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I just posted this over at the Prairie Homemaker boards, and I thought I’d post it here too for those that wondered how to make good sweet tea.
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How to Make Sweet Tea
We make ours on the stove. Get a small saucepan out and fill it with water. Add 1 full cup of sugar to the pan and put it on the stove to boil. I’ve had it with as much as 2 cups of sugar….I love it that way but that’s way too much sugar for everyday tea.
When it comes to a rolling boil, turn off the burner and drop in 2 family size or 4 regular sized teabags. We usually tie the strings together to make it a little easier to fish them out later. Leave the pot on the burner until the water is nice and dark – maybe 10 minutes or so. We never time that part……sometimes it sits as long as 12 hours…sometimes we use it while it’s still warm.
Pour steeped tea into a gallon pitcher and fill to the top with cold water. If you’re using a glass pitcher, then be very careful as the boiling water can make the glass crack. Remove the teabags. Sometimes, if the tea hasn’t steeped for very long, we leave the teabags in the pitcher so they can steep a little longer.
Some people don’t add the sugar until you fill the pitcher with water, but by adding the sugar at the beginning, it dissolves better and you don’t have to stand there stirring for forever trying to get it to dissolve.
Enjoy!
I have been searching for a good easy sweet tea recipe, this sounds perfect!
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ahhh! Sweet tea! I use a little less sugar, and I don’t add it before the water boils. I steep the tea first, then pour it in the pitcher, then add the sugar to the hot tea concentrate. It still dissolves quickly that way – and it’s the way my Mama made it! 😉 LOL She also used to add a pinch of baking soda to take off the bitter edge. I’ve never done that, though. When you do the baking soda, the tea foams up and then right back down. It was really fun when I was a little girl!