Southern Sweet Tea
Homemade Southern Sweet Tea is the house wine of the south. This recipe comes out perfect every single time thanks to a simple tip.
PERFECT SWEET ICED TEA EVERY TIME
Every gal in the south has their own way of making sweet tea. We’re pretty proud about it too. Around my house we like our tea strong and sweet. So if you ever have trouble getting your tea just right each and every time, give this recipe a try!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
As a Virginian, I am proud to say that the first known printed version of sweet iced tea was by Marion Tyree who lived not too far from my current hometown. Marion, of Lynchburg, Virginia, printed the recipe for sweet iced tea with lemon in her book, “Housekeeping in Old Virginia”. She initially used green tea and it wouldn’t be until a few years later that black tea would eventually be used. I’m sure many southern towns want to lay claim to sweet tea but she is credited for publishing the first known version of sweet iced tea.
You don’t have to add this ingredient if you are going to drink all your sweet day within a day that you made it. Tea only gets a bit bitter if it has been hanging out in the fridge for too long (more than a day) or if you let the tea bags soak for a bit too long. If you aren’t going to drink it that quickly, the baking soda is going to help it from going bitter too quickly if it sits in the fridge for 2 or 3 days.
In our opinion this is perfectly sweetened. It’s what everyone I know loves and my tea pitcher is always empty minutes after I serve it at a BBQ. This recipe is more of a concept on how to make sweet tea so you add as little or as much as you like it. If you’ve ever had Chick-fil-A’s sweet tea then that is the sweetness level of this tea.
You can substitute Splenda for the sugar, if you prefer.
Yes. It eventually gets a sour taste. The baking soda does help extend the life of the sweet tea but it will eventually “go off.” Sweet Tea is best consumed within the first 48 hours of when you made it. Keep sweet tea stored in the refrigerator.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- family size tea bags – I prefer Luzianne or Lipton but use whatever brand you enjoy.
- sugar – I have personally never made it with a sugar substitute, but as I said above, I am sure a 1:1 sugar substitute like Splenda would work. Please adjust the sugar to your personal preferences. This is just ours.
- water – tap water works fine. If you have filtered water – even better!
- baking soda – see my FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) above on why this is added. It is optional but I prefer to add it.
HOW TO MAKE SOUTHERN SWEET TEA:
Boil only ½ gallon of the water on stove. Once water comes to a roiling boil, pour into one gallon pitcher. Add 3 tea bags and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda (you don’t need to stir.) Set your kitchen timer (I use my microwave) for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, take out tea bags. Do not squish tea bags before taking them out, just let them drip for a minute. If you squeeze, you’re likely to get some tea leaves in your drink. Add sugar and stir.
Add the other ½ gallon of cold water to the pitcher and stir again.
Chill in the refrigerator for several hours before serving.
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Originally published: January 2011
Updated photos & republished: July 2023
Southern Sweet Tea
Ingredients
- 3 family size tea bags
- 2 cups sugar (see notes below)
- 1 gallon water, divided use
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Boil ½ gallon of the water on stove in a pot. Once water comes to a roiling boil, pour into one gallon pitcher.
- Add 3 family-size tea bags and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda (you don’t need to stir) to the pitcher. Just make sure the bags are submerged in the water.
- Set your kitchen timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, take out tea bags. Do not squish tea bags before taking them out, just let them drip for a minute.
- Add sugar and stir.
- Add the other ½ gallon of cold water to the pitcher and stir again.
- Chill completely in the refrigerator for several hours then serve in a glass with ice.
Video
Notes
- We like our tea sweet but you can certainly cut down on the sugar if you prefer.
- This makes one gallon of sweet tea.
- Baking soda takes any of the bitterness out of your tea. It is great for other uses as well. If you are soaking beans overnight and are putting them in a pot to make the next day, add a small dash of baking soda to your pot before cooking. It keeps beans tasting their best.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Thank you so much for the recipe! As a Europe girlie I have never tried southern sweet tea so I just had to try it we don’t have family sized tea bags in Denmark so I used 8 regular bags and it turned out great, but I do think am gonna put a couple more in and let it sit for 5 more minutes, my husband has asked if there is more everyday since I made it.
Thanks so much Simone! I am so happy you gave it a try! Usually my European friends cannot stand when I make cold tea – ha! You are so sweet and thank you for commenting! xx
I use 12 regular tea bags with the 15 minutes.
The recipe calls for 3 family size tea bags, I just have the regular size. So how many tea bags would I use?
I had to Google it. It says 3-4 regular tea bags equals 1 family size tea bag 🙂
Best tea I’ve had since moving to the Midwest
Thanks so very much Mimi!
Perfect the first time! This will be my go to!! Guests loved it!
I enjoyed this recipe. I was born in Virginia and my childhood was the 60s and 70s. I was taught that true sweet tea is measure by the newspaper teste. Fill your glass of tea then put a newspaper behind the glass. if you can read the paper it is not dark enough to be called Southern Sweet Tea.
We had the very best sweet tea with lemons in Canada years ago at a B & B. Unfortunately, the B & B is no longer there. We don’t know how she made it, but it was sooooo good that you didn’t want to stop drinking it. Would you have any idea what that recipe might be?
Mary Ann Brown
Hi Mary Ann, I am so sorry I don’t.
Best sweet tea I’ve ever made thank you!!
perfect!
Thanks so much Chris!
This was absolutely perfect! We live in the midwest and we love the sweet tea we get in the south when we visit (especially Mcdonald’s or Chicke fil A) and this is exactly like those!! I know most people are taught in the south how to make sweet tea but it is not a regular thing up here for many of us so thank you for sharing a recipe that may seem like a no brainer to some. This was delicious!
Thanks so much Christine! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!!
This was my first time making sweet tea. It tastes just like good old fashioned sweet tea in Alabama! We have a restaurant named Guthrie’s who serves the absolute best sweet tea around. My son told me this tastes just like Guthrie’s sweet tea. It’s so delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
I wanted to make this, but the recipe calls for “3 family sized tea bags.” When I look at Walmart, there are, like everything else, multiple sizes of large tea bags. Some are a quarter ounce, other a whole ounce per bag. Soo…..
Look at my ingredient photo above for what I use
It’s amazing! But one question. How long is this good for? Like how long can it stay in the fridge?
Thanks Hunter! You will definitely know when it starts to turn “off”. For me personally, it’s about the 3rd or 4th day. It’s not that it goes bad but the taste is not at its best. 🙂
Thanks for show me how to make sweet iced tea!