Southern Sweet Tea

Preparation

Place one quart of water in a pan and bring to a boil. Add the tea bags, cover, remove from the heat and let it steep for 10-15 minutes.

Now, I know that all the tea companies’ instructions say to steep for 3 to 5 minutes. But I’m telling you that most southern cooks will steep at least 15 minutes. Sometimes more. We just want to get all the goodness we can out of those tea leaves! When the steeping time is over I also stir the bags around in the water for a while and then give them a good squeeze before I remove them.

Remove the tea bags, add the sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Now, here’s another thing you need to know. Make sure to add your sugar while your steeped tea is still good and warm. If you try to add sugar to cold water you’ll never get it to go into the solution. Same thing when they bring you some iced tea and two sugar packets in a restaurant. Like two packs of sugar is enough to start with, but you’ll never get that tea sweet enough after the ice has been added. The sugar just won’t dissolve!

Add the additional quart of cold water and stir. Makes two quarts of the prettiest, sweetest tea you ever tasted. Serve the tea over ice. Lemon and/or mint are optional.