Best Sweet Tea Recipe Plus 3 More Favorite Summer Iced Teas
For Southerners, sweet tea is a must-have on hot summer days. If folks are coming over, you’d better have an ice-cold pitcher of tea in the fridge! I mention in my peach tea post that I’ve served that version at everything from picnics to elegant dinner parties. Whatever the occasion, iced tea is “the nectar of the South.”
A Short, Sweet History of Southern Sweet Tea
How did sweet tea become the South’s drink of choice? Well, for one thing, Charleston, South Carolina was the first place in America to grow tea as a commercial crop in the late 1700s. Initially, tea was always drunk hot. Then English and American recipes for cold or room temperature tea “punches” (usually made with green tea) began to appear in the 1800s.
Iced tea as we know it caught on after it refreshed fairgoers at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Then in 1928, Henrietta Stanley’s Southern Cooking featured the recipe that would become cherished as “sweet tea” in the South:
TEA - Freshly brewed tea, after three to five minutes' infusion, is essential if a good quality is desired. The water, as for coffee, should be freshly boiled and poured over the tea for this short time . . . The tea leaves may be removed when the desired strength is obtained . . . Tea, when it is to be iced, should be made much stronger, to allow for the ice used in chilling. A medium strength tea is usually liked. A good blend and grade of black tea is most popular for iced tea, while green and black are used for hot . . . To sweeten tea for an iced drink--less sugar is required if put in while tea is hot, but often too much is made and sweetened, so in the end there is more often a waste than saving . . . Iced tea should be served with or without lemon, with a sprig of mint, a strawberry, a cherry, a slice of orange, or pineapple. This may be fresh or canned fruit. Milk is not used in iced tea.
That hundred-year-old recipe isn’t far from the way we make iced tea today.
What’s the best recipe for Southern sweet tea?
There is more than one perfect way to make this quintessential summer drink. In fact, the flavor possibilities are endless, from a simple sprig of mint or lemon slices to luscious fruit infusions. However, the sweet tea recipe in this post is the one I use as the starting point for all my other teas.
How to Make Sweet Tea
A basic Southern sweet tea recipe is super simple, yet there’s a process to follow if you want to get the best results. In an upcoming video, I prepare this sweet tea as well as my favorite Peach Tea, Mixed Berry Tea, and an incredibly refreshing Watermelon Lemonade iced tea.
For Southerners, the kind of sweetness matters. Now, any sweetness will cut the natural bitterness of tea. That astringent taste comes from the tannins, which also have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. (Yes, tea is good for you!) You certainly can use the sweetener of your choice — such as honey, stevia, or simple syrup — but for authentic Southern sweet tea, it’s best to go with old-fashioned pure cane sugar.
If you follow these steps, every batch of homemade sweet tea will be delicious. You can adjust the sweetness to taste, from a spoonful of sugar per cup to a sweeter version. The recipe below makes about a gallon of tea.
Scroll down to see more summer drink recipes:
Sweet Iced Tea
Ingredients
- 4 family-size tea bags
- 1½ cups sugar
- Pinch baking soda
- Lemon slices for garnish
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, bring about 1 quart water to a boil over medium heat. As soon as the water comes to a boil, immediately remove the saucepan from the heat.
- Add the tea bags and let the tea steep for 20 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove the tea bags.
- Put the sugar in a gallon-size pitcher. Pour about half of the hot tea into the pitcher and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the remaining tea into the pitcher and stir.
- Add the baking soda and cold water to fill the pitcher and stir. Serve over ice with slices of lemon.
Notes
More Favorite Summer Tea Recipes
I like to mix the watermelon lemonade with sweet tea for an extra refreshing drink.
Great iced tea!!! My grandmother, mother, and aunts made it this way!!! A taste of home!!
Great iced tea!!! My grandmother, mother, and aunts made it this way!!! A taste of home!!
Georgia has scorchers too, and this tea is just the thing!! With lemons!
Lemons are amazing in just about any kind of tea! And they make it pretty too!
Great iced tea!!! My grandmother, mother, and aunts made it this way!!! A taste of home!!
Georgia has scorchers too, and this tea is just the thing!! With lemons!I’ve never commented on this site, so not to use because “I’ve already” done so, is ludicrous. Don’t ask if you want any comments!!
I love your comments!! It brings me much happiness! So happy you are here! Thank you!