Sweet Tea Or Unsweet Tea (½ Gallon) Recipe

Bring 8 cups (about 1/2 gallon brew liquid) of fresh water to a rolling boil in a kettle or large pot.

Remove from heat and add 8 black tea bags. Cover and steep for 5 minutes for a balanced brew; steep 7 minutes for a stronger brew. Do not oversteep more than 8 minutes to avoid excessive bitterness.

After steeping, remove and discard tea bags, gently pressing each bag against the side of the pot with a spoon to extract remaining liquid (avoid squeezing too hard to limit bitterness).

Make Simple Sweetening Mix

While the tea is still hot, combine 1 cup granulated sugar with 1 cup hot water in a heatproof pitcher or measuring cup. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved to make a concentrated syrup. This ensures even sweetening and prevents graininess when chilled.

Pour the hot brewed tea into the pitcher with the dissolved sugar and stir thoroughly until evenly incorporated.

For either sweet or unsweet tea: After brewing (and after adding syrup for sweet tea), add 2 cups of cold water to the pitcher to cool and bring the total volume to approximately 1/2 gallon (64 fl oz). Adjust with a little more cold water if needed.

Refrigerate until chilled, or serve immediately over ice. When serving in a dispenser, add ice to individual glasses rather than the full dispenser to avoid diluting the stored tea.

Garnish each glass as desired with lemon slices and mint sprigs.

Yield: about 1/2 gallon (8 cups) of tea, serves 8 (1 cup servings) — if serving with ice, plan for 6–8 guests.