Sweet Tea

Now that I live in the South I drink a lot of sweet tea. I mean a lot. I'm starting to think I have a problem. It's everywhere around here. Every restaurant, every church function, every house (well probably not EVERY house), every fast food chain. You get the idea. Being from the Pacific NW I didn't grow up drinking sweet tea. However, I did drink a lot of hot tea and hot cocoa and hot coffee. So it seems I'm making up for all the lost years without my precious sweet tea. I'm starting to sound like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Uh-oh. Now that it's a million degrees outside I'm craving ice cold sweet tea even more. I decided to make some here at the house so I can have it any time (this will not help my sweet tea addiction). Here is what I came up with... 

Sweet Tea
Source: The Kitchen of He Cooks & She Bakes
Servings: 2 quarts (1/2 gallon) 

2 quarts cold water
10 tea bags
1 and 1/2 cups sugar

I use all sorts of tea....tea with flavors, tea made specifically for iced tea, etc. It all works! Choose whatever tea you like best.

Bring water to a boil. Add tea bags to boiling water. Take off stove and steep for 8-10 minutes. Helpful Hint: steep time depends on how strong you want the tea flavor to be.

Remove tea bags and add 1 and 1/2 cups sugar. Stir sugar until dissolved. Taste to be sure it's exactly how you want it. Helpful Hint: this amount of sugar will make the tea very sweet (just how I like it!). If you don't want it as sweet, start with a cup and go from there.

 Pour into pitcher and put in fridge until nice and cold. Then pour in a glass over ice. DELISH!!!