# perfect southern iced tea



## gypsyseagod (Jul 3, 2007)

1 family bag lipton(no lemon) tea bag  in a 2 cup measuring cup in the nuker for 3:30. let sit after for 5-10 mins. drain into 1 gallon pitcher, fill the said cup twice more (bag in) cold water into pitcher, fill the rest of pitcher w/ cold water,add 3/4 cup sugar- stir & chill. done


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## lisacsco (Jul 3, 2007)

Oh no no no you didnt say 'nuker' 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






....no Southern Girl would let you get by with makin' sweet tea that way!!!

And if I told you how to really make, I'd have to kill ya 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





you better BOIL that water for that tea bag and at least 1 cup of sugar!

you can take a man outta Texas, but he still wont make a Southerner...















Lisa


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## gypsyseagod (Jul 3, 2007)

this is the millenium & i am born & raised in corpus christi... anything north of the alamo is a damn yankee... where were ya born man .....


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## ultramag (Jul 3, 2007)

No good Southern girl would have him making the tea Lisa.


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## TulsaJeff (Jul 3, 2007)

Fill a tea kettle or a medium sauce pan with water and let it come to a boil.

While it is heating up, get a gallon pitcher and measure 1-1/3 to 1-1/2 (depending on how southern you are) cups of white granulated sugar.

You will also need 3 family size tea bags.. I prefer the Luzianne brand but you can use just about any kind that you like as long as it is a mix of black and orange pekoe.

Place the tea bags on top of the sugar with the string tabs hanging over the edge of the pitcher.

Once the tea starts boiling, turn it off and pour 1/2 gallon of water into the pitcher and place a cover on the pitcher loosely.

Let the tea steep for 10-12 minutes and then remove the cover from the pitcher.

Squeeze the tea bags with a spoon against the side of the pitcher for good measure and toss the tea bags in the garbage.

You will notice that the sugar is still in the bottom of the pitcher so you will need to stir the tea until the sugar melts completely.. THIS IS IMPORTANT and takes about 45 seconds to a minute of stirring.

Once the sugar is completely melted/disolved and mixed into the tea.. fill the remaining space with another 1/2 gallon of cold water.

Stir the tea really well once again and the tea is ready to serve over ice.

I guarantee you that this will be the absolute best tea you have ever tasted!


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## gypsyseagod (Jul 3, 2007)

to be honest.... after making tea for oh... 30 years.. if lipton didn't go tits up on q&a  and teabags falling apart in the pot - i wouldn't have to nuke it- but it serves the same effect & not so bitter.


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## chris_harper (Jul 3, 2007)

for one gallon of tea, we use 4 family size tea bags, and 2-cups sugar. 

we have been buying the "cold brew" tea bags. no boiling needed. just place the tea bags in a pitcher with a little water. after 5 minutes, i think that is the time, it is ready. add the rest of the water and the sugar. i don't like to put hot liquid in a glass with ice.


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## lisacsco (Jul 3, 2007)

oh man, you got me there!!


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## smokin for life (Jul 3, 2007)

Snap!!!!  Who Da Girl!!!!


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## az_redneck (Jul 3, 2007)

Sugar in iced tea? YUCK!

But, I was born in Wisconsin, so what do I know.. Now, ask me how to make brats, and we'll have a real discussion..


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## zapper (Jul 29, 2007)

WOW!  Everyone seems to put alot of sugar into the fray, 2/3 cup is plenty.


The Zapper approach:

Boil a kettle of water, (2 Quarts) pour that over 2-3 large Lipton tea bags or like 8 little tea bags and let steep for a coulpe of minutes. Remove the tea bags without ringing the life out of them (a gentle queeze if you like, but too much trauma to the tea is said to cause bitterness) Add 2/3 cup of sugar to the still hot 1/2 gallon and stir until the crunch is gone. Fill the rest of the gallon with cold water (or ice even) and serve over ice.


There is a misconseception that Southern Iced Tea is supposed to be as sweet and thick as a syrup. Just try it one time with the reduced amount of sugar and see if the crisp snap of the cold tea is more refreshing than the tea colored sugar that most places serve.


Trust me, I drink a half to over a gallon of tea every day! When I finally get that kidney stone it is gonna make Stone Mountian look small!


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## gypsyseagod (Jul 29, 2007)

same here- i drink a gallon or 2 unlessi have "adult beverages" in the house. i just noticed yesterday wheni put mine in the nuker- it does boil & i let it sit a few it's like concentrate. and the jug is a gallon so 2/3 sugar is perfect.


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## zapper (Jul 29, 2007)

@ gypsy

When you mentioned concentrate it brought back a memory. Long, long ago in a time far, far away.....

I had a roomate that would make tea concentrate, he would usually make a little sausepanful at a time. He even had a special sausepan that was for tea concentrate only. It was not that his tea was all that good or anything, but with like six of us living in the same house, a jug of tea didn't stand a chance. So.........I came in late/early one time and in the middle of the dark night I grabbed the tea jug and poured a glass over ice. What I soon learned was that he spent like half of the day making tea concentrate and the only container that we had big enough to hold it all was the tea jug!   SUPRISE!


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## gypsyseagod (Jul 29, 2007)

lmao... awake for days...


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## cheech (Aug 6, 2007)

Love sweet tea but lean towards the raspberry iced tea. I would venture to guess that there must be some sort of raspberry flavor I could add to the above recipes and make it myself

If you are into hot tea the misses and I enjoy the tea from www.teavanna.com  There roiboos tropical and lemon mate are the best mixed together


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## gypsyseagod (Aug 6, 2007)

lipton makes raspberry- but if tha ain't right i'd add 4 to to the 2 cup concentrate


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## deejaydebi (Aug 7, 2007)

I like window green tea the best but I'm the only one that drinks tea so I make one cup at a time in the nukeulator. Just nuke the water and throw in a bag, them dump it in my tea drinking cup added a slice of lemon or orange.

I don't like tea sweet but I like about 5 teaspoons of sugar per gallon if it brown tea - none if it's green.


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## gypsyseagod (Aug 7, 2007)

see...i knew i was right- a fam sized bag for 3:33 just brings mine to a boil & let set for a few mins....add to 3/4 cup organic sugar... & the rest for a gallon pitcher.


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## zapper (Aug 7, 2007)

Sasafras! I got a couple little trees growing near the foundation right now that I am gonna pull up. Great with honey, surgar or just plain!


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## deejaydebi (Aug 7, 2007)

Sasafras tea! Haven't had that since I was a kid!


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## shortrib (Aug 7, 2007)

Vodka goes good in tea, especially green tea with a little lime or lemon..
      I tried it in desperation one night when I didn't have any mix for my vodka, and didn't feel like making the drive into town for some sprite..  was very suprised at how good it was.

As a matter of fact, there is now a green tea vodka on the market.


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## cheech (Aug 7, 2007)

shortrib that is great so now I can feel a bit healthy while I am consuming adult beverages


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## wavector (Aug 13, 2007)

Loose leaf tea is the best flavor you can get. Forget tea bags, they're a waste of material. Go with loose leaf tea and add fresh lemon to the glass if you desire. I never put hot water over my sugar because it ends up tasting like corn syrup was used sweeten the tea. Instead, I add cold water to my sugar and stir until it is disolved. And, I never add hot tea brew to my sugar water mixture. I let it cool first. Now, that's "Iced Tea."


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## one-eyed farley (Aug 28, 2007)

I usually put a Lipton gallon size teabag in the basket of my Black and Decker tea maker and fill to the max (3 qt) line with water, and put 1 1/4 cup of sugar into the bottom of the teapot ...takes about 4 or 5 minutes to brew. When it is done, I put 4 trays of ice into a one gallon pitcher, stir the tea in the pot to disolve the sugar, and then pur over the ice in the one gallon container. Perfect every time.

Note: While everyone has their own idea about how sweet tea should be, most folks in here in the South drink it fairly sweet.

Another note: 3 Lipton family size bags is about the same as 1 one gallon bag


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## twistertail (Aug 28, 2007)

I've got a Mr Coffee ice tea maker and it works great.  We do brown tea, green tea and raspberry tea and all are great.  It makes a half gallon pitcher and my wife and I will drink the whole thing in one night.  If any of you go to Olive Garden try their peach tea, its probably the best tea I've ever had.


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## one-eyed farley (Aug 28, 2007)

Vodka goes pretty good in peach too, also


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## peculiarmike (Aug 28, 2007)

We make "sun tea" out on the deck. It's fine.


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## shellbellc (Aug 28, 2007)

I see an almost definitive line here between Southerners and Northerners...I'm a yankee, but live below the mason dixon for almost 10 years, gotta love that sweet tea.  Even when I was little, we'd go out to eat and I'd get a glass of tea (not sweetened), I'd take the sugar pourer and my teaspoon and let the sugar fill the spoon and let it cascade over teh sides, stir it til the tea was sweet, then a little extra sugar.  When you get to the bottom, you have a little sugar river you get to let slide down the side of you your glass...

Anyone ever just do sun sweet tea???


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