My Version of Sweet Tea

Pure Leaf had a peach sweet tea that I absolutely adored. Unfortunately, it is no longer available at my local grocery stores. I just checked their website, and the product is not listed. It has gone the way of the dodo. That means I need to come up with my version.

The first thing to do, of course, is find a recipe. During my research, I came across a 1-gallon teabag made by Luzianne Tea and available on Amazon. Using this as my base, I worked through several techniques and recipes, resulting in the sweet tea I now put before you.

For tools, you will need:

1. A 1-gallon pitcher with a cover. I use one I got at Walmart.
2. A ⅔ cup measuring cup, or a ⅓ cup you will use twice.
3. A 4-cup kettle to boil the water.
4. A heat-safe stirring implement. I use a bamboo spatula I got from Kroger.
5. Because someone will complain if I don't include the obvious, you'll also need a heat source, like a stove top.
6. The same with the fridge. You need one.

For ingredients, you will need:

1. A 1-gallon teabag*
2. Water to fill the kettle
3. ⅔ cup of granulated white sugar

*According to my calculations, you would need 12½ regular teabags to have the same tea weight as in the 1-gallon teabag.

Pour the sugar into the pitcher. You will come back to the pitcher after the tea is brewed.

Fill the kettle almost full with fresh water. As you can see in the picture, I have a Pūr filter on my faucet. This is because there is lead in my water, and Pūr were the only on-faucet filters I found rated to remove lead.

Place the filled kettle on your heat source, and turn on the heat. A tip for those with gas stove tops: If flames are licking up the side of the kettle, you are wasting gas, so turn down your flame. For those with electric burners, the same rule applies, but make the red ring of heat on the burner smaller than the bottom of the kettle.

Remove the kettle from the heat source. Put the teabag(s) into the water. Let this sit undisturbed for 5 minutes.

Remove the teabag, but allow it to drain back into the kettle. Do not squeeze it. This will release bitter tannins still in the leaves, causing your tea to taste bitter even if it is sweetened. Teabag tip: You can actually put the used teabag in your garden as fertilizer.

While stirring with your stirring implement, pour the tea into the pitcher. This mixes in the sugar and prevents the plastic pitcher from melting. At least it does mine; YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY! I am not responsible for melted plastic or cracked glass pitchers. You should know if your equipment can take the heat before using it with boiling tea.

Fill up the rest of your pitcher with more fresh water.

Feel the pitcher. Does it feel hot to you? If yes, then let the tea cool down until you can touch it and it doesn't feel warm. This is to prevent the warm tea from heating things up in your fridge. Once it has cooled enough, cover the pitcher and put it in the fridge.

You now have sweet tea the way I make it. In the beginning, I mentioned I like "peach" sweet tea. I have attempted many different ways to flavor my sweet tea, and I haven't yet found one I like. I have used SodaStream peach flavoring (doesn't taste like peach), Simply Peach juice (avoid Jumex because it has high fructose corn syrup), home-made peach extract (too much alcohol flavor), and purchased peach extract (contains propylene glycol, which is the same chemical used in car antifreeze). I found a non-glycol extract I will be trying in the next few weeks; I'll let y'all know how that turns out.

Also, I did not create a recipe card for this, as it is so simple. If you want one, though, let me know; and I'll create one and get it attached.