Happy Monday, y’all!
I don’t know what the weather’s been like in your neck of the world, but here in Central Alabama this July has been a HOT one. I’m not a native, but I learned very quickly that one way folks from these parts like to cool off is with a big ol’ jar of sweet tea.
Before moving here, I had never even heard of sweet tea (we had “iced tea” growing up in Minnesota and the stuff I remember (not liking) definitely wasn’t sweet), so today, I thought I’d blog about Kevin’s mom’s easy-peasy method in case someone out there hasn’t ever tried it before now either. Ya never know, right?
Katie starts by boiling half a kettle (or at least 4 cups) of water. Lately, she’s been using her NuWave induction cooktop:
She swears this thing has changed her (cooking) life, and she says she hasn’t used her stovetop since it arrived several months ago. As a matter of fact, she doesn’t even want a stove in the Bungalow Barn. She’s just going to use this “eye” and have a wall oven. The set she purchased actually came with two of these cooktops, but she’s only needed the one so far. Her favorite part is how fast it heats up (it brought the water in the kettle to a full boil in just 5 minutes) and that it’s so compact and portable.
And since we’re on the subject- the only part that gets hot is the part inside the two circles. The outside band remains cool to the touch while things are cooking:
Anywho- back to the sweet tea. After she’s boiled her water, she shuts the eye off and then lowers one family-sized tea bag into the kettle- which she’s had for years and years, by the way. Ever since I’ve known her and long before that, I’m sure. Painted fruit motifs remind me of her wherever I go now. Isn’t it funny how a small household item (especially something from the kitchen) can become a part person like that?
She swirls the bag around in the water a couple of times and then drapes the paper part off to the side so the tea can steep for at least 15 minutes. After that, she puts 3/4 of a cup of sweetener (Stevia, sugar, Splenda- any of them will work) into a 2-quart pitcher. Then, she removes the tea bag from the kettle and pours the hot tea into the pitcher, on top of the sweetener. Last but not least, she fills the remainder of the pitcher with drinking water from her sink and puts the pitcher in the fridge.
Before I left her house the day I snapped those photos, she invited me to sit at the small table in her kitchen so that she could tell me a story about the time she learned how to make sweet tea this way. Click the play button below if you’d like to listen! 🙂
Hope you have a sweet week!
Layla
Amy
That’s how I make it too, but my mama taught me to put a dish towel over the pot while it steeps.
Donna
Love, love this story. That is how my mother taught me to make tea. What a wonderful opportunity you will have to hear stories which are so precious.
Susan Sykes
Oh my goodness, her sweet voice reminds me of my family in South Georgia, especially my grandmother. (who taught me to make sweet tea when I was little!) I love recipes and traditions that are passed on with stories!
Deanna Rabe
This is treasure! You are so smart to have recorded it! She sounds like such a gracious and lovely woman!
Sandy
Not from the South but we’ve always done the “sun” tea way. Sitting your big jug out on the back porch in the sunlight. Also not bitter. Anyone else??
Cindy in Oklahoma
This is how my mom taught me, too… except we used a couple of bags. Several years ago, though, I bought a sun tea glass jar that I place a couple of bags in, fill with water and set on the porch. The sun heats up the jar and an hour or so later I bring in the jar and pour into a glass filled with ice. Sometimes I put sugar in while it’s still hot and sometimes I leave plain, depending on who’s drinking!
Bobbi
Ok, I’ll admit it, I put the bag in and boil the water and yes, it is bitter. In the summer I make sun tea and it’s always so good. Now I can have good tea made in the house, thank you!!
hello haha narf
what a gift to listen to ms. katie! thank you for sharing. xo
Sylvia
My hubby and I really loved listening to Miss Katie. We got a trip home without the all day flight, heat and humidity. I, also, learned to make tea this way. I changed a few years ago. I boil 6 cups of water in the microwave. Add 4-5 family sized tea bags and let steep. Then I boil 1 cup of water in microwave add one cup of sugar to make a simple syrup. Add syrup to tea; add two cups of ice, a little more cold water and then enjoy some really good tea. And, I like it really, really strong. I have to add more water for my hubby.
I think you need to do a regular feature with Miss Katie after she and Kevin’s dad move in. Just don’t let her talk about Auburn 🙂
Philicia
I loved this!! Her voice is so calming and sweet. It reminds me of my great-grandmother’s voice. Thank you for sharing! ❤️
Jeanne
I’m from NY and now live in NM…I never knew how to make sweet tea…never had it, actually. Wow, the recipe seems like a lot of sugar…then I laughed, guess that’s why it’s called Sweet Tea. Such a sweet story and recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Marianne in Mo.
I “kind of” make it that way too, minus the teapot. (Because mine is a pain. The handle doesn’t move, and I constantly burn my hand from the steam that seeps out of the top!) I boil 2 cups of filtered water from my fridge dispenser, turn it off, add 4 regular sized LIPTON tea bags (sorry, my favorite! ) and steep for only 4 mins. Remove the tea bags WITHOUT squeezing, and add 1/2 cup sugar, stirring to dissolve it. Pour into 2 qt. pitcher and add filtered cold water to top. My husband tolerates sweet tee if it’s not too sweet, but the rest of the family likes it. I even had to demonstrate the process to my brother-in-law so he could make tea “just like” mine! Supposedly, if you steep for longer than that, or squeeze the tea bags, it will become bitter. IDK, but I do it that way and it’s good, but not as sweet as “southern” sweet tea.
Love to hear Katie’s voice! Wish I had a southern accent!
Susan
Oh Layla. Thank Katie for me. I’m a transplanted northerner to Tennessee and never learned how to make sweet tea for my company. It was always bitter and so resorted to buying it from the store. I will definitely try her method
B. Folk
Yep, I do a 4-qt pitcher of “sweet tea” with the Sun Tea method. Squeezing the bags is one thing that makes bitter tea. Also, add sugar/sweetener while it is still warm, before chilling or adding ice, so the sugar dissolves thoroughly. My mom was from the Midwest, so we made Sun Tea, minus sugar, because she was a diabetic. Since that’s what I (and most other West Coasties), grew up with, I was fine. Then, about 20 years ago, I tasted Sweet Tea! I don’t make mine as sweet as Southern Sweet Tea, but I definitely like it sweet.
Victoria
Ha! I can’t help laughing every time I realise that Americans don’t use kettles like we do in the UK. It seems completely strange to boil water in the microwave too. And boiling the water in the microwave with the teabag already in? Centuries of British people turn in their graves 😀
For iced sweet tea I use iced tea granules that dissolve in cold water as well as hot. Oh to live somewhere consistently hot enough to make sun tea, that sounds great.
Fiona
As an Australian- i’m the same. Our culturally european heritage meant I was gobsmacked at the thought of boiling water with tea bags in it. How could such an abomination come to be? It is a sweet story though, and such a blessing to have recorded her voice telling it.
Cecily
I add a pinch of baking soda to mine… it helps keep the tea from being cloudy and going rancid too quickly.
LM
Hi Katie/Layla thank you for sharing your Alabama Sweet Tea recipe. I’ve made it twice and about to make another batch. So good! No more buying tea at the grocery store.Thank you for sharing the story behind it.
tiffany hughes
I’ve always been taught to allow the water to come *just* to that point before it boils, where you can see the vapor rising and THEN add the tea bags. Also, if you put in a pinch of baking soda, it helps prevent the bitter taste.