Homemade Iced Tea
- 6 to 8 tea bags
- 1 quart hot water (4 cups)
- 1 quart cold water (4 cups)
- 1/2 cup sugar or 1/4 cup honey, optional
Iced tea is one of those delicious flavors that just makes the summer time seem worth while. It has all of the caffeine of soda pop, but with none of the artificial bubbly junk that feeds nameless corporations and their ilk. Iced Tea is natural, honest, and infinitely cheap. If your tastes run towards the exotic, and away from caffeine, then try your favorite herbal tea on ice. Brisk and refreshing, it will open up new avenues of beverage exploration.
Get out a 2-quart size sauce pan. Put the hot water in it and bring it to a boil. Add the tea bags. Remove the pan from the heat, and allow it to steep for 10 minutes. No more, no less. Set the timer. If the tea sits for too long, it will extract bitter elements from the tea leaves, making the finished product taste horrible. If it doesn’t sit long enough, it won’t be strong enough to give you the caffeine jolt which iced tea was designed for. When the time is up, remove the tea bags and blithesomely toss them into the garbage, they have served their purpose. Put the cold water into a 2-quart size pitcher. Pour the hot tea into the pitcher, over top of the cold water. You put the cold water in first, because the hot tea could melt the pitcher, seeing as it is so hot. The cold water acts as a buffer, and cools the tea. Add the sugar or honey if you like, stirring to dissolve it completely. Put the pitcher into the fridge to cool. Or it can be poured directly into an ice filled cup.
I like iced tea strong, so I use 8 tea bags. I buy the boxes of 100 tagless tea bags, usually a store brand, for about $1 a box. This makes 2 quarts of tea at a cost of 8¢! I don’t add sugar to mine, preferring it unsweetened. But that is a personal choice, and lots of folks like it with added sugar. The nicest thing about this recipe is that it makes perfect iced tea every single time.
If you liked this recipe, take a look at my ginger tea mix. It’s another frugal drink recipe from my extensive collection.
The Hillbilly Housewife Recommends – Dining On A Dime
The Dining On A Dime Cookbook is packed with over 1,200 money saving recipes and tips, kids tips and snack ideas, gift baskets, menus, food storage directions, Cleaning Cents and Pretty for Pennies. The recipes are easy to cook with ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry. To make shopping easy and economical, it also includes a pantry list and a shopping list.
Order your copy today at http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/dime
Pretty much the same way I make my iced tea, and it has always been our favorite beverage here in Texas… two comments: 1) Back in the 50′s my mom always said putting the hot brewed tea into the cold water prevented clouding the tea (I’ve never experimented, though). 2) For more frugality, try putting the spent teabags into the compost heap (if you are a gardener). I used to use loose-leaf tea and always poured cooled, spent tealeaves around the flowerbeds and veggie plants.
Great tip on using the tea bags in the compost. I also like to put the warm bags on my (closes) eyes. It is very soothing and of course the bags can still go into the compost when you’re done.
I have used this recipe time and again and love my iced tea!!! I have a diet coke addiction but this Iced Tea can hold me over just fine. I usually use less sugar and use part Splenda and part real sugar.
I have found that adding a little baking soda to my tea (after it has cooled down to room temp) takes all the bitterness out even if you let it brew a long time. I add about 1/8 teaspoonful per gallon. I was never able to drink tea without sugar until I started doing this. Also, less sugar is needed if you like sweet tea. A word of caution though… don’t add too much baking soda. It will ruin the tea.
@Greg:
I have also heard that baking soda is good for your body if you are “out of balance.” Now, I don’t know if its quality research or “junk science,” but I read it in a women’s wellness newsletter I get from a medical doctor, who purports that baking soda can help you lower the acidity in your body and help make you feel better when you just don’t feel good or are out of sorts.
Plus, I drink unsweetened tea often, although I’d say not for the caffeine but for the thirst-quenching qualities. I do drink the decaffeinated on the recommendation of my doctor, but I sure don’t like it as much! I buy Tetley British Blend or Luzianne, usually, because I just love my tea and they are excellent teas, not because they’re cheaper – although they both print coupons, often in inserts and sometimes online.
I currently prepare iced tea a variation of the old-fashioned way: I put the 8 tea bags in a coffee filter basket in my Bunn coffee maker, which will run near-boiling water over them in just three minutes. I use 6 cups of water for those 8 bags, as I like it strong, too. I pour the freshly-brewed tea over a full pitcher of ice. If I am sweetening it for someone, I will only do that while hot, adding to the ice in the pitcher afterwards. It just tastes best that way. However, I will have to check out the above method and see which I like best!
I have been using banking soda in ice tea for years – guess I have been using more than necessary, though. Happy to see it in print so my friends don’t think I just made it up.
Baking soda changes your ph, so I would think if you feel out of sorts it might do the trick.
I have found that if you squeeze the bags you get a bitter taste in the tea. So now I just tip them a couple different directions and let them drip, then toss them in the trash. However, now that we are being more frugal, I have started slipping them into a zipper bag and sticking them in the fridge for another pitcher. True, you have to let them steep longer to get the same flavor but its 2 pitchers for the price of one. This might not be as high a priority if you are getting your tea for $.01 a bag, but I *really* like Lipton’s Cold Brew bags and they are NOT a penny each! Doing this lets me get a little more out of my tea. I figure if I can get 24-30 gallons of tea out for $3.00 that’s significantly cheaper than soda pop, and tea is good for us too. I had never heard about the baking soda, but I usually put the sugar in the pitcher, add the hot tea base (to melt the sugar) and then add the cold water. I can’t say I have noticed the tea being cloudy, though it usually doesn’t last long enough to really notice! LOL
We have a separate coffee pot just for tea. We put one family size tea bag in the basket, fill the water column to the top and have a whole pot of tea in less than ten minutes. Those who want it hot can have it hot, the rest goes into a sturdy Tupperware pitcher to cool. Just the right strength and never bitter. It makes almost exactly two quarts. I am actually addicted to tea,lol. I grew up in the South. We always had tea in the fridge when I was growing up.
I make this ice tea as well except i add lemon, half a lemon squeezed, and the other half sliced and placed in…takes the bite out too…
It has been a few years since I made iced tea at home but have gotten back into making some about a month ago. I didn’t realize how much I missed my iced tea. I have taken to adding about a cup of orange juice to my pitcher of tea to switch up the flavor now and then.
I grew up with the “soda” in tea to stop th cloudyness. also we make a simple syrup (Meld sugar in Hot water) and keep in the “ice box’ to add for people who like sweet tea. I like mine as is.
used tea bags are also good for cleaning mirrors and windows
I’ve started drinking a lot of ice tea, mostly as a substitute for diet pepsi which i’ve decided to stop drinking. Thanks for the method!
@ Thrifty Soul,
I’m totally on board with the strong tea over ice. I fill a 2-quart tea pot half-way or so with hot water from the kettle, allow it to steep, and finish filling the teapot with cool filtered tap water.
I am a big fan of PGTips, which I do buy on-line. In fact, I have subscription at Amazon.
@kitty,
I routinely keep fresh simple syrup in the refrigerator for my hummingbird charm. I make it every other day! I imagine I could use that to sweeten a guest’s tea…
LOVE sweet tea! But you have to add to the sugar to the hot tea before you add it to the cold water – that way your sugar dissolves completely and adds that magic “syrupy” sweetness. :sigh: time to go make a fresh pot.
This is pretty much the way that I grew up with tea in Texas. Now that I’m a frugal wife of a Pastor though we don’t throw away our tea bags. Save them and either (as someone said above) freeze and use them again or tear them open and sprinkle on your flowers to keep the bugs away. Also on a side note coffee grounds will drive away fire ants if you sprinkle on top of them and around them. Thank you to the poster of this recipe and also the comments…this is a really neat site.
Thank you all for the tips on making a good pitcher of tea, I’ve made my own for many years but hadn’t ever heard of adding a bit of soda to take out the bitterness. I’ll be sure to try that one out!
When I make a sweetened tea, I make it a little different. I put the water, sugar and tea bags in the saucepan. As the water heats, it dissolves the sugar completely.
I make tea using the same idea. I use 2 Luzianne tea bags. and 1 Lipton Spiced Chai tea bag. This combinations makes a nice flavor.
As for the Luzianne, I buy the family size bag especially for Iced tea. Ilike sweet tea, so add a few drops of sweetener to the glass for myself.
Thanks for these tips, I love to drink ice tea. For me, it is more refreshing than juices.
I grew up with my mom adding a pinch of baking soda to the water when she put tea bags in. I forgot this until a few years ago an older lady mentioned it at a family reunion. She said it brings out the color and flavor of the tea. So ever since then, I’ve been putting just a pinch of baking soda in with my tea bags & water before I microwave it. It does make a difference!
Thanks for the article. I can’t stand weak or watered-down (from melted ice) tea.
I LoveLoveLove Sweet Tea as do my sons and husband. Having a constant supply of tea on hand certainly saves me $$$$. The way I make it provides consistent results and saves me time! I fill a standard size teapot with water and add about a cup of sugar (you can adjust to taste). Put this on the heat and let it come to a rolling boil for 3-4 minutes. Then turn off the heat and add 2 large tea bags (The “family size” bags). Then go live your life. I wait until it cools (about half the time I forget about it and go off to bed leaving it for the next morning!) No matter how long it steeps it will never become bitter. Then I add this *Concentrated* tea to my 2Liter glass pitcher and put about a cup of water into the now empty teapot, let it sit for a minute and top off the pitcher. Now I can fill my skinny 1Liter glass pitcher with Half Tea and Half Water. Doing it this way means my one batch of tea lasts for 2 or 3 days (that’s quite a long while of 4 people drinking constantly).
(Side note: I became concerned with using plastic pitchers considering the potential for heated liquids releasing harmful chemicals so I switched to glass. I can pour piping hot tea into the pitcher without any worries (I do let it cool on the counter to keep from stressing my fridge) and I can pop it into the dishwasher once a week to keep it squeaky clean. Got the larger one at W-mart for about $4 and got a skinny 1Liter at Ross for about $2.
I poured boiling water in a glass pitcher once and it cracked. Disaster. I agree though, that hot water in plastic is baaaddd. Gotta find a way, or a better glass pitcher. Suggestion?
@ Pamela: I learned a trick along time ago from a woman who cans her own homemade spaghetti sauce about pouring hot liquid into glass (for those of you worried about the plastic), put a heavy metal spoon in the glass pitcher before you pour hot liquid in it. I use my glass pitcher for my tea when we have company, and this has never failed me, with any hot liquid.
I learned this trick the hard way when I was a child and making jello for my grandmother. I poured the hot water into one of her nice glass bowls. She is the one who taught me to always use a metal spoon in any glass container when adding something hot. I have carried that with me 40 plus years, and it’s saved me washing containers or bowls when making things for parties, etc. I just use the glass bowl, pitcher or container I will serve the food in when preparing it.. I like to say now, if you aren’t sure… add a metal spoon to it in order to avoid breakage..
I make iced tea in a Pyrex 4 cup measuring cup. I make it 2x strength. Then I transfer it to a nice pitcher that pours better. As long as you don’t put the ice in there first it won’t, or maybe I should legally protect myself and say, it shouldn’t crack. Maybe in your glass pitcher if you “temper” the glass first and use darn hot water and heat up the glass it might prevent that from happening.
We just use hot tap water in a glass jar, it dissolves the sugar and steeps the tea just as making a batch of sun tea.
Love all the hints on tea making.
Other HINTS for the tea bag: If you tear a nail too deep; use super glue and a piece of dry tea bag, smooth it down, dry, then polish. It will not show under the polish and the nail will be potected until it grows out. The string can be use as dental floss and the little tag can be used for a quick bookmark.
I always heard you must start with cold water and bring it to a boil; the original recipe from you says start with hot water and then bring to a boil. Perhaps it makes a difference.
Used teabags can be put in the freezer. When you have tired or puffy eyes just put a teabag over them and it helps immensely.
Even we crazy Canuk’s enjoy our tea, super site for information, thanks
Mr. Coffee makes a tea machine complete with pitcher that does a really good job. Nobody has said anything about “Sun Tea” which only requires a jar filled with water, add tea bags to your taste and set in the sun to brew. It may take four hours or more to complete, but I’ve never had the tea turn cloudy. Tea can also be “brewed” right in the refriberator (if one is so inclined) and this tea doesn’t turn cloudy, either.
We use family-sized plain tea bags for ours, but we always add an extra single-serving bag of Earl Grey. The bergamot makes the tea extra refreshing, but isn’t strong enough to bother people who don’t like flavored tea (my mother hates Earl Grey hot but considers it a necessity for iced tea). We always use decaffeinated tea so the extra little nip is nice.
Mom swears never to boil tea. She has a two-quart pot that she uses for basically nothing else; brings the water to a simmer, then turns off the stove, adds the bags (tying the strings around the pot handle; I cut them off), puts the lid on the pot, and leaves it for several hours or overnight. Once it’s cool, she pours the concentrated tea into the pitcher and dilutes to quantity with clear water. We usually do two, two-quart pitchers’ worth at once, one plain for her and one sweetened for me.
I live in the south and we love Sweet Tea. I fill a sauce pan up 3/4 of the way with hot water (doesn’t matter if it s cold/hot first). Right before it comes to a boil I add a cup of sugar, down here some add more. Stir it really good until it is completely dissolved. Let the water come to a boil. Place three family size tea bags in put and let steep until it gets as strong as you like it. You can save the tea bags to reboil if you want (I only do this if I am making it in my 2 gallon pitcher. Its great I bought it at Big lots for $8 bucks. This is also where I bought my plastic gallon too it came with 4 lg plastic cups the same color!!) I pour the hot tea in the pitcher first and add cold water. This way I know I won’t make it too weak. You add less water if you want to put ice in it. It takes me about 10 mins to make if that. I do it everyday or so its just part of my routine. I guess its a southern thing. You never want to be caught without it cold in the fridge, 9 times outta 10 that’s what my family and guest want to drink. I use luizanna family size tea bags and buy the larger box with 48 and 10 lbs sugar. I usually have to resupply every 2 weeks. Sometimes longer depending on who visits and how much I use the sugar in baking!!!!!
I used to drink Yogi Mother-to-be hot tea with my first pregnancy. Since I found out I’m pregnant again I decided to try it iced. I just made this tea. I used 6 bags of the Mother-to-be tea, and 2 bags of peach tea and it is AMAZING. I wish I would have seen this recipe when I was pregnant the first time!
You can use your teabags as compresses used teabags are good for tired eyes. A tea soaked washcloth is apparently good to leave on an area that excessively perspires, also you could probably use the used bags in a warm foot soak, I heard somewhere tea is good for smelly feet.
I make it in a quart canning jar and add the sugar while it heats, pour it over ice cubes when done or store in fridge.
refrigerator tea does it for me. put two bags in a quart or four in a 1/2 gallon plastic bottle which used to hold juice or a beverage. after 4 hours in the fridge, it’s ready to drink, or chill overnight. No heating water. add lemon juice to your cup if you like. I does stain the inside of a cleat plastic bottle, so after 30 uses in 30 days, you may start on a new container. It’s an inexpensive thirst quencher for summer. $1 boxes of tea may no longer be out there. Even ALDI is charging more than $2. Another recipe: enough apple cider vinegar to make the entire bottom of your cup wet. Fill the balance with chilled water.
Are you adding the apple cider vinegar w/ the iced tea? just trying to understand
I would like a receipe that would make a gallon of tea with lemon and honey, however I don’t know how much honey and lemon juice to add? Any suggestions?
I don’t like plastic tea jugs, as it looks like an oil slick from the plastic or something. I always use glass. I don’t do sun tea, as heard that it’s not healthy & bacteria can form in it. I think it needs boiling or simmered water over it to steep, and so much better. My favorite iced tea is Cain’s brand. Wal Mart carries it usually & if not, just gripe to them & they’ll get it. I’ve drank tea all of my life, day & night, winter/summer. I make it strong & NO sugar & a sliced lemon. Yummy.
how can this be PERFECT iced tea if you don’t know whether to use SIX TEABAGS or EIGHT TEABAGS??!
Really?
I have some stomach troubles and have been doing some research. I see some posts on adding baking soda to the tea. This actually has a health benefit! The baking soda neutralized the tannins in the tea, which can be harmful to the system. I believe this is not just “hearsay”. It’s pretty well proven that tea and coffee contain tannins. That’s what makes it bitter when it sits too long. That’s also why, like the one poster said, adding the baking soda will help to take the bitterness out even if it has steeped too long. So go ahead and add the baking soda! There are very good reasons for doing so! An excellent alternative is just adding a little milk or lemon. It accomplishes the same thing. I can’t drink milk, though, so the baking soda is an excellent alternative for me.
Thanks for the info and the great recipe!
I have a Mr. Coffee Ice Tea maker. It was given to me by a friend. I love it. I am a sweet tea addict. I use Luzianne tea for my sweet tea. I also use organic sugar. It tastes better than regular sugar. My son likes green tea iced tea. When I make that I use Lipton Green Tea. Never heard of using baking soda. I am definitely going to have to try that.
Never heard of Luzianne. Is this a regional item? I live in the NorthEast.
yes
I LOVE a good ICED TEA and have been known to ave a “meltdown” if I have gone too long without any. I have never heard of the baking soda; I will be trying that one! I have used all of the above methods of making tea and cannot really tell you my favorite. I like to add my 1/4 cup of sugar at the beginning of my brew whatever way. I always make a gallon at a time and usually have to make it daily.
Nothing like iced tea to make a day just about perfect. Another special treat to try is substituting brown sugar for white and adding vanilla to taste. With a bit of milk, it makes an iced drink similar to chai tea.
Didn’t the original have 2/3 cup sugar? I think I keep finding little differences in some of the recipes like added salt in the pinto beans before it’s done cooking which I’m certain wasn’t in the original owners recipes(salt before beans finish cooking cause a toughness to the beans)… If that’s the case can I still get the original recipes? I’m not complaining mind you, I just think I would like to stick to what I was using for years, stuck in my ways I guess.
Hi Amanda,
None of the recipes have been changed, but many recipes have been added and may have similar names, so it could get a bit confusing. Also, if a reader submits a recipe and then writes in to change it, we do make the change. I would just say do a search for the recipes you’re looking for and then scroll down to the oldest ones with the title or ingredient in it.
I did look at the pinto bean recipes and there are quite a few recipes for different dishes. You may be referring to the “My Best Pinto Beans” recipe. If so, that has not been changed and I do see it calls for salt to be added during the last 45 minutes of cooking. Many cooks (me included) have found that adding the salt after the beans are cooked is a good idea.
Thank you for asking and for helping clear this up.
I became addicted to a more local company’s iced tea, but at $3 / gallon decided to go back to making my own. I use 8 green tea bags, and 2 regular tea bags. I boil 8 cups of water with about 1/4 of sugar, and 2 tablespoons (plus a “dash”) of natural honey. I let it seep for 20 minutes, then pour over 8 cups of cold water. Tastes great! Interesting to see the baking soda comments way up on this string. Will try that on my next batch!! I live in a condo so no gardens, but interested in trying to use my spent tea bags for glass cleaning.
Just to clear up something: baking soda does not change your pH. Your pH is carefully regulated by your body, whatever you happen to eat. If what you ate or drank could affect your blood’s pH level, you’d die pretty quick. It does bring down the acid level in your stomach, so that’s why it’s used as an ant-acid.
Thank You so much for this recipie! I have had a TERRIBLE addiction to pop since I was in elementary school. I am 31 now & still struggling… Until now! I follow the recipe to a T but use 7 bags. It almost tastes like McDonalds sweet tea to me! Thanks again!
what you gotta do is get a pot of water like 4 cups put 10 tea bags in it and cook it till almost boil, in a gallon jug put a cup of sugar then when the tea is brewed pour that into the jug without tea bags then stir that up great and fill the rest of the jug up with cold water and enjoy