Southern Sweet Tea
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Learn how easy it is to make my 2-ingredient Southern sweet tea recipe. It’s the most refreshing drink to enjoy on your porch throughout the year.
Nothing, I mean nothing, is more Southern than sweet tea. We drink sweet iced tea at almost every meal (yes, iced tea for breakfast is actually quite good), make it daily year-round, and even put it in our baby’s bottles! Dr. Phil once jokingly mentioned that Southerners started drinking sweet tea at age three, but Mama and I looked at each other in complete confusion as we knew perfectly well all of us had started on it by age one!
Go to any Southerner’s home and the first question they ask after sitting down is, “Ya wan’ some tea?” These days I make my sweet tea recipe with Splenda, but it tastes just as good as real sugar. Southern sweet tea just completes any meal.
So, how do you make my southern sweet tea? It’s easy! All you need is your favorite black tea bags (plus some water for brewing) and sugar (or Splenda). All we’re going to do is brew the tea in a sauce pot or a coffeemaker (more details below), then combine it in a pitcher with cold water and sugar. That’s literally all you need to do before you can enjoy a big glass of icy and refreshing Southern sweet tea.
Okay, enough chatting, let’s make some sweet tea, y’all!
What You’ll Need to Make Southern Sweet Tea:
- Tea bags
- Granulated sugar (or Splenda)
- Water
- Small sauce pot or a coffeemaker
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Make My Sweet Tea Recipe:
Brew the tea
There are two popular ways of brewing tea. The one Mama and I use the most right now (this may change when the wind changes direction) is the sauce pot method.
For half a gallon of tea, put five regular-sized tea bags in a pot. Cover with water (you want about three inches of water in your pot).
You don’t have to worry about taking the tea bag labels off, either.
Now, as Mama says “In a pot, bring tea just to a boil and then remove from heat and turn off the eye.”
Cover and steep the tea for 15 minutes.
Your tea is now ready to be mixed.
If you do this, though, be careful to remember to remove the coffee grounds from your basket. Growing up, Mama would have supper on the table looking all wonderful and we’d take a sip and discover we were having “coffee tea”. Hehe, we always had fun with her when that happened!
Make the Southern sweet tea
No matter which method you choose, in a matter of minutes, you will have brewed, concentrated tea.
Take your pitcher and fill it about halfway with cold water. Then add your sugar (or Splenda).
This is a VERY important step because if you add your sugar to the hot tea, it will scorch the sugar and you’ll have terribly bitter tea.
So, we want to start with cold water, add the sugar…
…THEN add the hot tea.
Adding the brewed tea will warm the water enough that the sugar will easily dissolve.
Give that a good stir, then serve your sweet tea over ice.
Storage
So, we always drink the tea fresh. It can be kept in the refrigerator but Southern people prefer fresh sweet tea. Personally, I always throw out the leftovers and start fresh the next day — and so does my Mama. But if you do want to extend the life of your iced tea, use the baking soda trick below and store it in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Recipe Notes
- There are many tea brands on the market. Mama prefers Luzianne but I usually use Tetley or Red Diamond. Just make sure you get a general blend or orange pekoe tea that’s specifically blended for iced tea (all of these brands will have this marked on the package). Orange pekoe is a generic term for a basic, medium-grade black tea.
- A handy tip: when you squeeze your tea leaves or tea bag, you release extra tannins which will cause a more bitter taste. So just dump ’em without that extra squeeze.
- Adjust the amount of sugar to suit your taste. You might like more or less and that’s totally fine!
Recipe FAQs
How do you serve Southern sweet tea?
You simply serve sweet tea in a glass with ice. Some people like to add a squeeze of fresh lemon, a dash of bottled lemon juice, or a lemon slice garnish. Mama likes to add an orange slice. Give it a go and see what you think!
What is the mixture of sweet tea?
Sweet tea is simply a mixture of brewed black tea with sugar, served cold over ice.
How long should I steep tea for sweetened iced tea?
You want to steep the black tea bags for up to 15 minutes. The longer you steep, the stronger the tea taste.
Why do Southerners put baking soda in sweet tea?
So, some Southerners add a pinch of baking soda to their sweet tea to remove any bitterness from the black tea leave tannins. However, this is totally optional and not something I’ve ever done. But if you wanna give it a go, add it to the water when you boil your tea.
How does Paula Deen make sweet tea?
Paula Deen makes sweet tea how I make sweet tea! The only difference is hers includes a garnish of fresh lemon slices and fresh mint.
Check out these other refreshing drink recipes:
Hawaiian Iced Tea (Non-Alcoholic Punch)
Iced Cherry Apple Cider Vinegar Tea
Sugar-Free Peach Lemonade (2 Ingredients Only)
Ingredients
- 5 tea bags
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Place tea bags in a saucepot or coffee maker (down in the coffee pot). If using the coffee pot, run a cycle of water through it to brew the tea. If using a saucepot, fill it about three inches with water and bring it just to a boil, then remove it from the heat.5 tea bags
- Fill a pitcher halfway with cool water and add sugar. Stir. Then add hot tea and stir again. Add more water, if necessary, to make two quarts. Serve over ice.3/4 cup granulated sugar
Nutrition
Thank you for reading Southern Plate! Have a GREAT Day!
There must be something wrong with me, because we don’t make sweet tea that way.
When we make sweet tea we add the sugar to the water “before” we boil it….and after the water is boiling we turn it off and add the tea bags. It really makes a difference in the taste.
Must be a Kentucky thing or maybe just a family thing. I ain’t sure which.
We boil the tea bags and the sugar (or in my case Splenda) then let it steep and add it to cold water to make a gallon. We also like it better the next day, after it has been in the fridge overnight. It doesn’t melt the ice as quick either!
There’s nothing wrong with you. We’re from Alabama, and like Christy says, however your Mama did it is right!
I have to share one of my daddy’s stories, this one about sweet tea … When he was a young man, in the early 1930s, he was a dishwasher around Smackover, Arkansas, where the oil industry was beginning. This was way before Splenda, Sweet N’Low, or even saccarin – if you wanted sweet tea, you put sugar in it. You put sugar in tea that has ice in it, and it takes a LOT of sugar and a lot of stirring to get it sweet enough to drink … and people tended to leave a lot of sugar in the bottom of the glass at the cafe where he worked. He and his fellow dishwashers were tired of scraping out all the sugar from all those glasses. So they posted a sign:
“USE LESS SUGAR AND STIR LIKE HELL. WE DON’T MIND THE NOISE!”
He didn’t keep that job long, but that’s OK, ’cause that’s when he moved to Wink, Texas, where he met my mom, and where they got married in 1938.
Thanks for everything, Christy! Here’s to you and sweet tea – clink!
Has anyone tried the Lipton ice tea with a hint of peach or raspberry? Wal-Mart is the only place I have found them, but they make really good iced-tea. They come in family size tea bags. Both are good, but the peach is my favorite.
I haven’t tried it but it sounds like something my mother would LOVE. I’ll tell her about it!
Thank you!
Christy
i just thought that married life is the happiest point of my life.:,~
I’m a midwesterner but have lived in NC over 20+ years. I make some pretty good “sweet tea” but does anyone know how to make “sugar syrup”? I like to make unsweetened tea for myself but my BF likes sweetened. I could make 2 pitchers (too easy) but I hear the syrup dissolves easily even in cold tea – I tried to make it once but it didn’t turn out right – any ideas out there?
thanks, Linda
The “sugar syrup” you are referring to is sometimes called a “simple syrup” typically made with 1 part sugar to 1 part water. Here’s a good recipe: Mix three cups of sugar and three cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir until sugar dissolves. Lower the heat to medium and simmer for about 3 minutes. Let cool completely. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
and you can make yourself a mint julep while you’re at it………. ; )
My father grew up in Kentucky and his family is scattered around Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. As a kid, I always knew to expect lots of sweet tea when we went to visit my grandparents! I remember getting tired of drinking only tea after a few days and finally asked my grandmother for a glass of water after I’d been outside playing with my cousins. Everyone thought it was hilarious that I wanted water! Also, I didn’t know that tea has to be sweetened. There was always a big pitcher of sweetened and unsweetened tea because back then there wasn’t Splenda or other good artificial sweeteners. Maybe it’s because they were from Kentucky and people do things different there? Or maybe my grandmother just started making unsweetened tea after my grandfather became a diabetic? I don’t know!
In any case, I love sweet tea (and I have to admit, “unsweet” tea too) now. I hope you don’t mind me sharing how I like to make it sometimes. Get your 10 tea bags and put them in a 1 quart measuring cup. Fill the measuring cup with boiling water and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Fill a gallon pitcher half full with cold water, then stir in 2/3 cup Splenda (or regular sugar, or you can leave it out). Pour in the concentrated tea, then put in a 10 oz container of thawed 100% frozen juice concentrate (if it’s still frozen, just put it in anyway and it will thaw in the fridge). It works best if you use a cranberry or raspberry blend. Tonight I used Raspberry Apple. (Note: Whatever you do, do NOT use a tea blend that has pineapple juice in it because it will look disgusting and taste worse! I’d imagine a juice blend that has orange would be just as bad) Stir it up, top off the container with the rest of the water so you have a gallon of tea, and enjoy! It’s so nice with the tea and fruit flavors and looks pretty to boot. Would actual southerners make my Fruitea, or would you consider it to be an abomination?
Oops, meant to say don’t use a JUICE blend that has pineapple in it. Not a tea blend. Man, I remember it seemed like such a good idea to use pineapple, too…
Interesting……….. I have not tried that, so I can’t say. I do know that I am partial to black tea, so maybe I am a bit of a purist. Occasionally I’ll have some of that Paradise Tropical tea or a blackcurrant iced tea, but haven’t warmed up to the fruity stuff. I’d be curious to hear what others say. I live in the northeast, where folks drink a lot of Snapple and such, and I just can’t do it. Don’t get it. At all. My daddy made the best iced tea ever, and I never could replicate it so I have a Mr Coffee iced tea maker, which I love. No coffee pot in my apt, just an iced tea maker.
Southerners do make and drink Fruit Tea much like you said you do. However, it would not be a daily thing. We serve it for showers or luncheons and such, but not everyday with dinner. Your comment about KY was funny. I am from KY and we sometimes do things a little different, but when it comes to sweet tea we actually don’t. 🙂
i used Stevia extract as a sugar substitute because i am diabetic. Stevia is really sweeter than sucrose.,-.