I’m a southern man born and raised, and I run on sweet tea. Lately I’ve been experimenting with lowering the amount of sugar (or splenda) I make it with. What I’ve found is that I like the reduced sweetness, but tea bags are so low quality and bitter that I need the sugar to cover it up. Cold brewing and adding a pinch of baking soda help a lot, but I still want more. I think a higher quality tea is going to get me the flavor I’m looking for. So, any suggestions on any part of the process are welcome! What teas to try, brewing methods, etc. Less caffeine is better, I have a lot of heart failure in my family history so I try to minimize caffeine intake.
Get a loose leaf variety. Tea bags use lower quality tea. My grandmother made an iced earl grey and it was so good, I didn’t need sugar. Just a lemon wedge and it was delicious.
Have you tried making sun tea? It generally is not bitter or cloudy but it takes a bit of time. As for the sweet - get some bottles of Torani simple syrup and pump to flavor as you make a glass.
This is a top tier comment. I am a tea enthusiast and as I explained recently; sun tea never gets close to boiling (under most circumstances). It’s difficult for it to become bitter without external forces. I can make a batch of sweet sun tea for the boyfriend and it’ll be gone in no time.
I’ve seen some reports that sun tea spends too long at unsafe food temps. That’s why I cold brew in the fridge instead. I had not considered using a premade, flavored simple syrup instead of doing it myself. I’ll definitely look into that.
I’m not sure how you’re doing it but using more teabags for less time in hot water will give you better flavor intensity without the more bitter tannins leeching out.
Try boiling your water, add an extra teabag from your normal amount, and then only steep the tea in it for like 3-4 minutes and see how you like that. I like both liptons or roses tea (just normal versions), neither of which are high quality but are widely available and cheap, with this method.
Yea, longer steep = more bitter. Same with coffee.
I know nothing about southern sweet tea, but here are few things I know:
If the tea leaves are broken, like in tea bags, the tea will get bitter more easily. Try getting some good quality whole leaf tea.
There is no such thing as low caffeine tea. Only less tea. Some brands/producers might make claims about the caffeine content of their tea, but as far as I know, there is no way to grow low caffeine tea.
Tea contains considerable amount of oxalates. If you or someone in your family has problems with kidney stones, you might want to keep your daily tea intake within safe limits.One thing you might want to try is grandpa style brewing. Grandpa style brewing means, you put some tea leaves in a big mug or bottle and you keep refilling it with water as you drink from it. Many kinds of teas (green, white, black, etc.) can work for this type of brewing, but you might need to use less leaves as you would when brewing some other way.
I am not southern, so take what I say with that in mind. As for the tea, I like to use Celestial Seasonings’ Caffeine Free Herbal Tea with Roasted Chicory. It is naturally caffeine free, but it is also not “tea”.
Before I started using that I used Alton Brown’s recipe. The one I used to use called for Lipton tea bags (from what I recall, it has been over a decade).
I usually use Luzianne or Lipton, but I had good results with one — and it kills me to say it was a Shark Tank product — called Y’all Sweet Tea. They sell unsweetened (and flavored) bags in caffeinated and decaf, and I remember the brewing instructions were really specific. I drink a lot of unsweetened, and was pretty impressed with how it came out. Caveat: it’s direct-order only, and it’s pricey.
Another, if you can find it from a restaurant supplier, is called Paradise Tea. Not sure if it comes in decaf. It’s unsweetened and has a tropical flavor that you may not even want to throw sugar on. Bags are presized for gallon brewing.
Lastly, if you like mint, Republic of Tea makes a loose-leaf Moroccan mint (green, less caffeine) that’s great for cold brewing. I usually cut it to 1/4c and add 1/2c other brand loose-leaf Moroccan mint for the measurement to save on cost while maintaining a strong enough mint flavor (most brands are really weak).
Happy brewing!
I’ve heard of Y’all, if memory serves it was actually founded not too far from where I grew up. I was wondering if it’s actually decent or just marketing hype. Maybe I’ll get a bag and see if the flavor justifies the price. I go through the stuff like water though, so it may end up being too much regardless.
Baking soda?! I found alkaline water gave terrible results, do you add it after brewing?
Yes, after brewing. And literally just a pinch, 1/4 teaspoon at most. It’s supposed to reduce cloudyness and slow the effect of getting more bitter with time. This was strongly recommended by a number of brewers, so I figure there’s got to be some merit to it.
Still sounds strange but I’ll try it out ; )
To minimize bitterness with a fast brew as others have mentioned, try out CTC black tea, it’s machined (“crush-tear-curl”) tea that comes in a coarse powder/pellet form and extracts completely and quickly due to enormous surface area. You’ll be sure to find it some an Indian grocery store. Brooke Bond Red Label, Lipton Yellow Label, and Wagh Bakri are the names I remember seeing, IIRC I’ve tried all of those and they’re all about the same. Terrible sounding process name but give it a chance!
I like green tea
Depends on if you are after the caffeine or a cool, refreshing drink. Most decent herbal teas ice up very well. Adding one to regular Ceylon tea can sweeten it up depending on what you picked.
Personally we use Pukka but there are others. Don’t want to drop any links as the more generic ones were all Amazon but a quick search should get you going.
Ignorant european here: what is the classical recipe for sweet tea? I would love to try it.
Hard to go wrong with Alton Brown’s recipe. Luzianne is the most popular brand. Another popular method (and simpler) is to make a concentrate by steeping about 6 tea bags in half a gallon of water, adding a cup of sugar after removing the bags, and mixing in another half gallon of water. Serve cold or over ice. Note that a full cup of sugar makes it pretty strong, if you’re not used to it you may want to ease off. If using raw sugar instead of a simple syrup it must be added while the water is still hot, or it won’t dissolve properly!
Also, if you make big batches to store, I recommend to add sugar to each serving rather than the main batch. Everyone can sweeten to their preference and the main batch will last longer without souring. I find sweetening with a simple syrup to be easier than using granulated sugar.
If no more sugar will dissolve I’d take that as a sign that it’s time to stop adding sugar. I mean, the water is saying so.
I can’t wait to do it. Well… I might way for spring but I’m expecting it already. Thanks !
Loose leaf and cooler longer brewing. I’m just going through my first box of loose leaf and I’ll never bother with tea bags again. Not only does it taste better but it’s cheaper.
Is it really cheaper? I thought the bags were the cheapest it gets since they’re so low quality, I was expecting to spend a good bit more on loose leaf.
It can be, the tin I have was $15 on Amazon for 16oz. I got it in September and still have half of it, I would have already used a couple boxes of bagged tea by now.
