I grew up in Louisiana and was lucky enough to spend a lot of time at my grandparent’s house. One thing you could always count on was being served a glass of my Mamaw’s famous southern sweet tea as soon as came in the door. Mamaw June was famous for her buttermilk biscuits, baked ham, purple hull peas, sweet pickles, banana pudding, mayhaw jelly, and sweet tea among other things. She was renown for her cooking and hospitality. Here’s a post for my baking powder biscuits that describes her buttermilk biscuit recipe.

Here you can see a photo of Mamaw in her kitchen and the stoneware pitcher she used to make tea. I inherited it from her and it’s one of my prized possessions. Before Mamaw , it belonged to her mother-in-law Katie. I love having something with such a long family history. By the way, we will all have to call her Mamaw, I’m afraid she would haunt me if I just called her June. Those southern grandma’s weren’t to be disrespected!

Mamaw June’s sweet tea method

She bought Lipton’s loose leaf tea at the Piggly Wiggly and she would boil the tea in an old Corningware tea kettle like this. After letting the tea leaves boil for a few minutes, she would strain it into Grandma Katie’s stoneware pitcher. Then she would refill the tea kettle with water and repeat the process until the pitcher was full of concentrated tea. Next she would add a shocking amount of sugar and stir to dissolve it in the hot tea.

That syrupy sweet tea would be divided between 4 Tupperware pitchers, avocado green and harvest gold of course, and topped up with water. They would be ready and waiting in the fridge for anyone needing some iced tea after being out in the Louisiana heat. The tea she made was as dark and sweet as coca-cola, you could barely see light through the glass!

My Southern Sweet Tea method

I make my tea quite a bit different from Mamaw June’s. For one thing I only make iced tea in the summer. Since I’m not supplying glasses of tea for lots of family and neighbors who drop by every day like she was, I make a much smaller amount. I also make a concentrate that is easy to store in the refrigerator. When anyone wants a glass of tea, they pour the concentrate over ice and add water. This lets you make your tea as strong as you like. The main difference is the amount of sugar. I use a quarter of a cup in a gallon of tea. My guess is that Mamaw used about 1 cup per gallon.

Southern Sweet Tea Recipe

1 quart fresh water
3 quart size tea bags, regular or decaffeinated
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Bring the water to a boil in a tea kettle while you gather your jar, tea bags, baking soda, and sugar. Put the tea bags and baking soda in a quart size mason jar. I use decaffeinated tea, use whichever type and brand of tea you prefer.

Ingredients and supplies to make southern sweet tea. Vertical.

Baking soda and a Blue Willow sugar bowl by a quart jar with tea bags in it.

Why the baking soda?

The baking soda helps neutralize some of the acid in the tea. Another helpful reason to add baking soda is that it amplifies the flavor of the sugar. You will need to experiment with the amount of baking soda and that you add. Too much will give the tea a soapy or bitter taste. For a quart of tea concentrate with 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda is perfect.

Brewing the tea

Once your water is boiling good, carefully pour it over the tea bags and baking soda. This is where it’s best to use a mason jar. Since they are made of tempered glass and designed for canning, it’s safe to pour boiling water into. Never use a drinking glass or untempered glass for this, it could crack or shatter.

Pouring boiling water from a kettle over tea bags in a jar to make sweet tea.

Pouring boiling water over tea bags in a jar to make sweet tea.

The tea bags will float to the top of the jar. Gently press them down into the water a few times with a spoon. You don’t want to rip a tea bag and get a bunch of tea leaves in the water. If this happens, you can strain the tea into a second jar after it brews. This is what you would do if you wanted to use loose leaf tea. You would follow the same procedure and strain the tea into a clean jar. I’m going for simple here so I like using tea bags.

After you stir the tea bags and push them down under the water a few times, cover the tea with a lid or small saucer to steep. I let it steep for 10 minutes. This is longer than the package recommends but it lets the tea fully brew and makes a more concentrated tea. Below you can see how much darker the tea is after stirring compared to just after the water was added.

Pushing tea bags down in boiling water in a quart jar to make sweet tea.

Tea brewing in a quart jar covered with a small plate on a kitchen countertop.

Strain the tea and add sugar!

After the 10 minutes is up, it’s time to strain the tea and sweeten it. I like to use a mug to press the tea bags in because they will still be really hot. Put each tea bag into a mug or use the saucer you covered the jar with. Press each tea bag firmly to extract all the tea from the leaves. Discard the used tea bags. I add them to my compost so they are not wasted.

Brewed tea in a jar ready to strain by a mug on a kitchen countertop.

Straining tea bags into a jar of tea concentrate from a mug with a spoon.

When you finish straining the tea bags, add the sugar. Feel free to add more sugar if you like to leave it out entirely if you prefer unsweetened tea. Stir well to dissolve the sugar. It should dissolve very quickly in the hot tea.

I let the tea concentrate cool to room temperature before putting a lid on the jar and storing it in the fridge. You can use it right away too. Fill a glass with ice, I prefer crushed ice, and add as much concentrate as you like. If it’s still hot you don’t need to add water. The hot tea will melt a lot of the ice and dilute the tea. After it’s chilled in the fridge you will want to dilute it with water in your glass. I fill a glass halfway with tea and top it up with water.

Adding sugar to tea in a quart jar on a kitchen countertop.

A glass of ice by a quart jar of concentrated tea on a kitchen countertop.

Variations on Southern Sweet Tea

There are lots of ways you can customize this recipe to make your own special iced tea. The easiest way is to use other varieties of tea bags. I like to use fruit flavored tea, either all of one type or swap out one of the regular tea bags for a flavored tea. The only thing to keep in mind is that you will need more tea bags, 2 or 3 small tea bags in place of the larger quart or “family” size bags.

You can also add mint or other herbs when you steep the tea. I like adding lemon verbena. Hibiscus is another fun addition. It makes beautiful tea with a gorgeous red color. Another option is to sweeten the tea with stevia, honey, agave syrup, or maple syrup. Each of these adds its own characteristic flavor. Experiment and see what you like!