Making sweet iced tea that is served in so many restaurants takes a knack. While it isn’t difficult it does take some special steps in making the iced tea. Our suggestion would be to start with an iced tea such as Lipton’s or Luzianne.
Making a pitcher of southern sweet iced tea is easy! Keep reading to learn more about making this refreshing beverage. Armed with this recipe, and these tips you will soon be making the best sweet tea ever.
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Table of Contents
What Makes Sweet Iced Tea So Refreshing?
Sweet tea is the classic Southern summer beverage. But even if you don’t live in the South, there is just something satisfying about sipping an ice-cold glass of fresh sweet tea when the weather gets warm.
Whether hosting friends or just having a family supper, a pitcher of homemade sweet tea is always welcome.
Why This Is the One Recipe for Sweet Iced Tea You Must Try
Making sweet tea is easy, but making great-tasting sweet tea isn’t so simple. But once you learn the basics of this recipe, you’ll be well on your way to mastering this summertime staple. You will soon unlock the secrets to the best tea ever! We can even help you adjust the sweetness for your personal preference.
How Much Sugar in Sweet Tea vs Soda?
Most store-bought sodas these days don’t contain any real sugar at all! Big soda brands prefer cheaper corn syrup as a sweetener, but a few smaller brands still use sugar in their soda recipes.
It isn’t uncommon for these colas to have three or more cups of sugar per gallon. Even if you like your tea really sweet, cola will probably have a lot more sugar per serving.
Sweet Iced Tea Ingredients
Here’s a list of what you need:
- Water
- Tea Bags
- Sugar
How to Make Sweet Tea (Southern-Style)
- Pour boiling water into a 2-quart pitcher.
- Add tea bags and steep the tea for a couple of minutes. Do not steep the tea for too long, or you may experience bitterness from the tannins in the tea.
- Remove and discard the tea bags.
- Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
- Fill the pitcher with ice.
- Add enough cold water to fill the pitcher.
- Enjoy your iced tea.
You can adjust the amount of sugar to make your tea sweeter or less sweet.
Recipe Notes
How Much Sugar is in Sweet Tea?
Sweet tea must have sugar, but just how much sugar to put in your sweet tea is a matter of personal preference. A good starting place is one cup of sugar per gallon of water, but feel free to adjust that amount to suit your taste.
How Many Tea Bags for a Gallon of Iced Tea?
It depends on which brand of tea you use. Luzziane calls for four tea bags per gallon of water, while you only need to use one of Lipton’s Iced Tea bags to make the same amount of tea.
What Is the Ratio of Tea To Water for Iced Tea?
The best way to measure tea is with a scale. For one gallon of sweet tea, you should use one ounce, or a little more than 28 grams, of loose tea.
Sweet Tea Flavorings
While there are plenty of folks that would never mess with a traditional sweet tea recipe, if you are looking for ways to update it, try these three easy suggestions:
- Lemoncello Sweet Tea: Whether you call it an Arnold Palmer or a Half & Half, the combination of lemonade and iced tea is refreshing. Adding a shot of limoncello to six ounces of sweet tea makes a very delicious and very adult version that’s perfect for a sundowner or brunch cocktail.
- Just Peachy Sweet Tea: Drain a can of diced peaches, reserving the syrup. Spread the peaches out on a baking tray and put the tray in the freezer until the peaches freeze solid; about two hours. To serve, pour an ounce of peach syrup into each glass and add a sprig of thyme along with some of the frozen peaches. Fill the rest of the glass with sweet tea, stir, and serve.
- It’s a Good Day Citrus Tea: A little fresh-squeezed fruit juice adds a great big ray of sunshine to even the cloudiest afternoons. Measure two tablespoons of fresh orange juice and a teaspoon of lemon juice into a glass of sweet tea, stir and garnish with an orange wheel.
Sweet Tea Serving Suggestions
Serving a guest a glass of sweet tea is basic hospitality in the South, but why not impress them by giving them something to munch on? These three snacks pair perfectly:
- Dainty Chicken Salad Sandwiches: Cut the crust off two thin slices of raisin bread and toast well. Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on both pieces of bread. Put a scoop of Fancy Nancy Chicken Salad between the two slices of bread and cut the sandwich into four triangles to serve.
- Cold Fried Chicken: Southern picnics are never complete without a piece or two of cold fried chicken. Put aside any misgivings you may have and try it for yourself. You may just find you are cooking more chicken than you need just for the leftovers!
- Pasta Salad: Like sweet tea, you should always have a bowl of cold pasta salad in the fridge during the hot months for a quick meal. Try this Pasta Salad for an incredibly simple and delicious light meal or hearty snack.
Sweet Tea Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Sweeten Iced Tea?
There is only one choice for authentic Sweet Iced Tea: real sugar!
Why Do You Put Baking Soda in Sweet Tea?
A pinch of baking soda can help counteract the acidity of tea and make it taste smoother and sweeter with less sugar. If you ever find yourself queasy after drinking sweet tea, the baking soda trick will help stop it.
How Much Baking Soda Do You Put In a Gallon of Sweet Tea?
Less is more in this case. Just a two-finger pinch is enough for an entire gallon of this sweet iced tea recipe. Add a little too much, and your tea will taste flat or even develop a soapy flavor!
What Is the Best Tea for Sweet Tea?
Talking about the best tea brand for making homemade sweet tea can get you in a bit of trouble, especially in the South. Everyone has a go-to brand, and for many people, that’s Luzianne Iced Tea. Luzianne is made explicitly for brewing sweet tea, and its flavor and strength are ideal for this recipe. Of course, not everyone likes Luzianne, and another popular brand is Lipton, especially the Lipton variety that is meant for making cold tea.
What Is the Difference Between Sweet Tea and Sweetened Iced Tea?
Although similar, there is a distinct difference between sweet tea and sweetened iced tea based on the brewing method, the type of sweetener used, and when you add the sweetener to the tea.
For proper sweet tea, you must always brew the tea using water that is right off the boil and add the sugar to the water while it is still hot. On the other hand, for sweetened iced tea, you can use any brewing method and sweetener you want. A lot of people use the cold-brewing method to help reduce acidity and honey, simple syrup, or even agave syrup as sweeteners.
I hope you give this recipe a try next time you are looking for the perfect southern sweet tea recipe.
Favorite Refreshing Beverage Recipes
- Fruit Infused Water
- Homemade Lemonade
- Kiwi Starfruit Refresher
- Peach Iced Tea
- Pink Drink
- Sonic Ocean Water
- Starbucks Passion Tea Lemonade
- Strawberry Lemonade
- Strawberry Limeade
- Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher
Popular DIY Recipes
- Bloody Mary Mix
- Caramel Syrup for Coffee or Tea
- Homemade Vanilla Sugar
Check out more of my easy drink recipes and the best DIY recipes here on CopyKat!
Sweet Iced Tea
Ingredients
- 8 cups water
- 4 small tea bags or 2 family-sized tea bags
- 1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
- Bring the water to a boil in a large pot over high heat.
- Pour the boiling water into a 2-quart pitcher.
- Add tea bags.
- Steep the tea for 1 to 2 minutes only. If the tea bags are left in longer, the tea may become bitter.
- Remove tea bags.
- Add the sugar and stir until it is dissolved.
- Fill the pitcher with ice.
- Add cold water to fill up the pitcher.
- Enjoy your iced tea.
plastic
When I use a glass pitcher, i place a knife in the pitcher prior to adding the hot water so the pitcher will not crack.
Nay
Woody, your method seems WAY too complicated for a simple tea. I agree with the plastic pitcher though…no way. My grandmother always would steep the tea bags in the pot after boiling the water, then pour it into the ice filled glasses, then let everyone else sweeten their own tea. What’s bad, is if you use sugar, it doesn’t dissolve very well in a gold glass, but if you use sweet n low or splenda, it dissolves just fine.
Stephanie
I have to make a follow up comment on this. I never realized everyone was so passionate about tea making. I learned a lot of my tea making from the folks at http://www.teamerchants.com , I love their tea, it is fabulous. I have gone onto purchase a special water heater that dispenses hot water at three different temperatures for perfect tea. I appreciate so many of your comments. So regarding the plastic pitcher, I had glass one there, people complained, people complained over plastic, so I am curious what type of container do you put your tea into?
La Guera Preciosa
All of you missed the most important ingredient of all… LOVE!! My mom always tells me that if you cook in a kitchen without putting a little love into it, it just won’t turn out right… =) NC Born and raised…I still enjoy home made sweet tea with my family. It’s tradition. Thanks for sharing your secrets…
Woody says:
I put about 2 inches of water in two pans. Pan one gets three large or six small tea bags and I bring this to a boil and remove from heat. While pan one is heating up, I put a Tsp of baking soda in pan two along with 1 cup of Splenda. Stiring soda and splenda together till water is clear. When pan one comes to a boil I take it off and heat the mixture of pan two. When it comes to a boil I just turn off the burner. Take the Ice Tea jug and fill half way with ice. Then pour tea and sweetner in the jug over ice. As for my tea jug I have to add water to the top.
Michael Wood
I have been making sweet tea all my adult life and I am 54 years old. First of all I have never found that leaving the tea bags in the hot water for more than 1 to 2 minutes makes the tea bitter. I do know the longer you leave them to steep the stronger the tea, and have left mine in for hours and to me it is just fine. Once the water begins to boil you must remove it from the stovetop burner after adding the tea bags.My mother told me what makes it bitter is if you have the bags in the water and boil them or leave them on the burner after the water has come to a boil. Also the video shows a plastic pitcher, this is a big no-no. Adding hot water to a plastic container will give it a plastic taste as the hot water causes something in the plastic to be released into the water. I always use a glass pitcher, fill pitcher 1/3 with ice, add sugar to ice, and then pour in semi-hot to warm steeped tea
Trish Anna
Now here’s a man who knows how to make tea … lol I’ve steeped mine for hours before too. I’m always surprised when people say not to steep more than a few minutes. That’s true for many herbal teas, but not black tea, in my experience. But … just as he said, I NEVER let the tea bags boil in the pan. Really, I try to catch the water just as it’s beginning to boil, but if I miss that, I use it anyway with no problems. Only difference is that I dissolve my sugar in the hot steeped tea instead of putting it over ice … I want the sugar well-dissolved before it gets too cold.
Hehe, coming in to this convo after it’s a few years old, it really is funny to see how passionate people can be about their own way. It’s understandable though … down here in the south, sweet tea is a big thing! 🙂
Someone :)
“The only difference is, if you make it at home, it’s likely to be made with table sugar, and not high fructose corn syrup, as you find at so many restaurants.” — Rob
Rob is mistaken. The only high fructose corn syrup you’ll find in restaurant tea is if you order the flavored Lipton brands. Even in the corporate places (Applebees, Ruby Tuesday), sweet tea is brewed with tea bags and sugar. 🙂
jess
my husband puts that much sugar (1 to 2 cups) in a HALF gallon of tea.
Stefanie
Um…2 quarts=Half gallon. Just sayin’
Wonder why many recipes, and even a Kool Aide package tells you to get a 2 quart container. Go figure 😉 Just sayin’ ~Stephanie
kevin
I think it’s funny somebody actually has a recipe for sweet tea. 🙂
In SC, we normally have 1 to 2 cups of sugar per gallon of tea!
Jem
Let me make a correction to Lisa’s comments. If you put the sugar in the pitcher of room temp water, it won’t dissolve. Pour the hot water over the tea bags in a Pyrex bowl. Add sugar and let sit for about five minutes. Strain out the tea bags, squeezing the bags to get the most out of the tea. THEN add it to the room temp water. ( I already have the ice in the pitcher at this point but its not important) I suppose that means the only correction to the original post would be to not add water into a glass pitcher. Enjoy!
admin
Gail says:
I have a suggestion for this recipe that will take all of the bitterness out and you only have to use 1 family size teabag, because it draws the tea from the tea leaves. I go ahead and put the teabag in when you put the water on to boil, but the trick is to add a pinch (1/8 teaspoon or less) of baking soda. I always keep baking soda by my stove anyway (in case something catches on fire), but I sprinkle it on top of the teabag as I drop it in the cold water to boil. It can steep as long or as short as you would like, but there is no bitterness. The trick is to not put too much baking soda.
admin
I never anticipated the responses on this either. I personally love bulk tea leaves from http://www.teamerchants.com, and that is what I use in my ice tea. I can’t understand why so many people buy prepared iced tea from the grocery store, it is so easy to make at home.
Alex
BDW…I usually use one small bag of tea per 300 ml water and three tea spoons of sugar. this seems to be as good as it can and if u add some lemon juice it’s perfect! This is for those who are not sure how much of everything goes in the tea 😛
Alex
Wow…I never thought that making ice tea was such a mystery for some people. Don’t take it the wrong way, I don’t mean to offend anyone, just that when I read about those “special steps” I was expecting something mode…complex. I was making ice tea when I was 7 and I used plants my grandmother picked, packaged tea was a luxury :)) Well, Lipton is good and no garden herb has that flavor. Ice tea is easy to make and a delicious healthy refreshing treat! U can use honey instead of sugar and if your throat is sore, drink warm tea with honey and chew bees wax. You’ll be better in no time! Cheers! 😀
Stephanie
I loved chewing the bees wax. 🙂 I have not done that since a child or thought of it.
eowyn
can’t find leroy hill up here in the north!
Zach
Lisa, like your ideas… how much water should be boiled though.. obviously the main recipe here is showing 2 cups.. um, yeah, that makes no sense.. approximately how much water and sugar in your recipe? I’d love to make it your way. Thanks =)
Lisa
Don’t add boiling or hot water to pitcher, especially a glass pitcher — the pitcher may shatter and you’ll have a mess. Use 2 quart pitcher and fill 1/3 way up with room temperature tap water. Instead of putting tea bags in the pitcher put them in the water after in has come to a boil and heat has been turned off. Add the sugar to the room temp water before pouring tea steeped water into pitcher — use a spoon to keep tea bags from dropping into pitcher and to press the tea bags up against the side of the pan to get the last bit of good flavor from your bags. After this fill the pitcher to two or three inches from the top. Don’t add ice to pitcher but instead serve the tea over ice cubes in your tea glasses. It is always best to use a glass pitcher and serve tea in glass, plastic can and will give it an off flavor. The tea will also stain plastic. I know I’ve done a good job if I look through the pitcher and see a lovely translucent red/brown color, if the tea does not have the red color and is just brown or if it is foggy you’ve overcooked your teabags.
Sweet tea has been on the evening meal, we call it supper, table every single day since my first memories. If you steep the tea gently like this and never boil it you need much less sugar to sweeten.
jT.
I grew up drinking tea almost every day. It’s pretty much expected that with your dinner you’re going to have sweet tea rather than a soft drink. Back home in Alabama we never used the Lipton stuff…it was unheard of.
For the best sweet tea you have to go with Leroy Hill.
Rob
The only difference is, if you make it at home, it’s likely to be made with table sugar, and not high fructose corn syrup, as you find at so many restaurants.
tea
Long time I am expecting this topic, I like cold tea very much
leftfoot
Pitcher. I really don’t want to add boiling water to any pictures 🙂
P.S. – Sorry, forgot to tell you great post!
Stephanie
lol