Down here in the south, sweet tea is a staple. Its priority is right up there with milk and eggs. I drink tea year-round and with every meal – including breakfast.
However, I just don’t understand how people can pay for those jugs of pre-made sweet tea! Don’t y’all know how easy it is to make sweet tea? Well, I have decided to take on the responsibility of curing everyone’s tea-jug-buying habit.
First of all, it is very important that you imagine me saying all this with a southern accent. M’kay?
Let me break down the cost for you. Red Diamond Sweet Tea costs about $2.50 per gallon. A box of 100 Lipton Tea Bags costs about $3. If you use 4 tea bags to make a gallon of tea, that means you will make 25 gallons of tea per box of tea bags. That works out to 12¢ per gallon. A savings of $2.38 per gallon. Even if you work in the cost of sugar and a cute new tea pitcher, it is still cheaper to make your own.
Now, if great savings does not sway you, what if I said homemade tea tastes better? Because it does.
And, because I love you all dearly, I am going to share my super-top-secret Southern Sweet Tea recipe.
You will need:
First, bring some water to a boil. I use this handy tea kettle that I got at Ikea, but you can boil it in a saucepan or whatever you have on hand.
Pour boiling water into your tea pitcher. Make sure to use a pitcher that is safe to hold hot liquids. Don’t use glass!
Remove 4 small tea bags from the package and brew in the hot water. I drape the paper part over the side, but my husband likes to wrap the string around the tines of a fork, and lay the fork across the top of the pitcher.
Let the tea brew for a few minutes. I don’t really time this, and I don’t really think it matters that much, but I’d guess around 5 minutes.
Take out the tea bags and add cold water to fill the pitcher. You can add ice too, if you want.
Add sugar. I like mine pretty sweet and use about 1 cup for for my 3 Quart Pitcher. I’d suggest adding a little, stirring, and tasting until you get it just right.
Stir well.
Pour over ice and enjoy!
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Personally, I think for true, sweet tea, the sugar also needs to be brewed. I make a "sweet tea syrup" by brewing the tea, water and sugar, and THEN adding the cold water.
That's purty darn sweet gal... I grew up in Jackson, Mississippi and that's how my mother made hers, sorta... The way I brew mine's a little different, but everyone loves it, and I only use 3/4 cop sugar per gallon and it's sweet enough... I switched up from my mother's recipe, to my own and use less than half the sugar, and nobody complained so probably didn't notice the difference...
When I make Iced Tea I use loose leaf tea that I buy in bulk. This way I can make flavored tea easily. My current favorite is a citrusy black tea. But I have also made a peachy oolong, and a caramel white tea. I fill a large teaball with about an oz. of loose tea. I place the teaball in 2 quart sauce pan and pour a quart of hot water over it. I let the tea steep for about 30 minutes. After I remove the teaball I add my sugar. I use extra fine or powderd sugar because it desolves better. I like super sweet tea so I add about 4 cups of sugar. Once I have my concentrated tea syrup I pour it into a gallon jug and add water to fill. I have never heard of adding baking soda I will have to try it. Some times I will add fruit juice to my tea to make it special.
It says to use a gallon or two quart pitcher.that is a big variance.
This south Ga girl thinks Luzianne Tea made with Dixie Crystal Sugar is the ONLY way to go. Best served with fried chicken, creamed sweet corn, fresh butter beans and sliced homegrown tomatoes! Hot peach cobbler for dessert!!
I was starting to think I was the only one to ever use Luzianna tea! It really does make the best in my opinion.
I'm from canada and new to homemade iced tea... What kind of tea do you mean by "regular tea"? To me regular tea is red rose tea... Is it earl grey, green, black tea etc? We have Lipton and tetly here but they both have lots of kinds
I'm from Canada too, and I wold say regular tea bags are black tea. Red Rose is black tea and you can get plain Lipton and Tetley black tea too. Earl Grey is black tea with bergamot in it (so probably not this kind). I'm definitely guessing it's just plain old black tea.
I use Red Diamond tea bags. 2 of the family size. I also use the coffee maker instead of boiling water on the stove. It is faster when you need another gallon of tea in a hurry. Place the tea bags in the carafe, and use a clean filter. Turn the coffee pot on and let the magic happen. Let the bags steep for as long as you can. I try to let the water cool to room temperature. I add about 3/4 cup of sugar to 1 gallon of tea, but that is purely up to your personal taste.
No one has mentioned the way I make it, and I get raves about my tea.
Boil 2-3 qts of water. Remove from heat.
Place 12 reg tea bags or 4 family size in water and let steep for 20 minutes. (We prefer Luzianne, don't like Lipton at all.) Also, add 1/4 tsp of baking soda to this, which makes for a smoother tea and prevents cloudiness later on.
In 1 gallon pitcher, place about 1.75 cups of sugar (I use Splenda).
Pour steeped tea over sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved. Continue to fill the pitcher by running cool water over the teabags until the pitcher is full.
Now that i can buy Red Diamond tea bags i am happy to make my own.I use to use Lipton then i stopped liking that taste so i moved to Tetly and it was good for many years and then something happened to the taste(maybe cheaper tea leaves)
I am so glad that when i make Red Diamond and use 1 1/2 cups of sugar(i do have kids around so make it a bit sweeter so they will drink it) that it comes out tasting just the same or even better then the jug.I started buying Red Diamond tea jugs because it was the only tea with real sugar and no Corn Syrup,yuck!
I also use Cane Sugar because that is not GMO. Sugar Beets are mostly GMO and if you buy a bag sugar and it says SUGAR it could be Sugar Beet or Cane sugar.It will probably be Sugar Beet since that is the cheaper sugar to produce.
It also states on the box i just read it has a good more antioxidants then the leading brand of teas.
I have taught my teen how to make the tea and it saves her 3 dollars a day she was spending buying the tea jugs.
I use 5 family size bags or one of Lipton's gallon size bags for a gallon of tea. Tea should never be brewed for more than 2 minutes. After that, it will emit a bitter taste. I brew mine for two minutes, and then douse the bags in the water 30 times to get the rich tea flavor without the bitterness.