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Published: May 12, 2019 Last Updated: June 23, 2022
Southern sweet tea doesn't have to be unhealthy!
If you’ve ever lived in the South, you know all about Southern style sweet tea! I grew up in New York, where sweet tea is just regular-old tea with a few sugar packets on the side. When I moved to Tennessee, I was in for a rude awakening. I got a job at a local restaurant, and I couldn’t believe we had to brew two types of tea! “Honey, sweet tea isn’t just unsweetened tea with sugar added,” my boss told me. I did what I was told and brewed the two different teas, and guess what: Southern style sweet tea was so much more delicious than the stuff I grew up with!
Unfortunately, this type of beverage isn’t exactly healthy. I don’t even want to tell you how much sugar we put into the tea at the restaurant! At Skinny Ms., we love reinventing traditional recipes (especially the unhealthy ones). It’s a challenge that we know we can overcome! Regardless of whether or not sweet tea is on your menu, you’re in for a treat with our healthier version of this refreshing summer drink.
The Secret to Good Sweet Tea
I learned this secret later in life, and many of you Southerners probably already know it! If you want good sweet tea, you can’t just add sugar into cold tea. The sugar has to go in while the tea is hot. This allows the sweetness to really absorb into every bit of the tea, ensuring an evenly sweet drinking experience.
As it turns out, you don’t have to use white, refined sugar to make good Southern style sweet tea. We swapped in raw honey, and I think it tastes even better than the original! If you’re following a plant-based diet and don’t eat honey, you could use maple syrup and it’ll be just as good.
The other secret has to do with the temperature of the water. If you boil the tea bags, the tea becomes bitter. No amount of sweetener will make that taste better! Instead, bring the water up to a temperature where itjust starts to steam. When you see the steam come off the top of the kettle, turn off the burner. Then, add the tea bags and allow them to steep.
How Long to Steep Tea
We like to steep our tea bags for 8 minutes for this healthy Southern style sweet tea. This is the perfect point of infusing the tea with antioxidants and keeping the tea at a reasonable strength level. If you prefer a stronger tea, feel free to steep your tea for up to 12 minutes.
Then, once the tea is brewed, add a few mint leaves to give your sweet tea a refreshing finish. You won’t believe that this tea has only 76 calories! Give this recipe a try and let us know in the comments what you thought. We’d love to know if it rivals Grandma’s recipe!
The New Southern Style Sweet Tea Recipe
A delightfully refreshing beverage to cool you down on even the hottest of Summer days!
Review Recipe PIN RECIPE Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes minutes
Total Time 15 minutes minutes
Yield 7 people
Serving Size 8 fl. oz
Cuisine American, Southern
Review Recipe PIN RECIPE Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 cups chilled water
- 6 green tea bags small
- 1/2 cup honey (optional maple syrup)
- 1 lemon sliced
- 8 mint leaves fresh (add to pitcher or individual glasses)
Instructions
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring 2 cups water to the point of steaming, remove from heat and add tea bags. Allow tea bags to steep for 8 minutes.
Remove and discard tea bags, add honey, stir to combine. Add 6 cups chilled water to a half gallon pitcher, next add the tea and stir. Add sliced lemons along with fresh mint leaves. Serve over ice and enjoy!
Note: Never boil tea bags as it makes the tea bitter. You may steep tea up to 12 minutes in steaming water as this allows more antioxidants to be released but will also make the tea stronger.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 8fl. oz | Calories: 76kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Sodium: 1mg | Fiber: 0.7g | Sugar: 21g |
SmartPoints (Freestyle): 5
Keywords Budget-Friendly, Gluten-Free, Kid-Friendly, Plant-Based, Quick and Easy, Vegetarian
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FAQs
Southern-style sweet tea relies on granulated cane sugar, which can be adjusted to taste. Granulated sugar, white or unbleached, works better than water-based simple syrups, which dilute the brew. Don't use just any old water for sweet tea; filtered or spring water eliminates any odd flavors in treated tap water.
Why do Southerners put baking soda in sweet tea? ›
Adding a little baking soda to your tea will clear away any cloudiness left from the mixing process, and it's also thought to cut down on any lingering bitter tastes from the steeping tea bags, leaving your tea clarified and smooth and providing your get-together with one fantastic pitcher of tea.
What is Southern Breeze sweet tea sweetened with? ›
Southern Breeze Sweet Tea is sweetened with sucralose. Besides the sweetener, the only other thing you'll find is real tea leaves in every tea bag of Southern Breeze Sweet Tea. Every glass tastes sweet – Southern sweet and with a flavor that you'll crave glass after glass.
Why you should never throw away tea bags? ›
When you next make a cup of tea don't throw away the old bag because it has many uses that you might not know about. Black tea contains tannic acid and theobromine which removes heat from sunburn so rubbing cold tea water on sore skin will soothe pain. Old tea bags can also be used to flavour rice or pasta.
What do Southerners call sweet tea? ›
Why do people in the Southern United States take their tea with so much sugar in it? 'Sweet tea' in the US South is a black tea mixed with so much sugar, it is at the point of saturation. No more sugar can be added, or sugar will settle out of the tea.
Why is Southern sweet tea so much better? ›
Most Southern “sweet tea” is made with the sweetener in the water. It gives a more natural and well blended flavor to the tea. Most other sweet tea is brewed, then sweetened. This method creates less savory flavor since it is generally brewed using hot water and then the sweetener added after the fact.
Why don't northerners drink sweet tea? ›
It always ended up on the bottom of the glass. Why is it that almost nowhere North of Kentucky serves real sweet tea? One of two reasons: They have no idea how refreshing it is during really hot weather, or they know that sweet tea is invariably cloyingly too sweet.
Why put baking soda in toilet tank? ›
Baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, is a natural substance that neutralizes acids and bases. When used in your toilet tank, it eliminates odors by balancing the pH level. In addition, its mild abrasive nature helps scrub away stains without damaging the tank's surface.
Why put a pinch of baking soda in sweet tea? ›
LPT: A pinch of baking soda makes the smoothest iced tea you'll ever drink. Black tea is often slightly astringent and bitter and it is more pronounced when it's cold. The baking soda reacts with the bitter compounds in the tea and completely neutralizes them, making the tea smooth and light.
What kind of sugar is in Lipton Southern sweet tea? ›
INGREDIENTS: orange pekoe and pekoe cut black tea, sucralose (non-nutritive sweetener), pectin.
We've created a line of funny yet functional teas designed to get you operating at your best so you can keep kicking ass. Our teas are crafted to help guide you through every aspect of the day from getting out of bed, to tackling challenges at work, to unwinding and actually going to sleep on time.
Is Southern sweet tea good for you? ›
Sugar is really detrimental in high doses but in small increments is not as bad for you. The benefits of tea are that they contain antioxidants to prevent cancer, heart disease, obesity, and high cholesterol but sweet tea has so much sugar it may negate some of the healthier benefits.
Why is sweet tea only a Southern thing? ›
Hot tea came first and was popular in the south throughout the 19th century. As well as it becoming easier to find the ingredients needed in order to make tea, the advancement of refrigeration technology in the 20th century also helped hasten the popularization of sweet tea across the south states of America.
What does Southern style sweet tea taste like? ›
This Traditional Southern Iced Sweet Tea is a refreshing home-brewed sweet tea made from black tea and boasts of great hints of lemon and a whole lot of sweetness---just like they like it down south! The perfect drink for the sunniest of days regardless of the season!
Is sweet tea just a Southern thing? ›
Sweet tea is regarded as an important regional staple in the cuisine of the Southern United States and Indonesia. The availability of sweet tea in restaurants and other establishments is popularly used as an indicator to gauge whether an area can be considered part of the South.
