When life hands you lemons… squeeze them into some sweet iced tea and thank God you were born a southern girl!
Southerners love iced tea and drink it by the gallon! We even like it in a Mason jar. It was Dolly Parton in the movie, Steel Magnolias, that called Southern sweet tea, “the house wine of the South”. There was never a truer statement. Talk about the South and sooner or later sweet tea comes to mind. Southerners love this sweet liquid and Southern girls are taught to make it by their Southern mamas. In the South, sweet tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it before you can walk. Sweet tea makes Southerners think of home, tradition, picnics and hot afternoons “sippin” sweet tea while “swayin” in the swing on the front porch. Southern girls know you can’t be considered a serious Southern belle unless you know how to make sweet tea.
There are lots of ways to make sweet tea but it has to have sugar. In many cases, the more sugar the better and I prefer to use Luzianne tea.
4 family sized tea bags 1 1/2 to 2 cups sugar 3 quarts water Bring the water to a boil. Remove from stove and add sugar so it will dissolve in the hot water. Add tea bags and let steep about 30 minutes. Pour in enough water and ice to make a gallon of tea. (I like a couple sprigs of mint in my iced tea, too) Some people add a pinch of baking soda. This is supposed to keep the tea from becoming cloudy. Enjoy! I think John Egerton said it best when he said: “Iced tea is too pure and natural a creation not to have been invented as soon as tea, ice, and hot weather crossed paths”.
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Filed under: Drinks Tagged: | cool, heritage, National Iced Tea Month, Southern, sweet, tea, tradition
Easy Chocolate Beignets
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Southerners do love their Luzianne! That is one refreshing looking drink.
Whoa…all that sugar? Wow…that’s some sweet tea.
Balisha
I love sweet tea, too, Judy. Especially when it’s so hot—as it has been lately here in the NC mountains.
I am heading for the kitchen to make some ice tea. I was going to do it earlier but now is the time. How is Tater Tot doing in this heat?
In my part of the south (Louisiana) we don’t even have to say sweet tea, we just say tea because all tea is sweet unless you specify that you want unsweetened tea, and WHY would anyone want that!!! hahaha
I’m from Canada and want to know what “family size tea bags” are. Are they bigger than usual as per cup size?
Thanks
Dwayne Schuett
rdschuett@yahoo.com
Hi Dwayne! Yes, a family sized tea bag makes two quarts of tea where the smaller ones only make a cup. Thanks for stopping by and for your question. Have a good week!
We drink sweet tea by the gallon in my house! I bought another brand’s gallon-sized tea bags on sale and I can’t wait till they are gone so I can get more Luzianne.
Jenna, It seems like all I do is make tea! lol. We are just like you all, we drink it by the gallon. Thanks for coming by.
Just found your blog from Confessions Of A Cookbook Queen. Great blog and great recipes, I love,love,love southern food so I will be visiting your sight often. Im from maine but I think I should of grown up in the south. I will be making this sweet tea this weekend, I love sweet tea yummmmmmmmm.
Hi Wendy! So happy to have you here and hope you will enjoy my recipes. Southerners are always happy to meet new people. Make yourself at home and come by often!
I have to keep 2 gallons in my frige ay all times and this is just for my husband and me our kids are grown and gone but if they come by I know we’ll be making more before they leave and I use 2 cups of sugar in a gallon so I don’t think thats to much lol.
Donna, Sounds good to me. Love that sweet tea. I have to make it all the time, too. Thanks for coming by. Have a great week.
Is that fruit in the glass? What is it? I’ve been wondering… Doesn’t look like ice, or is it? 0.o lolz Thx!
That’s ice in the glass.
I grew up drinking my mother’s sweet iced tea. She was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Her tea was the best. The ingredients are simple, but I sure can not make it like she did. I love iced tea with lemon in it, which is how she made it.
Hello,
I am new here- a friend has been sending me links to your recipes and they look so yummy, I’m going to try some of them. We live near Charleston, SC. I am somewhat of a tea-connisuer (or tea-snob) it has to be the best. Luzianne seems best for iced tea, Lipton for hot. I have had quite an education with food. Grew up in an Italian family watching them cook; my mother and paternal grandmother were superb American cooks, I joined a Christian Ministry when I was 22-27 and learned how to cook in quantity and improvise, then learned Souther cooking because my husband is from SC (I am from CA), plus my mother-in-law is from Maine, so she cooks New England style! I love to try new recipes.
I don’t know if anyone will like this, but where I lived in California, the Mexican restaurants put lime in their tea instead of lemon. Lemon was always too strong for me- but lime in sweet tea is delicious- a more delicate flavor.
Thanks for all your work in compiling these yummy recipes!
Karen
Hi Karen, Welcome to this site. Happy to have you here and thank you for the info about the lime in sweet tea. I will certainly have to try it your way. I hope you enjoy the recipes and will stop by often. Have a great week.
Luzianne
A few years ago I was in the North Carolina and if I wanted tea (which, as many Aussies do, I have for breakfast) I had to specify “hot tea” or it would come sweet and iced! So… not for breakfast, but I did learn to love it. I have particularly good memories of a long lunch that featured fried chicken, collard greens and a bottomless mason jar of the most beautiful iced tea. Every summer I say I’m going to make some, and never do. You’ve inspired me!
in two q pan boil 7 tea bags, then pour into a gallon jug with 1 1/3 cups sugar mix and add water. best tea ever !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So happy to have found your blog, love it!
Thanks so much and welcome!
Now this looks like my mom’s glass of iced – lots and lots of ice!
Just found your site, I LOVE IT!! Thank you for sharing! I do have a question. I don’t drink my tea sweet (Southern gal, Oklahoma) but don’t mind a “little” sweet. But I would love a raspberry, peach, or some kind of little “kick” to it! Any suggestions?
Hi Lynda, Welcome to the site and hope you will visit often. I am so sorry I don’t have any recipes for flavored teas. You might try allrecipes.com. They have tons of recipes and you might find something there. Southerners are strange when it comes to their tea. We just drink it sweet and that is about the only way we drink it. It is nice meeting you!