How to Make Southern Style Iced Tea

Forget that powdered and instant garbage! True satisfaction and quenched thirst comes from fresh, homemade iced tea made with this time-honored traditional method that has its roots in the US South.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Family-sized tea bags
• A heat source
• A 2 qt saucepan
• Clean water
• A stirring spoon
• A gallon glass container, preferably with a dispensing nozzle
• Sugar or artificial sweetener of choice

1. Fill the 2 quart saucepan halfway with water and bring it to a boil. Don't boil the teabags, but let the boiling subside slightly after taking it off the heat.

2. Add four family-sized tea bags to the water. Make sure they're family sized because it would take sixteen standard teabags to provide the same yield. Allow the tea to steep for about five minutes, giving an occasional gentle stir. Also, tea bag selection is important. Make sure you're using black pekoe or just plain black tea. Luzianne is a good brand to use for iced tea.

3. Remove and discard the tea bags, then add approximately 1 cup of sugar, give or take 1/4 cup to taste. If you'd like to use an artificial sweetener, I recommend a saccharin-based sweetener. Since it's more concentrated than table sugar it can take as little as 1/4 cup. Stir tea mix until sweetener is completely is dissolved.

4. Fill gallon glass jar halfway with cold water then carefully pour in the tea mix. Add more cold water to make a gallon. Be sure to add cold water to your jar first because pouring a hot liquid directly into your jar can crack it.

5. Refrigerate and/or serve. The lukewarm tea can be added directly to ice and served fresh, but I recommend "aging" the tea by chilling it for 24 hours before serving. This allows the flavor to develop and become a bit deeper.

Tips & Warnings

• Things you can use to sweeten your tea are only limited by your imagination. Raw sugar, honey, blue agave syrup and concentrated fruit juices are just a few.
• Try adding liquid or powdered ginseng extract to taste.
• Obviously, all of the usual warnings apply when you're working with a stove and heat.
• DO NOT add hot liquid directly to a glass jar. Fill it halfway with cold water first to prevent it from cracking or shattering.

[respectfully]

on 9/8/2009 I like ice tea over anything to drink. THANKS 5*rec