Homemade Sweet Tea

Looking for a refreshingly easy drink? This Homemade Sweet Tea uses only 3 simple ingredients, this whips up quick and tastes amazing.

One of our favorite spring and summertime drinks is Sweet Tea. It is super easy to whip up on your own without having to go out and purchase.

A lot of people don’t realize that it is easy to make and usually head to the store and purchase gallons (we used to) but trust me, homemade is always better.

Some of our favorites we make on our site are Bloody Mary’s, Cherry Limeade and this Rhubarb Slush.

This Sweet Tea only uses 3 ingredients, water, black tea and sugar. Those are it! You really can’t get much easier than that, plus it’s perfect for a warm day.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:

• Super simple to find ingredients make this whip up in a jiffy!
• You can either chill this or pour over ice and serve right away.
• You can easily halve or double the batch to serve more people!

Can I let you in on a little secret? Whenever we serve this, everyone thinks that we purchased it…I know weird right, but then we tell them it’s homemade and they always want the recipe.

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE SWEET TEA, STEP BY STEP:

1. Place 8 teabags in a large measuring cup or pot and pour 3 cups boiling water over the tea bags and let steep for 15 minutes.
2. Pour the sugar into a large pitcher.
3. Remove the teabags from the boiling water, do not squeeze them out and then pour the hot water over the sugar and stir to dissolve.
4. Then add 8 cups cold water and stir to combined.

You really can’t get any easier than this Homemade Sweet Tea Recipe. It is crazy stupid simple! I think we make this at least 5-6 times each summer.

I’m sure that pales in comparison to some of you, but our kids love it, we love it and everyone else loves it.

WHAT KIND OF TEA IS SWEET TEA?

Sweet Tea is usually black tea that has been sweetened with sugar or a simple syrup mixture. It is made while the tea is steeping and hot.

It is then mixed with cold water and usually refrigerated. It can also be flavored with a variety of flavors of your choosing.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ICED TEA AND SWEET TEA?

Both are almost essentially the same, it is a more regional difference between the two and their names.

Sweet Tea is more of a southerner thing, where the tea itself is sweetened with sugar and other flavorings.

In the north there is no sugar added to iced tea, but a lot of people choose to add the sugar. Both of them are served chilled or iced.

In my opinion sweet tea is a lot better than iced tea. I like the sweetness that Sweet Tea has over iced tea, it’s too bland and bitter for my taste.

Some of my other favorite summertime drink recipes include:

1. Homemade Lemonade
2. Strawberry Margaritas
3. Mixed Fruit Punch
4. Lava Flow

These are all fun and easily delicious drink recipe that you can simply make at home. That’s the purpose, is finding easy recipes that you can enjoy from home and don’t have to buy.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

• You can use any brand of tea that you like, as long as it’s black, we use Lipton.
• You can serve this right away over ice, or chill for a few hours and serve.
• You can flavor this with different syrup such as peach, strawberry, raspberry etc.
• You can adjust how sweet you want this by adding more or less sugar.

If you want a delicious drink recipe this Homemade Sweet Tea needs to be made! Simple, easy and addicting!

If you like this recipe you might also like:

• Pineapple Margaritas
• Frozen Berry Slushies
• Raspberry Lemonade Floats

If you’ve tried this HOMEMADE SWEET TEA or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!

Homemade Sweet Tea

Looking for a refreshingly easy drink? This Homemade Sweet Tea uses only 3 simple ingredients, this whips up quick and tastes amazing.

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 0 minutes minutes

Chill: 2 hours hours

Total Time: 2 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 6

Calories: 97kcal

Author: Tornadough Alli

Ingredients

• ▢ 8 Black tea bags
• ▢ 3 cups boiling water
• ▢ 3/4-1 cup sugar add more if you want sweeter
• ▢ 8 cups cold water
• ▢ 1 lemon sliced
• ▢ Ice

Optional garnishes

• ▢ Mint leaves
• ▢ Raspberries
• ▢ Sliced oranges
• ▢ Sliced peaches

Instructions

• Place 8 teabags in a large measuring cup or pot.
• Pour 3 cups boiling water over the tea bags and let steep for 15 minutes
• Pour the sugar into a large pitcher, remove the teabags from the boiling water, do not squeeze them out.
• Pour the hot water over the sugar and stir to dissolve, then add 8 cups cold water.
• Add sliced lemons, or any other fruit you like.
• Fill glasses with ice, pour the tea over the ice and garnish as desired.

Notes

1. You can use any brand of tea that you like, as long as it's black, we use Lipton.
2. You can serve this right away over ice, or chill for a few hours and serve.
3. You can flavor this with different syrup such as peach, strawberry, raspberry etc.
4. You can adjust how sweet you want this by adding more or less sugar.

Nutrition

Calories: 97kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Sodium: 22mg | Sugar: 25g | Calcium: 13mg

Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.

Tried this recipe?Mention @TornadoughAlli or tag #TornadoughAlli!

Nutrition Disclaimer