Sweet Iced Tea

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   Pour very hot tap water into a gallon-size pitcher or pail. Add tea bags. Cover and steep for 20-60 minutes. Remove tea bags, stir in sugar, and add cold water to make just less than 1 gallon tea. Add ice or pour over ice in glasses.

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   Notes:

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   For the tea syrup method (makes 1 gallon syrup, about 4 gallons sweet tea, serves 40): Bring 15 cups water (just less than a gallon) to a boil in a Dutch oven. Remove from heat and add 30 tea bags. Cover and steep 20 minutes. Remove bags, add 6 cups sugar, and stir to dissolve. Cool and store in the fridge up to 2 weeks. To make 1 gallon, use about 3 cups tea syrup. Add water and ice to make 1 gallon. Adjust syrup more or less according to taste. To make a single glass of iced tea from this syrup, pour 1/4 cup syrup over ice in a glass. Add cold water to taste.

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   When serving sweet iced tea for a crowd, 1 gallon serves 10-12 people.

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   Water quality makes a big difference here. We love iced tea made with our naturally soft well water. Hard water will make your tea taste different.

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   You can experiment with different flavors of tea, but for us it's the Tetley orange pekoe black tea.

* Per serving · 4 servings · Values may vary.