Best 5 Southern Iced Tea Recipes

HONEY CITRUS SOUTHERN ICED TEA

Steps:

• Bring 4 cups water to a simmer in a saucepan. Remove from the heat, add the tea bags and let steep for 8 minutes. Remove the tea bags and stir in the honey. Let cool.
• Add the sweetened tea to a pitcher along with 2 cups ice and another 4 cups water; stir. Add the sliced kumquats (if using), key limes and lemon. Pour into glasses over ice and garnish with mint.

SOUTHERN ICED TEA COCKTAIL

Steps:

• Fill a quart Mason jar with ice. Add the rum, vodka and gin, lemon juice or lemonade, iced tea and simple syrup. Stir thoroughly, taste and adjust sweetness if needed; garnish with a slice of lemon and sprig of mint. As always, drink responsibly.

SOUTHERN ICED TEA

Steps:

• Place tea bags in a 2 quart glass pitcher.
• Pour one quart boiling water over tea bags.
• Let this steep for five minutes.
• Remove tea bags from water, and press tea bags gently against the side of the container with the back of a wooden spoon.
• Remove tea bags from container and discard.
• Stir in one cup sugar.
• Add the remaining one quart of water.
• Stir, cool to room temperature.
• Serve over ice.
• If desired, garnish with lemon wedge.
• Note: You may store any leftovers in the refrigerator, but the tea will turn a bit cloudy.
• (This does not affect the taste).
• If you want to take the haziness out of the tea, you may stir in 1/4 cup boiling water per quart of iced tea just before serving.

REAL SOUTHERN ICED TEA

Steps:

• 1. In a saucepan, stir sugar into the 1 quart boiling water until completely dissolved. Remove from heat and place tea bags into this sugar syrup mixture. Allow to steep 5-7 minutes.
• 2. Pour cold water and about 2 cups of ice cubes into a 2 1/2 quart serving pitcher. SLOWLY pour hot tea mixture into the cold water. Stir until ice melts and add lemon slices or mint leaves if desired. Serve in tall glasses over ice cubes.
• 3. All tastes are different. People like sweet tea made with as little as 1/2 cup of sugar, up to a cup and a half - we prefer 3/4 to 1 cup sugar per half gallon. Try different mixtures and make it your own.

SOUTHERN SWEET ICED TEA

Steps:

• 1. In 4-cup micro-safe measuring cup with pour spout (such as Pyrex), heat 3 cups water to boiling in microwave on high. (My microwave takes 5 minutes.) Add baking soda and stir in. *Make sure your water has stopped bubbling before adding or it can bubble over. Add tea bags, holding the strings and tabs, and poke down till all are covered as best you can. Lay tabs over side of glass and place plate or lid on top. Steep for 30 minutes. Remove tea bags to plate. Add 2 cups sugar to measuring cup of tea concentrate. Stir til fully dissolved. 1-2 minutes. **If using a glass pitcher, fill pitcher halfway with cold water, then add tea concentrate, then fill rest of the way full with more cold water. (This prevents your pitcher from breaking from the hot tea!) Place pitcher in refridgerator to chill. Serve over ice with fresh lemon wedges and mint sprigs if desired. Makes a perfect pitcher every time! Enjoy!