Recipe(tried): Southern Iced Tea and 6 Other Iced Teas

hope this isn't old fashioned because this is the way i make it (LOL) i live in georgia and come from a long line of georgia/tennessee/floridians!

Fill two quart saucepan with water. Bring to a good rolling boil. Add 3 family size tea bags. Immediately remove from heat. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Put 1 1/2 cups sugar in a one gallon pitcher. Pour tea water over sugar, stir until sugar is dissolved. Finish filling pitcher with cold water. Chill. Keep in refrigerator. (now that i'm getting older, i use sweet and low instead of sugar. i use about 30 packets per gallon if tea. we like it REALLYYYYY sweet!) my mom always adds some lemon to her tea -- so we put some crystal light lemonade mix in hers (i dont know how much, i just sprinkle a little in to the gallon pitcher). i like other flavors of tea, so i put the other flavors of crystal light in mine sometimes -- like cranberry or raspberry.
to make crystal clear tea, add pinch of baking soda to the boiling water.(about as much as would fit on to your pinky fingernail)

and for goodness sakes, NEVER NEVER NEVER squeeze a tea bag! all that does is release the tannins and make your tea bitter.

here are some other recipes to try:

SAVANNAH ICED TEA

Boil 4 cups (1 quart) water. When water boils, add 12 Lipton tea bags. simmer slowly for 20 minutes. Pour hot tea over 1 cup sugar (to dissolve). Add enough cold water to make 5 quarts iced tea.

PERFECT ICED TEA
7 Lipton tea bags
4 c. boiling water
4 c. cold water
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 gallon jug
Steep Lipton tea bags in boiling water for exactly 5 minutes. (Do not squeeze.) Remove bags; pour cold water in jug. Add almost 2/3 cup sugar and mix well. Add hot tea mixture to cold water and sugar. Mix well and chill. Enjoy.

ICED TEA QUENCHER
1/4 c. lemon flavored iced tea mix
2/3 c. cranberry cocktail juice,
chilled
2/3 c. unsweetened pineapple juice,
chilled
3 c. club soda, chilled
Ice cubes
In a pitcher, place the iced tea mix. Add the juices, stirring until the iced tea mix is dissolved. Just before serving, add the club soda and the ice cubes.

ICED TEA PUNCH
1 qt. strong strong tea
4 c. sugar
1 qt. orange juice (preferably from
fresh oranges)
1 qt. lemon juice (use fresh lemons)
1 (46 oz.) pineapple juice
2 qt. club soda or ginger ale
8 to 12 cloves (optional)
Fresh unpeeled orange rings
Steep tea five minutes, add sugar. If using cloves, boil cloves in pint of water for 5 minutes. Extract juices from lemons and oranges and add to tea and clove water. Add all other ingredients except ginger ale and orange rings. Chill for several hours before serving. Add ginger ale right before serving and float orange rings. It is a gold color and is good to use when celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary.

TEXAS ICED TEA
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
Dash of nutmeg
1 (6 oz.) can frozen lemonade
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
4 tsp. tea
1 (6 oz.) can frozen orange juice
Put spices in 2 quarts of water and bring to a strong boil. Add tea and remove from range. Steep 5 minutes. Strain. Add fruit juice and 4 cans water. Pour over ice in tall glasses.

CITRUS ICED TEA
2 family size tea bags
3 c. hot water
1/4 c. sugar
1 (6 oz.) can frozen lemonade
3 cans cold water
Steep tea in hot water 20 to 30 minutes, add sugar and remove bags. Add lemonade and water and pour into picnic thermos. Serve at picnic over ice. Yields 2 quarts.