Is there anyway to make sweet tea stronger after its already made?

12 comments

1. I say this as a northerner, but the tea part of southern sweet tea is for color only. The most important characteristic behind sweet is ice cold.

   So you’ve made it correctly.

2. I would make a separate pot of tea, extra strong then start mixing it into the already sweetened tea until you get what you’re looking for

3. Reduce it on the stove, then re-chill.

4. You might not have used enough tea bags. Which is a mistake I made once I took over the sweet teak making in my family. If your using individual small tea bags, for a normal sized pitcher, you need a good amount of them. 5+ at least. To few bags and I’ve found it to be much to weak. Or, I sometimes use the Lipton cold brew bags. Use 2 of them for a very strong flavor.

   It is also my personal opinion, that the brand of tea bag you use strongly influences the flavor. In my house, it’s Lipton only. One time someone brought home Luzianne and it tased horrible. Zero flavor and was very weak no matter how we used it.

   If the tea you have is to much like water, you might just have to try again. Thankfully, tea, bags of sugar, and water are pretty cheap

5. You probably needed more tea bags. My uncle from Mississippi refuses to use anything less than ten bags for a single pitcher. So much tea that you think it’ll taste like crap, but the insane amounts of sugar balance it out.

   This is from observation, though. I never personally make sweet tea because I don’t usually enjoy drinking it.

6. What type of tea are you using? Stick with Luzianne if you are figuring it out. None of this Lipton stuff.

   You can add tea bags and let it steep a bit longer.

   I also squeeze the tea bags at the end to extract the full flavor.

7. Add more teabags and sugar

8. You can try re-boiling it with more tea bags. Good luck.

9. I’m a southern girl and sweet tea was one of the first things I learned to make.

   This is for 1/2 gallon of tea

   6-8 teabags + 1 quart of water in a pot. Luzianne or Tetley. Or a house brand. I don’t care for Lipton for iced tea.

   Bring to a simmer /boil. Don’t boil too hard or too long or the tea bag could tear. Turn stove off and walk away. That’s right. Walk away. Steep the tea for at least 30 mins. You want the tea to be strong and somewhat bitter. That balances out the sweet. Steeping the tea does this.

   Use 3/4c – 1 c sugar. Mix steeped tea + sugar in pitcher and stir to dissolve the sugar.

   Add ice / water to make 2 qts.

   Enjoy

10. Two quarts water, sweetener to taste (I use a cup of Splenda and a half cup of sugar), and three family sized teabags. Mix in the sugar, add the tea bags (without the string), and leave it for a few hours. If you want stronger tea, you can use four tea bags. That’s it. Don’t need to do anything more complicated than that.

11. >Kind of just taste like sugared water

    I mean… That’s basically what sweet tea is. The “tea” part is really just there to give it a little color.

    (I may be biased as I hate sweet tea. It has always just tasted like sugar water to me)

12. Regular exercise