Sweet Tea: The Elixir Of The South
Nothing, I mean nothing, is more Southern than sweet tea. We drink it at almost every meal (yes, iced tea for breakfast is quite good, actually), we make it daily, and we 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 southerners home and the first question they ask after sitting down is “Ya wan’ some tea?” These days I make my sweet tea with Splenda, but it tastes just as good. Sweet Tea just makes the meal. Mama did these photos for me so you get to see more of her beautiful sun room. I’m also including the email she sent me where she put some writing ideas for the post!
Mama Says, “The drink that puts the drawl in our speech and the pep in our step. It has been known to be fed to our babies in their bottles as soon as they can have something other than formula. Do you remember when you came back from Gusty’s and was so surprised that they served milk at supper??? You had never seen anything other than tea served at suppertime. Just thought I would give you a few things to write about.”
She’s right. I was sixteen the first time I had dinner at a friend’s house and they served glasses of milk with their supper. I had never seen nor heard of such a thing in all of my life. To my sixteen year old self, they could have just as well had walked right out of a flying saucer and started playing the bagpipes and it wouldn’t have been any stranger than seeing milk on a dinner table!
You’ll need tea bags, sugar (or Splenda), water, and either a small sauce pot or a coffeemaker. 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. Orange Pekoe is a generic term for a basic, medium grade black tea.
METHOD 1There 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 saucepot method. For a half 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 over taking the tea bag labels off as Mama says “In a pot, bring tea just to a boil and then remove from heat and turn off eye.
Your tea is now ready to be mixed.
The other thing you can do is place your 5 tea bags INSIDE your coffee pot and just run a cycle of water through the coffeemaker. Once the cycle goes through, your tea is done and ready to be mixed.
Be careful if you do this, though, to remember to remove the coffee grounds from your basket. Many times 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!
No matter which method you choose, in a matter of minutes you will have brewed, concentrated tea.
Mama adds:We always drink the tea fresh. It can be kept in the refrigerator but southern people prefer their tea fresh. I always throw out the leftovers and start fresh the next day. I don’t personally like lemon in my tea. If I add anything, it is a slice of orange.”
Sweet Tea
5 tea bags
3/4 cup sugar
Makes 2 quarts
Place tea bags in sauce pot or coffee maker (down in the coffee pot). If using coffee pot, run a cycle of water through to make tea. If using a sauce pot, fill about three inches and bring just to a boil, then remove from heat.
Fill pitcher 1/2 of the way with cool water and add sugar. Stir. Add hot tea, stir. Add more water, if neccesary, to make two quarts. Serve over ice.
Ingredients
- 5 tea bags
- 3/4 cup sugar
- Makes 2 quarts
Instructions
- Place tea bags in sauce pot or coffee maker (down in the coffee pot). If using coffee pot, run a cycle of water through to make tea. If using a sauce pot, fill about three inches and bring just to a boil, then remove from heat.
- Fill pitcher 1/2 of the way with cool water and add sugar. Stir. Add hot tea, stir. Add more water, if neccesary, to make two quarts. Serve over ice.
Thank you for reading Southern Plate!! Have a GREAT Day!
~Christy
I use Luzianne tea because I hate to take all the little envelopes off the tea bags. I even leave the tags on them when I brew the tea. It hasn’t killed me yet. I guess it adds fiber.”
Posted by Christy Jordan
on Oct 9 2008. Filed under Beverages, FEATURED Southern Favorites!, Southern Classics.
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I have never been able to make good sweet tea…. until now!!! I have bought 2 tea kettles and two electric tea makers in the past, and I never could get it strong enough or sweet enough. Well, you have made my husband so happy because he loves tea, and I have been making the best tea ever! Thank you so much!
I wish you would try my sweet tea and post it. I think you would love it a lot more
http://themiddleeasterncook.blogspot.com/2009/09/smooth-sweet-tea.html
I LOVE Cold Sweet Tea but can’t stand it when it gets watered down by ice! So I started making Sweet Tea Ice Cubes! I just pour sweet tea into ice cube trays and put them in the freezer. Now my is always cold and never watered down!
This is a great idea!
I am smiling. I vividly remember being a girl, probably 16 or 17yrs old, working at a restaraunt in Tennessee. A woman came in and asked for a cup of hot tea. It was the oddest sounding request I’d ever heard but I was happy to oblige. I don’t know who was more confused, her or me. I brought her a glass of sweet tea w/out the ice!
[...] Sweet Tea: Elixir Of The South [...]
I am so happy to have found your site, as well as receipe for sweet tea. My husband has asked me to make this so many times and I never get it quite right. I am hoping this does the trick. Again, love your website and all the great receipes. Makes me long to be from the South!
I think water can make a big difference in the taste too.
My mama has town water…her tea tastes different than mine. I have well water.
I make almost 2 gallons a day of tea. I use a quart jar, 5 teabags and heat in microwave 4 minutes. Let it sit for however long it takes me to get back to it…then mix with cold water and 1-1/2 cups of sugar. My husband drinks this constantly….
I cannot have sugar substitute due to migraines. sigh…
Haha i like the fresh part my husband picks on me cuz a pitcher of tea lasts me 2days at the most. And you better believe tea for breakfast i drink it from the time i get up till im in bed.
[...] Sweet Tea [...]
[...] Drink Iced tea [...]
I love this article! My family has entered the modern age, though. We always brew a mason jar of tea in the microwave then add it to a pitcher of sugar water
i used Stevia extract as a sugar substitute because i am diabetic. Stevia is really sweeter than sucrose.,-.
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.
[...] will be sweet tea served from large pickle jars and lemonade served from a barrel and stirred with a [...]
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………. ; )
i just thought that married life is the happiest point of my life.:,~
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 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!
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!
Do you have one for instant tea? I’ll try this one to. I usually make a gallon, Do you have recipe for a gallon? or is it just better half a gallon. I love tea, but i can’t seem to get it just right.
Girl….dont you know you are ‘sposed to put a pinch of bakin’ soda in your tea…(takes the bitterness out)…and makes your tea sit longer in the frigerator. Try it! You can taste the difference. (Add the pinch when you remove your bags from the heat)
[...] at Tina~ and it absolutely stunned me. I happily found your site when I was looking to perfect my sweet tea. My tea had a taste that must have been the scalded sugar. Thank you… my tea is now [...]
[...] 4. Don’t forget the iced tea! No matter the season, Sweet tea is always the beverage of choice in the South. Here is my recipe for perfect sweet tea every time! To view the tutorial, click here. [...]
Gotta tell you a great story about a mistake my southern mother-in-law made that has me drinking Sweet Iced Chai Tea. She always made the tea on the stove, but grabbed a box of Spiced Chai which her daughter was saving for a hot tea occasion and made it as you described–well, long story short everyone was “horrified” by the sweet-spicy-iced-tea, but I became addicted and make it myself all the time now. And this is odd because being born in California I grew up with unsweetened tea and have never used sugar in my iced tea [always make two pitchers--one for me and the other for everyone else].
I have gotten a bit lazy. I am cheating and use the quart size tea bags of Liptons Cold Brew Ice Tea. It works rather well and is quick and only dirty the pitcher and spoon.
I usually use the coffee pot method, but lately I’ve been boiling my water in a tea kettle and pouring into my tea pitcher but I pour it through a coffee filter with 1 tablespoon of dried mint leaves. In a one gallon pitcher of tea, it gives it just a hint of mint and it’s really nice change from plain sweet tea. My family likes it so much, they complain when I don’t do it.
[...] ham, eggs, buttermilk biscuits, fried apples, and lots of fresh apple butter for the biscuits, too! Sweet tea to drink, of [...]
I’m a California transplant to GA.
I’d never heard of “sweet tea” before I moved here.
In CA, I drank “iced tea” with little packets of fake sugar – pfft!
In GA, I drink “sweet tea” and am addicted.
I do like a little tea with my sugar – I’ve learned to judge restaurants based on the quality of their sweet tea. I like it strong and sweet with lots and lots of ice.
I guess I’m no longer a California Girl but a Georgia Peach.
Welcome to the South!
Sally from Savannah!
This is a very good sweet tea recipe! I like the idea of adding the sugar to the cold water to keep from tasting bitter…It works!
Christy I just love this website! I was reading some of your comments about your husband being dropped on his head, and I can relate! My husband can’t stand onions, cooked or not. Also, I hope you are sitting down, he does not drink tea! and he was born and raised in Creola, AL. He wasn’t dropped on his head, he was spiked like a football!! Thanks and keep up the great work.
I’ve lived in TN all my life and never heard of putting sugar in the cold water to avoid bitterness. Gonna go try this right now.
My Aunt Sue made the best Sweet Tea in the world, and the family has tried to replicate it ever since she passed away. Her method(to the best of my memory):
Cold water halfway up the pitcher
1 heaping serving spoon of Luzianne (sp?)
3 saccarin (sp?)tablets
1 cup regular sugar
3 packets of sweet n low
Stir till it all dissolved
It was the sweetest tea ever, and totally addicting. Does anyone know if they still sell those tablets?
Thanks Christy, Love your site!
Regards,
Christy
I love Timothy’s coffee. Breakfast blend was good but I prefer Timothy’s Kona Blend.
Hello, it is great to discover you! I live in Florence and work at UNA – just got your book from our library and I see that you went to UNA? I’m looking forward to trying some of your recipes.
Speaking of tea, I have a question. This is pretty much the way I’ve always made it except I always put my sugar and the tea bags in the water as I boil it. This is the way my mother always did it – do you think it makes a difference?
We live in Louisiana and my tea recipe is simple and have made it this way for over 30 years. I take 3 family size tea bags or 6 small bags ( I prefer Lipton Tea but have changed to Walmarts’ Great Value brand because of difference in price) Place tea bags in a sauce pan, add cold water, about 1/2 a pan full. Bring to a rolling boil, turn off fire and let sit until you get back around to it – Remove tea bags (Find the tea bags burst easier if boiled with sugar) Add about 1 and 1/4 cups sugar – return to roiling boil – boil until sugar melts – stirring speeds up this step. Using a 2 quart pitcher, add cold water. As pitcher starts filling, add hot brew – let cold water run until pitcher is nearly full. Place in refrigerator. My family loves it.
I am so glad to find out that dumping sugar in hot water scorches the sugar… wish i knew that a year ago!!! I lived in Alabama for about 9 months and my family fell in love with Milo’s sweet tea w/ splenda… I CANNOT replicate. this is pretty good but if anyone can tell me how to do it w/ splenda like Milo’s I will love u forever!!!!!
When I make tea for myself, I always use Splenda. I just use the same amount of splenda as I do sugar and do everything else the same, too. The key to remember with using Splenda is that you don’t pack it in the cup, measure it out nice and fluffy from the bag. A lot of people tend to want to add extra since it isn’t real sugar but that is what ends up giving it a more artificially sweetened taste. I like to use just a hair less so what I do is measure out a cup and then remove a tablespoon or two. I’d start with a little less, then taste it and add more if you like.
I’ve been making my tea with Splenda so long I don’t even measure it anymore! lol
Hope this helps!
Just to add in my two cents. Our family makes sweet tea by boiling water in a boiler and when it starts to boil, I add 2 cups of sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Turn the eye down some and add 2 family size Luzianne tea bags, dipping into the water for several seconds. Then we turn off the heat, put the lid on the pot and let the teabags steep. After 15 minutes or so, I remove the teabags and pour this mixture into a picture half filled with cold water. Cap off the jug with more water if tea mixture doesn’t come to the top. Here is a little RESTAURANT TIP that I got from a waitress in a Huddle House about storing freshly made tea: NEVER PUT FRESHLY MADE HOT TEA INTO THE REFRIGERATOR!!! This will make the tea go sour. After they make their 8-10 gallons of tea per day, they cover the jugs with a cloth and let it sit out on the counter for hours until the tea is completely cooled. I have found this RESTAURANT TIP is true because I would have tea to sour sometimes very quickly and never could figure out why. Sometimes we would drink it up before it ever made it to the refrigerator. PS. Have you ever noticed that some of the sugar you buy today is not as sweet as it use to be. I used to put 1 1/2 cups of sugar to a gallon of tea but nowadays, it’s not sweet enought so I have to add another 1/2 cup. Somehow them yankees must be doing something to our sugar!
Correction to earlier post. I can’t spell evidentially, please replace “picture” with pitcher! Must have had too many Mint Julips!
It’s okay… when us southerners read “picture”, we say “pitcher” in our heads, so it all works out.
[...] Sweet Tea: Elixir Of The South [...]
Hi Christie!
I am SOOOO glad that you told us how to make sweet tea with “ideal” or “Splenda”. My family originally came from Kentucky and I grew up on southern cooking, including sweet tea. I haven’t had sweet tea since 1985 when i found out I was diabetic and boy, did I miss it! Thank you Christie, for letting us know how you make your southern recipes without a lot of sugar! You are a true blessing sista!
DUMB question, is this 5 small tea bags or 5 family size tea bags? I tried the small and the tea looks really weak. Thanks and love this site!
I live in Texas and sweet tea is my water. We drink about 1 Gal. a day, and my favorite type of tea it good old Lipton tea made with the 3/4 cup of sugar. It is the one drink that hits the spot every time.
When I make tea, everyone says that it’s the best tea that they have ever drank and here is the recipe (sp)
1. Bring to boil water
2. Add 3 tea bags
3. Take pot off of water
4. Let tea and water seep for 3 minutes
5.Take tea bags out of water and let seep for another 3 minutes
6.Add tea mixture to pitchure
7. Add water to fill
8. Add 1c. sugar
I love Chic-file sweet tea, doesn’t anyone know how they make their sweet tea? I make good sweet tea myself but not as good as chick-file’s. I know things are pretty secretive with most restaurants, but i can try! Thanks everybody!
THANK YOU!! Thank you so much for posting this. I have been married for 5 years…and have tried my hardest to make good sweet tea. I gave this a shot tonight…and it was great. I like a stronger brewed tea and it was perfect. No more buying the gallon of Milo’s for me
When I make tea I use 1 family size Tetley bag and 6 little green tea bags, AND a pinch of baking soda. I run my water thru the coffee maker over the bags and let steep until I remember it. Then using 3/4 cup sugar I pour the hot tea over top of the sugar, stir and then finish filling the 1/2 gal container. Everyone likes it and I make it this way for a senior center also. I am not a Southern belle but wish I was.
[...] If you have a traditional coffee maker, I talk about how to make sweet tea in that in this post. [...]
What happened to the most important step of steeping before mixing it up?
We always let our tea bags sit and steep (lid on pot is a Must) for at least 15-20 mins. before adding the concentrate to the sugar water mix or it would not be as rich in flavor. This is a must….right???
Anyone ever hear of fanning your tea?? My Granny would always pour her tea back & forth between the pitcher and pan several times. I never questioned her because ….. 1. She was the Granny
2. Because her tea was the best ever!!! Yes, I fan mine too. Why? Because she did & I can only hope to duplicate something that wonderful woman did 
And you know, Granny always did it right!
My Mother did this too!!! Like you I never asked why. I do remember she WOULD NOT use tea bags, she used Lipton loose tea and a tea ball. I guess all the pouring back and forth was to strain out any stray tea leaves.