, because I got so sick of cleaning up after it in childhood. My mother was litterally a chain-tea-drinker (she was NEVER without tea in her hand from the time she got up until she brushed her teeth before bed), and making her tea and getting the tannin out of the dishes was my job. I hated it, and I hate tea by association. However, I have a reputation for making very good iced tea -- what can I say, I got a LOT of practice.

 

[pixiewings71]

I've always made sun tea....we've never boiled it...well unless it was dead winter in OR and there was no sun. LOL

We take 4-6 tea bags, put them in a gallon tea jug (glass or plastic, either works) fill it with water and put it in the sun. Leave it until it's the right color, dark but still sort of see thru, and then bring it in and put it in the fridge. Then we all add whatever to taste, lemon, lime, sugar etc.

When I make hot tea I use loose tea and my tea pot that has a diffuser in the middle. I boil the water in the microwave and then pour it into the pot, steep and drink. YUM!

 

[lucas]

Now I'm craving sweet tea!