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Southern Strawberry Sweet Tea

Fresh strawberries and southern sweet tea combine to make this refreshing, fresh, and delicious strawberry sweet iced tea.
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Chill Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 14
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Strawberry Simple Syrup
  • 3 cups strawberries washed and stems removed, then sliced (should measure three cups after they are sliced)
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup sugar
Sweet Tea
  • 3 cups boiling water
  • 3 family-sized Lipton original tea bags
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 8 cups cold water in a large pitcher
  • 1 lemon juiced
  • 1 lemon cut into slices or wedges for garnish in glass
  • 6 to 8 strawberries washed but leave stems on, with a cut on the bottom for garnish on the glass
  • ice

Method
 

  1. In a medium saucepan, add 2 cups water, 1 cup sugar, and sliced strawberries. Cook over medium-high and bring to a boil.
  2. Reduce heat and let simmer for 30 minutes, or until strawberries are soft and the liquid is a deep red color.
  3. Strain the strawberries using a mesh strainer into your pitcher. Press down on the strawberries gently, but make sure to not press too hard. You don’t want any strawberry chunks in your sweet tea.
  4. While the strawberry simple syrup is cooling in the pitcher, add 3 cups of hot water to a large bowl. Place 3 family-sized tea bags into the hot water and let steep for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags from the bowl and throw them away.
  5. Add 1 cup of sugar into the bowl with the tea and stir well.
  6. Dump the sweet tea from the bowl to the pitcher.
  7. Add 8 cups cold water to the pitcher and stir well.
  8. Add the juice from 1 large lemon to your sweet tea and mix well.
  9. Cover the pitcher and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours, or until very cold. Serve over ice and enjoy!

Notes

This recipe uses 20-ounces of strawberries. You’ll want three cups of sliced strawberries plus 6 to 8 strawberries for garnish.
For the most intense strawberry flavor, this recipe works best with very ripe strawberries. While you can enjoy it all year round, strawberry iced tea is tastiest in the summer when strawberries are in season and at their juiciest.
This recipe makes quite a lot of tea, so you’ll need either a very large pitcher or two medium-sized ones. If you’re not having a party and just want to make a drink to enjoy yourself at home, we suggest using smaller quantities of all the ingredients.
You can adjust the number of tea bags to vary the strength of your tea. For a stronger tea, add an extra tea bag and steep for an extra five minutes. For a lighter-colored tea, use only two tea bags and add extra water.