How to quickly and easily make fresh brewed sweet tea ready in 20 minutes! Perfect Summer drink, and easy to customize as well with different flavors.
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Fresh brewed sweet tea is a staple in my home. It’s so delicious, refreshing and easy to make! And while we drink it year ’round here in Florida, in many other places, it’s a clear staple of Summer time.
How Do You Make Flavored Brewed Tea?
Here I’m showing regular sweet tea, but if you prefer flavored teas, you can brew flavored tea bags instead – I find them to be a little weaker so you may need to add more tea bags. I bought a really lovely blueberry flavored tea last year, and it was perfect!
How Do You Infuse Brewed Tea with Fruit?
If you would like to infuse your tea with fruit, bring your tea to a boil, and turn around, then add in 1 – 2 cups of fruit, steep another 3-5 minutes and strain before placing tea into the pitcher.
You can also drop in a lemon slice or two, or squeeze some lemon in before serving to add a bit of fruity flavor.
What Can You Use as an Alternative to Sugar?
My household prefers white sugar to sweeten tea so that’s what I use, but you can easily substitute 2/3 cup of honey for the sugar. Depending on the flavor of your tea if you’re experimenting with fruits and different flavored tea bags, syrup or brown sugar can also be used.
And if you’re like me, and have to make something a little different for yourself, you can brew up a pitcher of unsweet tea as well – make sure to label it, and serve yourself a glass of half sweet, half unsweet, or sweeten with your favorite sugar alternative – mine is Splenda or the Splenda Sugar Blend.
Fresh Brewed Sweet Tea Recipe:
Yields:
1 Pitcher – 2 Quarts
How Long Does it Take to Brew Sweet Tea?
20 Minutes
What Ingredients Do You Need to Brew Sweet Tea?
- 2 3/4 Cups of Water
- 1 1/4 Cups of Sugar
- 3 Tea Bags – We prefer the Lipton Brand Black Tea
What Else Do You Need to Brew Sweet Tea?
- Small Saucepan
- 2 Quart Pitcher – if you’re a vintage fan, you’ll love these pitchers!
- Spatula for Mixing
Fresh Brewed Sweet Tea Recipe:
Step 1: Fill saucepan with the water – I usually just eyeball half of the pan.

Step 2: I have a dial on my stove that goes up to 9. I put mine on 6. Then, drop of in the tea bags – I strategically place the tabs of the strings so their aren’t laying on the hot ring that way I can grab them later when I take the tea off the stove.

Step 3 & 4: Bring the water to a light boil – this takes about 15-17 minutes…

…Meanwhile, prepare the pitcher by dumping in the sugar. I find the sugar dissolves best when the hot tea is poured over so I don’t let it cool much on the stove.

Step 5: Turn off the stove. Holding the tabs of the bags in one hand…

…pour tea into the pitcher over the sugar. Fill the pitcher about halfway with cold water holding the tea bags under the stream to cool…

…squeeze bags, place under stream again and squeeze once more. Discard tea bags.

Step 6: Mix sugar and tea well.

Step 7: Finish filling the pitcher. Serve warm, over ice or place in fridge for a bit.

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I didn’t realize how easy it is! I need to try this out this summer.
How lovely! I like the idea of infusing the tea with cut fruits. I need to try that.
xoxo
Lovely
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