Blueberry Southern Iced Tea

March 20, 2011 / 9 comments »

Blueberry Southern Iced Tea

I have teamed up with Jeroxie.com for a Nostalgia party.

We are all to post something that evokes yearnings of the past.

What better way to do that than a big old glass of iced tea?

I used blueberry tea bags this time, but you can use what you want.

Southerners swear by their traditional sweet ice tea and drink it by the gallons.

In the South, ice tea is not just a summertime drink, it is served year round with most meals.

To make a proper sweet iced tea you need to make a simple syrup.

My chemistry teacher explained to me scientifically how to make a proper sweet tea. You need to heat up the molecules in your water.

You need to get them excited and make them dance.

Honest, she really said that.

You add the sugar when the water is hot so that it will dissolve.

Think about it, if you add all that sugar when it is cold, it will just sink to the bottom.

The sugar that is.

You need to saturate it, you do that by boiling your water and sugar together.

So, this is how I make iced tea.

Ingredients

8 cups fresh clean water

8 blueberry celestial seasoning tea bags

2 cups granulated sugar

Directions

Pour 4 cups of the water in a 3 quart or larger pot and boil.

Turn the heat off and add the teabags.

Cover to steep the tea for 5-7 minutes. Steeping longer than that will make your tea bitter. So will squeezing your tea bags. Not to mention they may bust and you will end up with tea grounds everywhere.

Meanwhile heat the other four cups of water in a saucepan.

Add the sugar and continue boiling until all the sugar has dissolved. Combine everything.

Serve it in a pretty pitcher, or warm over ice, set in the refigerator to cool.

Either way, make sure you use it within a couple of days.

Serve over ice cubes with lemon wedges as garnish.

Beverages

9 Comments »

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msihua — March 20, 2011 at 12:26 am

Yum! This is perfect for a hot summer evening!!

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Susan — March 20, 2011 at 12:45 am

I love the idea of this Nostalgia blogshare! What a fun post! Iced teas are just so ‘gold ol’ summertime’! Live your blueberry spin on sweet tea, Veronica!

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penny aka jeroxie — March 20, 2011 at 1:18 am

Love! Mum used to make ice lemon tea for the kids during parties as well. Love that jug….

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Chris "Kickstart" Beason — March 20, 2011 at 5:34 am

I’m southern, but I only put a cup and a half of sugar to a gallon of tea. Two cups seems alot, but blueberry sounds good so I’m gonna try it!

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Veronica Gantley — March 20, 2011 at 9:30 am

Yes, it was a bit sweet. That is how my daughter likes it. Next time I will use 1 cup. I was thinking of sweetening with splenda also.

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Patti — March 20, 2011 at 12:50 pm

I’m going to try this Veronica. We drink iced tea all the time but from a powdered mix.

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Brandie — March 20, 2011 at 1:11 pm

Veronica – 2 cups of sugar is perfect. It’s exactly what I use too. I suppose every southern gal has her own way of making it but I have found that most of us prefer it pretty sweet.
I love blueberry tea as well and your pitcher is gorgeous!

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Shirley — March 21, 2011 at 9:13 am

I could do with glass of that drink to beat the heat.

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Cheap Ethnic Eatz — March 22, 2011 at 1:41 am

Oh I love the idea of blueberry tea. I have always been a fan of ice tea but I had Southern sweet tea in NC last summer while on a trip…I have to say I like mine with like 1 tbsp of sugar per glass but yes it is perfect with every meal.

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