Southern Iced Green Tea

Southern Iced Green Tea

You know I’m Southern and that must mean I’m a sweet tea drinker, right? Well, sort of. I used to be addicted to my sweet tea, which is made from black tea leaves. But with the help of an alternative physician, I found the tannins in black tea were making my heartburn situation worse. It was a daily affair for me and one that I didn’t want to give up, but I did give it up cold turkey when I was told it would make me feel better. And it did.

OK, so back to being a Southerner. I MUST have my sweet tea, so I found a substitute. It only took me about a week to get used to the switcheroo, and now that I have, I won’t be going back. Here’s my recipe for iced green tea.

Southern Iced Green Tea

5 family size green tea bags (I have found it important to use green tea bags especially for making iced tea, as the other tea bags don’t seem to taste as good. I use Luzianne because it tastes the best to me.

About 2 quarts of water (a little more or less is OK; it just depends on how strong you want your tea. I like it strong.)

½ cup turbinado sugar (that’s brown, unrefined “raw” sugar)

1 tablespoon Stevia

Pinch of baking soda

Remove the paper tags and tie the tea bags together. Place them in a 2 quart pot and add cold water to the top. Place on the stove on high and remove from the heat just as the water begins to boil. Add a pinch of baking soda and let the tea bags steep for 5 minutes.

Remove the tea bags and discard (or add them to your compost bin – they’re great for garden plants). Add the sugar and Stevia and stir to dissolve. Pour into a gallon pitcher and top off the rest of the pitcher with cold water. Stir and refrigerate. I find the tea tastes best when it can sit in the refrigerator overnight or at least 8 hours.

This version is a little healthier than traditional Southern sweet tea because of the sweeteners used and the health benefits of green tea.

Hope you enjoy!

TCB