Perfect Southern Sweet Tea Recipe (2024)

Comments

• Christina Broyles

  Can you explain the baking soda? Never heard of adding it to sweet tea.

  • Budget Savvy Diva

    Question about Baking Soda

    Baking soda takes any of the bitterness out of your tea. It really makes the taste smoother in my opinion 🙂

• Trixie

  This is how I make my tea except I sweeten with that horrible death-inducing product, Splenda. Haha. It turns out perfect every time.

  For anyone curious about the baking soda – it’s purpose is to cut the acid from the tea. You can’t taste the baking soda and your tea is wonderfully smooth every time. (This works with coffee too – allowing you to buy the less costly ground coffee and still enjoy it without the bitter aftertaste).

• Faith

  Have you tried the baking soda with un-sweet tea?

• angie

  Ummmm…I’m from NC and we don’t use baking soda. I use 3 family sized bags for a gallon. It’s never bitter.

  • Kelly Bowden

    I hear ya girl.. Im from Ga and baking soda gets no where near my tea either.. LOL

• Tracy

  You can eliminate the bitterness by not squeezing the tea bags. When you do it releases bitterness into the tea. Mine comes out perfect every time.

• Carol

  I agree with Tracy and never squeeze the teabags to avoid the bitterness. I also only steep it for 5-7minutes to avoid bitterness.

• Kelly Bowden

  Born and raised in the south and we don’t put baking soda in our tea.. LOL

• OcalaMom

  Southern girl here; we make sun tea and don’t use baking soda. Just 3 family size tea bags per gallon and an afternoon of sunshine. And yep – don’t squeeze the tea bags afterwards.

• Jennifer

  I’m from Tennessee and I have never heard about baking soda in tea. We make it with the same ingredients but without the baking soda. I microwave the tea bags in my tea bowl of water until it’s boiling. Then I pour the sugar using a funnel into an old milk jug. We then pour the tea after cooling some into the jug and shake to make the sugar dissolve thoroughly. I like to put the jug in the freezer for a few hours and get icy. The frozen tea is like having ice cubes in your drink but the ice is made of tea so it doesn’t really get watered down. My grandmother uses a hint of lime or lemon juice that she mixes in the tea after boiling it. I like it both ways.

• Andrea (quest for delish)

  I’ve been making Ice Tea for quite some time but I am dying to try this recipe. I found it on pinterest and looking forward to giving it a try.

• Gayle

  My mother-in-law taught me to make sweet over 30 years ago. Her secret was baking soda. Whenever I make tea for others, it gets raves. Just a pinch or two per gallon. The baking soda also draws more tea out of the tea bags. I use 4 regular tea bag and 1 cup of sugar per gallon. My mother-in-law is from rural Alabama.

• LindaR

  Interesting. Baking soda ? In tea ? I’ve never heard of this but I’m willing to give it a try. My mother used to add a pinch of baking soda to her spaghetti sauce.

• Irene

  o.m.g.!!!! thank you for this recipe! I tried it yesterday, and i have to tell you that it tastes just like McD’s sweet tea!!! No more Crystal Lite for me!

  • Budget Savvy Diva

    Enjoy!

• Kris

  I’m not from the south but I love sweet tea. I make mine in my Mr Coffee iced tea maker,except in the summer when I can use my sun jug. My tea tastes like what I get in the south,so I can’t imagine if I could make it better!
  I wonder how I could do the baking soda in my tea maker? How much I’d need and where to add it. I may have to play around with it!

  • Bri

    I have the same tea makes.

    Sprinkle the baking soda over the tea bags in the filter tray, that way when the hot water drips through, it’ll desolve it or “cook” it and then make sure to stir really well when the tea is in the pitcher over the ice.

• Klarissa

  I grew up in southeastern North Carolina and my grandma and great-grandma always used baking soda in their tea! You really don’t taste it at all. I guess it’s all a matter of opinion 🙂

• Sandy

  I’m from the South and worked in a restaurant in my teens. I had the tea making job and we always used baking soda. The owner told me it keeps the tea from souring, we always made 6 gallons every night before we shut down. That’s what I always thought it was for. 🙂

• Andrea (Quest for Delish)

  Thanks for posting such a great recipe. I have made it several times and love this tea. I love it so much I just blogged about it. Come by and check it out.
  http://questfordelish.blogspot.com/2012/10/sweet-tea-ii.html

• Mariva Gonzalez

  I use Lipton Cold Brew tea bags….4 bags w 2 cups sugar for a pitcher of Sweet Tea…i get lots of compliments

• Kellie

  Born and raised in Georgia. Always used baking soda in our tea, never squeezed the bags. Makes the tea nice and smooth, keep it from souring. The way my momma made it and the way my granny made it. Our secret is Luzianne tea bags though 😉 It might not be the way some of you ladies make it from down here, but my husband and my boys love it and that’s all that matters!

• Pam

  Baking soda helps prevent tea from getting cloudy. Great recipe..Thats how I make mine.

• Christine

  I have got to say I was very skeptical about putting baking soda in my sweet tea. I even asked all my southern FB friends if they had ever heard of it or tried it. Some had and some thought I was nuts. But, after tonight…I’ll never doubt you again. I used the cheapest nastiest store brand tea bags tonight and tried your baking soda tip, the tea is so smooth and yummy! I’ll never make sweet tea without it again. Thanks again!

• Kathie S.

  Wow, I never would have thought of baking soda. As soon as I finish this jug I have now, I will be trying the baking soda trick. Thank you.

• AJ

  Great ideal. My mother-in-law did this and I do also Thanks fot sharing.

• Bri

  I believe Baking Soda in tea might have been a Texas or Louisiana thing?

  Either way, many restaurants and chains do baking soda. It’s a southern thing for sure (as that’s where I learned of this), but long forgotten by many I think.

• Angela O

  I have never used baking soda in my tea. I use Lipton and love it. I wouldn’t recommend steeping the tea bags in the sauce pan because it will stain it. I steep right in my pitcher so I only have one item stained, but it is my dedicated tea pitcher. Here in the south you need one if you gave to make a gallon of tea every few days.

• Cyndy

  Going to try this, my husband and I love sweet tea.

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• Sharan

  Too much sugar for me! More like 1/2 cup. I do think I’ll be giving this receipt a try.

• Broompilot

  My goodness! Its a PINCH of baking soda! Y’all ladies actin’ like it asks for a dang cup!?! LOL The tea turns out perfect just like it always has… Bet Y’all HAVE had it with the baking soda and just didn’t know! lolol! Oh Lawdy Bless your hearts!

• Loretta Hartman

  Why the Baking Soda?