Awesome Iced Tea Recipes Southern Style

Here are some really good recipes for iced tea you can make at home. These are just a few recipes that I like, and thought of sharing with you. I hope you like these.

Typical Southern Sweet Iced Tea

6 large tea bags

¼ teaspoon of baking soda

4 cups of boiling water

2 to 3 cups of sugar

12 cups of cold water

You will need a container that you don't mind steeping tea in that can be covered. Place the tea bags in it along with the baking soda, and measure out four cups of boiling water to pour over them. Cover and allow to steep for around 20 to 25 minutes for strong flavored tea. Once that is done take out the tea bags, and don't strain them. Pour the mixture into a gallon pitcher and mix in the sugar. If you are diabetic Splenda is okay to use. Make sure you know how to convert it. Add in the cold water after the sugar is well diluted.

Home Made Raspberry Iced Tea

1 cup of raspberry leaves

¼ cup of raspberries

2 cups of boiling water (for half a gallon)

6 cups of cold water

Bring water to a boil and pour into a half gallon pitcher over the raspberry leaves. Cover and allow to steep from 10 to 15 minutes. Steep longer for stronger tea. Either use a juicer to get the juice from the raspberries or squeeze out the juice as best you can into the hot mixture. It doesn't take much to add more flavor to the tea mixture. Pour in the cold water to dilute the mixture. Pour over ice in glasses or cups.

Blackberry Iced Tea

1 1/2 cups of blackberry leaves

1/3 cup of blackberries

2 cups of boiling water (for half a gallon)

6 cups of cold water

Boil water and pour into a half gallon pitcher over the blackberry leaves. Cover and steep from 15 to 20 minutes. You can either put in the berries into the mixture or somehow extract the juice from them. I prefer using a juicer. Add cold water to the mixture. Pour over ice in glasses or cups.

The basic and best essentials in making your own iced tea are a quart sized cooking pot with handle and top. If your pitcher is made of plastic or glass, which most are, you may want to steep your tea in the cooking pot with the lid on. If you are going to do this and use leaves from plants, I recommend stainless steel tealeaf eggs to put the leaves into so they don't leave remains in the water. This keeps from having to strain the tea into the pitcher.

As I have mentioned, I like using a juicer for berries and other fruits. I have also upgraded in using Mr. Coffee's iced tea maker, which really cuts the time down in making iced tea. My pitcher with Mr. Coffee's iced tea maker is a half gallon. This is poured into a gallon pitcher to dilute with cold water after mixing in sugar if needed.