Real Southern Sweet Tea Recipes

Steps:

• Bring 1 quart of water room-temperature to a boil in a saucepan. Pour the boiling water into a pitcher or large bowl, add the loose tea, and let steep for 5 to 10 minutes.
• In the meantime, fill a large pitcher (large enough to hold at least 2 quarts of liquid) with the remaining 1 quart room-temperature water.
• Strain the brewed tea into the pitcher containing the room-temperature water. Discard the tea leaves. Set the pitcher aside.
• In a small nonreactive pot, combine the sugar and cold water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the lemons and remove from the heat. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Strain the lemon-sugar syrup into the pitcher. Discard the lemon slices. Refrigerate the sweet tea until serving time.

Steps:

• In the sauce pan, put the tea bags and fill it up with water, almost to the top.
• Put your eye on 7 (about 1/2 way between med and med-high) Put the sugar into the pitcher.
• Stand over the pot and watch it simmer until it's very very dark, ALMOST the color of coffee.. should take 15-20 minutes. Then once it reaches the right color, turn the eye up to high and allow it to come to a rolling boil. Let it boil for around 4 minutes.
• Remove the pot from the heat and spoon out the tea bags with a slotted spoon. Throw them away. Pour the hot tea (I call it tea concentrate) into the pitcher and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Run cold water into the pot and fill the pitcher up to almost the top. Stir.
• Put the pitcher into the refrigerator and allow it to sit in there at least 24 hours before it's served.
• Pour over ice in a glass and enjoy!