If you’re concerned about your sugar intake then learning how to make sweet tea will quickly fall off your to-do list. Here’s why: You’re looking at nearly 2 cups of sugar in every pitcher of the stuff. That’s sweet tea, son!
But no matter. If there’s tea to be had, there’s tea to be enjoyed with loads of sugar and perhaps a dash of lemon if you like. Here’s a rough draft:
- 2 cups of boiling water
- 2 cups of sugar
- 6 cups of cold water
- A pinch of baking soda (you’ll be glad you did — classic)
- 6-8 regular tea bags or actual loose leaf if you can get it because nobody has ever regretted making sweet tea with loose leaves.
Get the boiling water and the tea leaves together for a bit. They’ll enjoy each other’s company but not too much or you’ll see things end up bitterly. (See? Making tea has a lot of parallels to other parts of life!) Once the hot water and tea leaves are separate, add the baking soda and a little more than half the sugar. It should dissolve pretty quickly with a stir or two. Now add the cold water and hot sugared tea together in a pitcher and take a quick taste to test. Add more sugar if you must.
Then pour your sweet tea over ice cubes in tall glasses and sprinkle a bit of sugar into each glass. A squeeze of lemon and a slice on the glass are a nice touch, too.
It isn’t so very hard to make sweet tea. The trick is to know how sweet is sweet enough, too sweet, or what’s not even coming close to your side of the sweet highway. Once you find your perfect balance, sweet tea will become an art form in its own sugary tea right.
What some others have said about sweet tea: