You'll find Southern sweet tea all the way from Florida to the southwest United States, chilling in the fridge, waiting for good company to enjoy it with. You can make sweet tea with any kind of tea, but black teas like Lipton are the usual choice. You can brew ordinary Lipton tea bags in hot water, then chill, or brew your tea cold with Lipton's "Cold Brew" tea bags.
Hot Brew
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Step 1
Heat your tea water to boiling. If you want to sweeten your tea with real sugar, add the sugar now.
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Step 2
Place two or three regular Lipton tea bags in a heat-resistant pitcher that holds at least half a gallon, or 2 quarts. If you'd like to use Lipton's "Cold Brew" bags, see the "Cold Brew" section.
Step 3
Pour the boiling water over the tea bags and let steep for three to five minutes. If you're using sugar to sweeten your tea, check that the sugar is completely dissolved before you put the water over the tea bags.
Step 4
Stir the tea, remove the bags, and place the pitcher of tea in the refrigerator to chill. If you need it chilled faster but still want to do a hot brew, use only 1 quart of hot water. Once the tea has steeped, add ice to both fill the pitcher and cool the tea as it melts.
Step 5
Sweeten to taste with stevia or your choice of sweetener. Artificial sweeteners will cut the calorie and sugar content of your tea.
Cold Brew
Step 1
Place two to three glass-size tea bags, or one pitcher-size tea bag, in your iced-tea pitcher.
Step 2
Pour cold water over the tea bags.
Step 3
Steep the tea for at least five minutes before removing the bags. Note that Lipton's Cold Brew bags are designed specifically to brew in cold water, so you can serve cold tea right away.
Step 4
Sweeten to taste.
Things You'll Need
Teakettle
2 or more Lipton tea bags
2-quart or larger pitcher
Sweetener
Tip
Lipton tea bags come in cup/glass or pitcher sizes. Use multiple cup-size tea bags for your sweet tea; you can get away with just one or two pitcher-size bags, depending on how strong you want your tea.
You can doctor your sweet tea by adding fruit juice, lemon slices, berries and even seltzer water.