I'm currently in an awkward transition. I couldn't be more excited for fall; yet I want to hold on to summer. So as I make my gourds for fall, but I also brew sweet tea for summer. I mean... it may be fall, but it's still 80 degrees outside. So that's justifiable, right?
The Tabor family is kind of famous for sweet tea. Growing up, that's all I had. My mom had the perfect recipe. You may be thinking, "how hard is it to screw up sweet tea?" Well, it's easy to make bad tea. Actually, we could always tell if my mom had made tea or if it was my dad. No offense to my lovely father, but he didn't have the magic touch.
As I've grown older, I have started to appreciate different types of tea. It's come to the point that I actually prefer other teas over sweet iced tea. Currently, my go to is Early Grey; but I love a good Moroccan Mint, too.
But then, I came home one day and my mom had changed up her recipe for sweet tea. It had a bit of a twist to it, and I liked it. This is what she did:
Ingredients:
- 2 lipton black tea bags
- 2 earl grey tea bags
- 1 spearmint tea bag
- 1/2 cup sugar
- pitcher
- water (one) 1 quart and (one) 3 quarts
I enjoy this tea a lot because of the earl grey and spearmint... they add an unexpected twist to the normal sweet tea.
Like any type of tea, you first need to fill up your water to boil it. Some put it in the microwave, but personally, I think that's cheating. I like to boil mine on the stove. Since you don't want to be a cheater, put about 1 quart of water on the stove to be boiled.
Don't forget about your tea! I cannot tell you how many times I've let water boil out... I've come to the point that I almost need to set a reminder on my phone that I'm boiling water! Fire hazard right here.
Once the water was boiling, take the water off the burner and brew the tea under a plate. Allow this to brew for 15 minutes.
Next comes the sugar. My mom actually puts more sugar in, but McCallister's kind of ruined sweet tea for me, so I tend to make mine a little less sweet.
(Thanks to my awesome friend, Natalie, for these super cute measuring cups!)
After 15 minutes, take out the tea bags. You don't want bitter tea! Then simply add the tea into the sugar (which is in the pitcher). This is important to do while the tea is still hot. If you let your tea cool too much, the sugar will not dissolve. There is nothing worse than ordering ice tea and adding your sugar while there is ice in the cup! It's just not going to work.
Next, mix and add 3 quarts of warm water to the pitcher. This can be less or more water, depending on how strong you like your tea.
And then put in the refrigerator to cool! It's perfect and great!
Xx,
Alex
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