Let’s talk about sweet tea, sweetie!
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While moving and traveling is fun, there are some staples you begin to favor and when it comes to sweet tea, none have perfected it quite like the South. Growing up in the Midwest, I was raised on mediocre sweet tea and never even realized the rainbows and unicorns my taste-buds were missing out on! To my fellow Hoosiers, ditch the sun tea and give this recipe a whirl. In the South, you can’t get bad sweet tea. Alright, that is a bit of a stretch, but it is rare. It was not until moving to California when I realized how underappreciated the convenience of GOOD Southern sweet tea had gone. I ordered my first “sweet tea” in California and the second the bitter hit my mouth I all but spit it out.
Like seriously, WHAT ARE Y’ALL DOING OVER HERE?!? Don’t get me wrong, there are some things Cali does right, but when it comes to sweet tea…..just throw it all away.
This was a problem you see because Mr. Leni is FROM THE SOUTH (shiiiiiiit. I was in trouble). While my existing sweet tea recipe was decent, it was not exactly up to his expectations. He didn’t see fireworks when the cold ginger brown crack kissed his tongue. Luckily, he is not afraid to hurt my feelings. So instead of “sucking it up” and pretending, he continued critiquing my efforts until I got it right. I searched EVERYWHERE for the perfect recipe. Pinterest is where I found the basics of this recipe, Facebook comments contributed to various tricks and tips, and with trial and error I perfected it. Of course, preferences vary so make adjustments where you see fit. I probably tried every bit of 15 different recipes and styles. This is what worked for me. It makes 1 gallon.
Ingredients
- 3 Lipton Tea Bags (family size)
- 1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 8 Cups of water (divided)
- 2 cups of sugar
Steps
- Bring 4 cups of water to a boil on the stove
- Once it begins to boil, turn the burner off and add the three tea bags and the 1/4tsp of baking soda.
- SET A TIMER for 15 minutes. Depending on how strong you like your tea this can be longer.
- After 15 minutes remove the tea bags (do not squeeze them) add the 2 cups of sugar to the hot water. Stir it until it is completely dissolved.
- In your gallon pitcher put the other 8 cups of COLD water in. Then add your hot tea and sugar mixture to the cold water.
- In the words of Bob Marley, “Stir it up, little darlin’, stir it up”
- This last step is important, LET YOUR TEA COMPLETELY COOL BEFORE PUTTING IT IN THE FRIDGE.
Below are the original links used for the GIFs and Pinterest link I initially found the recipe on
Giphy. (n.d.). Search All the GIFs & Make Your Own Animated GIF. Retrieved from https://giphy.com/.
