Sweet Tea

[wayner123]

I have been making tea since I was able to walk. That's no joke. We always had and still have a pitcher of sweet tea in my fridge. I don't know if it's a recipe per se, but it's how my mom made it and showed me:

1. Get 6 regular bags of tea (Lipton, there is NO OTHER!!) and leave the strings on them and tie together with a simple knot.
   
2. Get about 2 quarts of water boiling on the stove.
   
3. Then take it off the heat and let the bubbles stop.
   
4. Then add the tea bags allowing the strings to just hang over the side of the pot and get held in place by the lid so the bags are floating, not touching the bottom.
   
5. Steep for 15 minutes.
   
6. In the meantime while it's steeping, get a gallon pitcher similar to this:
   
7. Put in 1 - 1/4 cups of sugar
   
8. Then when the 15 minutes are up, simply dump the tea into the pitcher. Be sure not to let the bags fall into the pitcher. Then while stirring fill the pitcher with cold water to the top. You can also refill the pot a little with cold water and press out the tea bags with a spoon and add that liquid for a little stronger flavor.