Sweet Iced Tea - The Elixir of The South. I'm pretty sure if everybody drank sweet iced tea on a regular basis, we'd have world peace.

How to Make Perfect Southern Sweet Iced Tea

I enjoy a nice cup of hot tea pretty regularly, but iced tea is pretty much a year-round staple here in the south - probably mostly because it's so darned hot down here most all of the year. Besides, tea - unlike soft drinks - is loaded with benefits.

Tea contains high levels of antioxidants - polyphenols, flavonoids, and catechins - that help to boost the body’s defenses against diseases. Some studies have shown that tea may also lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol and protect against heart disease and may help to protect against cancer.

Just like seasoning recipes to taste, you definitely should adjust to your own sweetness level with sweetened iced tea. Some folks like it real sweet, some not quite so sweet and you can certainly exchange sugar for an appropriate sugar substitute, even making the tea completely unsweetened, and adding it per glass.

I used to use a cup of sugar for this recipe, then I switched to making my tea completely unsweetened and using Splenda by the glass, but I recently quit using artificial sweeteners completely. When I went back to using regular granulated sugar, I found a cup to be too sweet for me. Eventually I reduced that cup of sugar to 3/4 cup, then 2/3 cup and now I find about 1/2 cup of sugar for the whole pitcher works pretty good for me. In restaurants I find sweetened tea generally far too sweet for me, so I order it "half and half" - half sweet, mixed with half unsweetened.

One thing is for certain. I believe that the perfect iced tea starts with Luzianne brand. Period.

I don't say that because I'm trying to impress the folks at Luzianne, or because I'm trying to make somebody believe I've used it all along when I know I didn't, or that I'm trying to make myself look more "Southern" by using Luzianne. I use it because, in my opinion, it is the tea for Southern iced tea - whether it's sugared up or made with sugar substitute. Not that other brands don't make a good pitcher of tea. It's just that for what I consider to be the perfect Southern iced tea, I truly believe you need to use Luzianne.

Finding a restaurant, even in the Deep South, that serves sweet tea can sometimes be a challenge, and a lot of folks sweeten with sugar substitutes now, but still... every once in awhile, we all sure enjoy a glass of sugared-up tea.

Sweet.

If you think this sounds yummy, I'd sure ♥ it if you'd click to pin it, tweet it, stumble it, or share it on Facebook to help spread the word - thanks!

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Recipe: How to Make Perfect Southern Sweet Iced Tea

©From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

Prep time: 10 min |Cook time: 10 min |

Yield: About 8 servings

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Ingredients:

• 5 to 7 individual Luzianne brand tea bags
• 1 quart of cool filtered or bottled water
• Pinch of baking soda, optional
• 1 4-cup glass Pyrex measuring cup for steeping
• 2 quart glass pitcher filled with ice
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups of sugar, more or less, to taste
• Fresh lemon, sliced or wedges, and some mint sprigs, also optional

Instructions:

Grab a pot and pour in one quart of cool filtered or bottled water, bringing to a full, rolling boil. For a milder tea, use 5 bags; for a more robust tea, go with 7. Spin the tea bags together so all the strings wrap together and set them inside a 4-cup glass Pyrex measuring cup with the tags hanging on the outside. Pour boiling water into the container and dip the tea bags in and out to begin releasing the tea leaves. Stick a plate on top and set the timer for exactly 9 minutes for a full bodied tea, 5 minutes or less if you prefer a lighter version. Let the tea bags steep. Do not go longer than 9 minutes or you risk burning your tea leaves and will end up with a bitter tea.

I almost always do 5 teabags, steeped for 5 minutes, sweetened with 1 cup of sugar, and that's a most excellent glass of iced tea!

After the steeping time is up, take a wooden spoon and press the tea bags up against the side of the Pyrex cup and toss the tea bags into your compost pot. For insurance against bitterness you can add just a pinch of baking soda - no more than 1/8 teaspoon - to the steeped tea. It will not affect the flavor, but will take away bitterness if you happened to have burned your tea leaves.

Fill your glass pitcher with ice, pour the sugar on top of the ice and slowly and carefully pour the hot, steaming tea over the ice. If you prefer a sweeter tea, go with 1-1/2 cups of sugar. Don’t pour hot tea directly into a glass pitcher without ice in it!! To conserve your ice and use the tea per glass, fill the 1/2 gallon pitcher with 1-1/2 quarts of water instead of ice, and top with the steeped tea.

Stir well and serve in a glass, preferably a crystal glass, over even more ice, garnish with a sprig of mint leaves and a nice juicy slice of lemon. Savor.

Tea Tips:

1. For perfect tea always start with fresh filtered cool water - never tap water!

2. Cloudiness is often caused by putting hot or still warm tea directly into a cold refrigerator. My method prevents this since you are pouring your steeped tea directly over ice cubes.

2. Bitterness in tea is caused by overcooking and burning the tea leaves - that is why it is important not to boil the teabags and not to steep them too long in boiling water. To counter, a pinch of baking soda - only about 1/8 of a teaspoon - can be added to the hot, steeped tea after you remove the bags. It will not affect the taste of your tea, and provides insurance against bitterness.

3. Use wooden spoons to squeeze your tea bags, a glass container - like a large Pyrex measuring cup - to steep your tea, and store it in a glass pitcher, not metal or plastic. After all that it seems proper to serve it in a tall, iced tea glass and not plastic, but that's up to you. I do like my Tervis cups.

4. If you prefer your sweetened tea more on the sweet side, you'll probably want to go with 1-1/2 cups of sugar.

5. Of course, substitute artificial sweetener per glass, or use one Splenda Quick Pack for the entire pitcher, if you don't want to use sugar. I use the granulated Splenda in the large bag, about 3/4ths cup is enough for me.

6. If you like lemon in your tea, try making ice cubes out of lemonade to use in the individual glasses. As they melt, they will infuse the tea with lemon flavor! {a tip from Susan of our Facebook Family!}

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com

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