Sweet Fancy Moses, This is Some Delicious Southern Style Sweet Tea

Since it’s summer time, I have really been into the ice tea lately. My favorite is sweet tea, and sometimes I will drive through at some place like McDonald’s just to get me some of that. Recently though, I came across an easy recipe for sweet tea on the boards and decided to try making it myself. The photo on Pinterest looks like this:

Ingredients 

• 5 – 8  Family size Tea Bags. (or 12 regular Tea Bags)   
• 1 Quart  (4 Cups) – Boiling Water
• 3 Quarts (12 cups) – Cold Water
• 1 1/2 – 2 (one & a half) – Cups Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon – Baking Soda (this IS the SECRET Ingredient!!)

Directions 

•  Sprinkle baking soda into a gallon-sized pitcher or jar
•  Add tea bags to the pitcher/baking soda  
• Pour boiling water over tea bags
• Cover and allow to steep for 15 minutes

                  

• Remove and throw away the tea bags
• Add Sugar and stir until completely dissolved 
• Add cool water
•  Refrigerate until cold and ready to drink

                   

• Serve over ice

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I was a little skeptical about the baking soda, but I put it in the pitcher.

I used six regular-sized Lipton tea bags, just the standard kind, and let them steep in a quart of boiled water for 15 minutes until the tea was nice and dark.

Then I added a cup and a half of sugar. (I may try this again with an artificial sweetner, however, since the sight of all that sugar at the bottom made me a little worried about the calories.)

After the sugar had dissolved, I added two quarts of the cool water and one quart of ice, thinking that the ice would melt, and I wouldn’t have to wait for the whole thing to cool in the fridge for however long.

And then it was ready to drink! Have to say, it was a sweet slice of heaven. Tastes a lot like that McDonald’s sweet tea I mentioned earlier. It’s the perfect summer refreshment, and it’s super easy to make in a flash.