I pop 8 tea bags in the coffee pot to brew. Add about 3/4 a cup of sugar, pour it into the pitcher and fill the rest with cold water.

I must make weak tea. I boil water and add 2 of the family sized decaf teabags. Cool that slightly, then add 4 packets of Stevia.. pour into a gallon jug and fill the rest of the way with cold water.

I boil my 8 tea bags cover and let steep for 15 to 20 minutes. Put your 3/4 cup of sugar in pitcher then pour steeped tea over sugar (remove bags, lightly squeezing each one with a spoon) then fill with cold water. Can't ask for a better summertime beverage. You can also add a few sprigs of mint or squeeze a lemon in the tea for a different refreshing taste.

I bring a small saucepan of water to a boil, turn it off and put 4 large tea bags in it to steep for a while. I then add it and a cup of sugar to a pitcher of water.

I don't like sweet tea - but I do like brewed iced tea.

I make a quick small pitcher for lunch by brewing a family sized tea bag in a two cup measuring glass in the microwave for two minutes. I then add it to a pitcher of cold water and add some ice.

So refreshing on a hot day!

I have a ice tea maker, I use 1 large bag (tetley) for a half gallon and a bit less then a cup of sugar.

I have an iced tea maker, too, but don't use it too often. Just as easy to make a cup of stronger tea and add ice. Don't care for the ones already sweetened. But I do like the Arizona tea that is honey sweetened.

LOL Everyone has their own way to make iced tea. Just a point or two that I learned at Mama's knee. Do not use a metal pan to steep your tea. There must be a reason but I don't remember exactly what it was. I do know that a funny looking film forms on the top in a metal pan. Kinda like a greasy film. She also said not to boil the tea. Boil the water, remove from heat, add the tea, cover and let steep. I personally like sun tea although I don't set it out in the sun. It does just as well sitting on the kitchen cabinet. Sometimes I like it sweetened and sometimes not so I add sugar by the glass instead of to the pitcher.

I make a gallon (or more) of ice tea per week.

Fill a medium pan with water >
Bring to boil >
Turn heat off and add 5 tea bags >
Steep for 3-5 mins >
Add cold water >
Half fill gallon pitcher with ice >
Remove tea bags from pan >
Pour contents of pan into pitcher >
Add more water as needed to fill pitcher >
Put in fridge.

I drink my tea plain but you can add sugar as you're pouring the pan of tea into the pitcher.

Jodi-

I make sun tea. It's very ecology-friendly and tasty, too. I fill a large glass pitcher with water and add 8 teabags (I usually use the large round ones). I cover the top with plastic wrap or a paper towel and set it on the back deck for a few hours and voila! Perfect iced tea. Then I take the bags out and add some simple syrup, a few lemon wedges and mint sprigs.

Simple syrup
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
In a medium saucepan combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool.

wonder if you might like jack nicklaus "flavor"? it's half tea dn and half "light lemonade"...dh gets it for me in a jug from 7/11...

the one reason southern sweet tea is so sweet, is they make simple sugar syrup to sweeten it with...

Make sun tea. It does not get cloudy in the refrigerator. In a large clear glass jar or covered pitcher, put your tea bags and cool tap water. Set it out in the sun for a few hours to brew, remove the tea bags and chill.

I'm with Mrsmarv. I've been making sun tea in the large gallon glass jars for 20 years or more!. Jars are sold just about everywhere (Target, WalMart, Dollar stores, grocery store in housewares section etc) in summer, with covered pouring hole/spout. I too use 8 teabags, fill with water, put it in the sun till I think of it again, basically. I do not add sugar until I make a glass as I use only about 1/2 packet of Splenda per glass. also add lemon with the ice & mint. Already made some...going to be warm tomorrow/Friday so got my jar down this morning.

I also make sun tea.Fill a gallon jug with cold water and 8 to 9 tea bags,set out in sun for a few hours.When i bring it in i sweeten to taste,then refrigerate it.
Kathi

I make sun tea also. 8-10 tea bags. 2 or 3 hours in the warm/hot sun. No sugar. I like mine plain.
Leslie

I do it the lazy way, nuke a coffee cup of water. Put a Lipton tea bag in, not more than 3 or 4 minutes otherwise it tastes bitter to me. Pour over ice in a tall glass. No sugar for me.

I went to Taco Bell a few minutes ago and ordered an unsweetened tea, got home and guess what? It has sugar in it. I couldn't drink it, it was so sickly sweet.

I make mine like Maryanne.One exception when my kids are here I use 1 cup sugar.They like it sweet.I mostly make it now unsweetened for DH and I.Use a gallon size pitcher.
My mom always made iced tea with loose tea leaves.I did too for many years.We had a certain pan that we used for tea,probably a 1 qt. or a little larger.Fill half full of water,add about 4 tsp.tea leaves,bring to a boil then cover and let it steep for 30 min or so.Pour through a strainer into a pitcher half full of water,add sugar and stir until dissolved then finish filling with water.I think that amount of tea made about a gallon.I remember the loose tea being very inexpensive.Not long ago I decided to buy loose tea again because I remembered how different it tasted from the tea bags we get now.I hunted everywhere,nothing but flavored teas in the loose kind.Finally found some in NM at Wall-Mart.Almost $4.00 for a small box! Bought it anyway and boy did it bring back memories of iced tea at my mother's house! All our relatives and anyone else who ever had her iced tea would talk about how good it was.LOL One of my cousins lived in another city and would come home ever so often.First thing he would do is go to my mom's for a glass of her iced tea.LOL After she got older she would make tea from the instant kind.Not so good!LOL

I drink a lots of iced tea. I have a water cooler that also heats water and I use it for tea making. I put two family sized teabags in my pitcher and fill it about fourth full of the hot water from my cooler/heater. Let it steep for a while and fill the pitcher the rest of the way with cold water. I NEVER EVER sweeten mine, gotta have it plain! I can't stand bottled tea, yuck. Now I'm craving my afternoon glass of tea.

I'm in the unsweetened iced tea group. Growing up, my family only drank their iced tea unsweetened and that's how I got used to it. I can't stand even the slightest touch of sugar in tea. And I'm not overly enthused about lemon, either--although I can drink it with lemon, as long as it isn't sweetened, too--LOL.

Re: boiling tea bags--the mother who said that is correct. Boiling tea releases a mild toxin. Not really enough to kill you, but who wants to add poison to their diet?

I generally put about a half a carafe of water into the top my coffee maker (which is NEVER used for coffee), then I drop 4-8 tea bags into the carafe, put it in place and turn the machine on. After the tea has steeped for 5 minutes, I pour into a pitcher, remove the tea bags, and add water to taste.

My dad used to like to mix half fresh, unsweetened iced tea and half orange juice.

I brew a gallon every other day and use 5 regular tea bags and 5 decaf tea bags. We drink a lot of tea and those who like it sweetened can do so themselves.

I love iced tea and used to drink a lot more of it than I do now. I use my ice tea maker, I have two sizes of them. Mostly I use the smaller one. Measure the water, I use reverse osmosis water, measure the ice, add probably 6 to 8 bags of regular sized tea bags plus a pinch of baking soda. I just about always use the decaf bags at home. I don't use sugar as I try to cut back, but I do like my Sweet and Low. I just sweeten it by the glass. I think my smaller iced tea maker probably makes about 1 and a half quarts of tea, not sure. I know it does not make two quarts. I had iced tea today from Bob Evans it was really good too. I do think the tea with the caffine in it does taste better! So it looks like there are several ways you can make it. You will just have to try different ways and see which one you like. I think you have to have tea bags that you like to start with. My Grandma always made her iced tea with green tea and she drank it out of a pint jar. That was a long time ago before they thought to put a handle on the pint and quart jars and sell them to drink out of. She used loose tea and steeped it in an enamaled pan and then strained it. I don't know how long she steeped it. She has been gone for about 50 years.

Hope you find a way that you like it.

Sue

I have always lived in the South.

Some things I learned about making tea:

Never boil the tea!

Never heard of Simple Syrup!

Always make your tea in a Tea Pot, not a pan! (Although making Sun tea is okay.)

Sugar is up to you! I like mine sweet!

Now, don't yell at me, please! {{!gwi}}

Sue

My from scratch ice tea has never been really good. I love sweet tea. I used to make Lipton's ice tea mix with Sweet and Low and then they changed it to Splenda and I shy away from that stuff. I've been buying sweet decaf Red Diamond by the gallon in the supermarket but am trying to wean myself away from that and going more half water half tea or juice.

For many years I've made sun tea. Now for the last 5 years or so I've switched to an iced tea maker. I think it tastes better and its real quick. Lately I've been drinking it unsweetened, but I vary on that. You are right about bottled tea, so sweet it never quenches my thirst.

I put one individual size tea bag in a measuring cup of water and heat it. I add a teaspoon of sugar, then add some of the brew to a tall glass of ice water. It makes 4 glasses of tea.

I like a lot of lemon in iced tea but no sugar. I too would like to buy some tea occasionally but can't handle the sweet stuff. Can't understand it. Like the clowns that have to put cream and sugar in coffee. At that rate, drink hot chocolate.

Back when I managed the stores Arizona Tea was relatively new to the area and they had a lemon only and plain tea that was nice for something different than carbonated soft drinks. Often I'd grab a jug of water and keep it in the pop cooler.

Hey Cynic,
You just called me a clown! LOL

I make sun tea and make ice tea the way every one else seems to. 8-10 regular sized tea bags and boiling water, then add equal amount of cold water. I like sugar, I use less than a cup per 2 qts tea, maybe 1 1/2 cup for a gallon.
I just found the recipe for MickeyD's sweet tea online, oh yum!! That isn't as bad as the stuff you buy, its gross.

Nothing beats the Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker. I use Lipton family size bags or China Mist teas.

I've got my gallon jug with 8 bags of Tetley tea (the only kind I drink) and cold water on my balcony. Forecast is for sun all day and 29 degrees. (upper 80's). So it should turn out good!

A HUGE thank you, for all your responses and expertise. I can't wait to drink some tea that will actually quench my thirst instead of making me more thirsty!

I have a Mr Coffee Ice Tea Maker too. My DH likes iced tea in the summer and he likes it strong! I use the ice tea bags and add some fresh mint to the basket.

I like Red Rose from Canada. Anybody else use it?

I use Red Rose a lot, just bought two boxes yesterday. I got a Wade Christmas tree and a turkey in mine. I have been collecting Wade off and on for some years. I am hoping I get a couple more Christmas trees and I will put them in my "girls" Christmas stockings this Christmas.

Sue

I buy the large bags of ice tea cold water brew.

You just fill up a pitcher of cold water, drop in a cold water tea bag and put it in fridge.

I pour a large glass and sweeten it with Splenda...I drink that all summer. Soda is my choice during the winter.

patti

Everyone makes their tea differently so here goes mine. They are kinda like differing opinions.LOL

7 tea bags (small ones, not the family size)
1 gallon water
1 cup sugar

Directions

I also buy the cold brew tea gallon size...I love my tea super strong and NO SUGAR OR SWEETNER....so I use 2 gallon tea bags to one gallon water....I make a simple sugar solution for Brian to sweeten his with and the kids drink unsweet like me......love my tea have to have it every day....When I brewed it also never in a metal pan and do not boil the water with the tea bags in it....boil remove and steep....Stacy

Red Rose, YES! It's the only tea we'll use for iced tea, and living in SoCal allows us to brew sun tea all the time. Like most of the rest of you, 8 bags per gallon, but two of those bags are ginger peach from Republic of Tea. If we have no Red Rose or ginger peach, we'll wait to brew until we have them. It's our only drink (well, except for the wine...)

It's my first time here, and I enjoyed the thread.