How can I make store quality sweet tea at home?

I really enjoy store-bought sweet teas such as Gold Peak and Pure Leaf but I would really like to learn how to make great quality sweet tea at home. I know I could just add sugar to individual glasses or buy some sort of premade mix perhaps, but what preparation method would get me closest to the great-tasting bottled tea to keep in a jug at home?

  Topic Food and Drink Subtopic Cooking Tags beverages homemade iced tea recipe how-to
2 Years 1 Answer 868 views

Jessica Moore

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  1. J Starr 4425 Community Answer

    First, you have to find a tea leaf you like and then what type of processing makes which type of tea-  like coffee beans, different strains of tea leaves have different flavors, and different processing is used for each flavor.  In the US, everyone knows Lipton, which was originally made from processing black tea, white tea, green tea and oolong; the current "recipe" is supposedly not available to the public.  But you have to know which tea you like in order to get the end flavor you want.

      https://mansatea.com/blogs/learn/types-of-tea

    Having lived in the Southern US for a good part of my life, I can tell you that Southern Sweet Tea is made a specific way: The tea bags (Lipton or Luzianne's) are steeped to the point of having been stewed.  Every blasted particle of flavor is gotten out of those tea bags.  Then sugar is added- about a full cup per gallon of tea.  It is strong and sweet.  Lemon is NOT added; if someone is so sissified they want lemon in their tea, a squirt outta a plastic lemon kept in the fridge is more than enough.  We don't want to encourage these people.

    The stuff is delicious- poured over a glass full of ice cubes, the outside slippery with condensation, it is like sipping pure air conditioning.  Nothing quenches your thirst on a hot and way too humid day than a glass of cold-cold Sweet Tea.

    So, I learned how to make it, but it turned out my tastes ran a bit differently.  I like Sun Tea- which is made with tea bags of whatever you like, placed in a clear glass jar full of water, covered, and placed in the sun for an hour or two-  according to where you live.  Here in Arizona, Sun Tea can be made in about 30 minutes.

    And I do not like my tea quite as sweet as Southern Sweet Tea, but I don't like it plain, either.  I like lemon in it, sparking the tea with its brightness, but I don't like it too tart.  What to do, what to do?

    Herbal teas-  that's the ticket!

    Celestial Seasonings makes a terrific Lemon Zinger (with lemongrass, hibiscus and rosehips) and I toss two double-satchets of Lemon Zinger in with four family-size Tetley tea bags,  add a gallon of water and give it a bit.  When it is dark and I can smell the lemon, I squeeze the bags out, and add about two-thirds cup of sugar, stir and tuck it into the fridge.  I have done the same thing with Raspberry Zinger to make a refreshing raspberry tea.  CS has a luscious Country Peach herbal tea, too, but it is harder for me to find here.

    However, one thing that will stop your tea from tasting like that store-bought stuff is that, at home, we do not process our tea in the same manner.  Store bought teas are shelf-stable; that means they have been pasteurized, or heated to an uncomfortably high temperature to kill off any potential germies.  It changes the flavor a little; if you have ever tasted European Heinekin and then the stuff exported to the US, you will understand what I am saying.  It isn't that it is bad, it's that it is different-  less flavorful, in a way.  And that's what happens with store-bought and homemade teas.

    However, and this is just me, I would take homemade over store bought any day of the week- especially now, in summer.  We're topping out at 102 today;  a glass of icy-cold, lemon-brightened tea is going to go down really, really good this afternoon.

    UTC 2021-06-19 02:23 PM 2 Comments

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