Coffee Pot Brewed Tea Recipes

PERFECT SOUTHERN SWEET TEA

Steps:

• 1. Fill a 10-12 cup coffee-maker carafe with cold water. Pour into back of coffee maker, as if making a pot of coffee. In brewing basket, place 2 family-sized tea bags, laying them sideways on top of each other. (Shake the tea bags, to spread out the tea inside each bag, before placing them on top of each other). Turn on coffee pot, and allow water to pour through, until pot is full of concentrated tea.
• 2. Pour 2 cups sugar into a 1-gallon pitcher. Pour all the hot tea over the sugar, and stir until dissolved. Fill coffee-maker carafe w/cold water and add to the sweetened hot tea, until gallon-pitcher is filled. Stir well. Allow tea to sit on counter-top, until cooled to room temperature, then store in refrigerator to chill.
• 3. Note: If you place the tea in the fridge before it is cooled to room temperature, it may become cloudy. If you're in a hurry for a cold glass of tea, you can add crushed ice (in place of tap water) to the hot concentrated tea, to fill gallon pitcher. Then, it can be stored right away in the refrigerator. As with most recipes, this tea seems to taste better on the 2nd day. But, it's also delicious immediately after it's made. Just serve over lots of ice! :)
• 4. One further note: I think that using a coffee-maker which has also been used for brewing coffee, can cause the tea to have a little bit of the coffee taste in it (even when the coffee pot has been washed). So, I have a coffee-maker that I only use for making tea in. We use a separate coffee-maker for my husband's coffee. :)

SOUTH CAROLINA SWEET TEA

Steps:

• Using an electric coffee maker, Place the 3 tea bags in the strainer basket (not in the pot). Brew the tea as you would coffee. Pour the sugar in a gallon pitcher. Pour in the hot tea. Continue to run coffee maker with the tea bags until you have enough tea to fill the pitcher. Allow to cool completely at room temperature, then refrigerate.

FRESHLY BREWED TEA

Steps:

• Whether you use loose tea or tea bags, the preparation method is the same. Start with a spotlessly clean teapot made of glass, china or earthenware. Add rapidly boiling water, and allow to stand a few minutes to "hot the pot". Pour out just before before brewing the tea.
• Heat cold water to a full rolling boil. (use water from the cold-water tap; water from the hot-water tap may contain mineral deposits from water pipes that can affect the flavor of the tea.)
• Add tea to the warm pot, allowing 1 teaspoon of loose tea or 1 tea bag for each cup tea. Pour boiling water over tea (3/4 cup for each cup of tea); let stand 3 to 5 minutes to bring out the full flavor. Stir tea once to ensure uniform strength. Do not judge the strength of tea by its color; you must taste it. Strain the tea, or remove tea bags. Serve wtih sugar and milk or lemon if desired.