Sweet Tea

I guess I thought everyone knew how to make sweet tea, but a friend of mine has asked a few times for my recipe.  It's pretty simple!  My friend Morgan and I used to drink a gallon of tea about every three days in college, but I made it much sweeter back then.  So here's how I do it, which is only a slight variation on my mom's method (who is from NY, though you wouldn't guess it except for her disdain for the southern use of Ma'am).  Once I run out of tea bags I'll be switching to loose leaf tea, but until then, I use Red Rose tea- the tea bags aren't individually wrapped, it has a great flavor, and it comes with a random little statue in each box. 

You will need

3 tea bags ($3.95 per 100 tea bags, $3.95/100bags = $.04 x 3bags = $.12)

1/3 cup sugar ($2.99 per 5 lb, $2.99/80oz = $.04 x 2.5oz (1/3cup) = $.09)

water (free)

1/2 gallon pitcher

This is a 2 qt saucepan, but it doesn't really matter the size.

Bring the pot of water to a boil.  Tie the tea bag strings together, and pull off the paper tags.  Once the water is boiling, remove from heat, and add the sugar and tea bags.  Give it a stir, and let it sit until it's cool.  Remove tea bags and pour into pitcher.  Fill the pitcher the rest of the way with cold water and ice.  Stir and refrigerate.

Refreshing!

My mom poured the boiling water into a plastic pitcher and mixed everything in there, but I prefer a glass container which doesn't do so well with rapid temperature changes (plus I just finished reading Plastic-Free, and I'll never put hot things in plastic again!).

Try It

It's a whopping $.21 for a half gallon of tea, or $.42/gallon!

Buy It

Harris Teeter sells sweet tea for $2/gallon.

Verdict

If sweet tea is your thing, definitely Try It!