Nantucket Iced Tea

Summer wouldn’t be quite right without sweetened iced tea, but making iced tea can be easier said than done. It’s all too easy to turn the tea unpalatably bitter through oversteeping. How do you make perfectly smooth sweet iced tea?

Skip the heat. Steep a large quantity of tea bags in room temperature water for a strong-flavored brew without the bitterness.

Sweeten the tea with simple syrup instead of granulated sugar to ensure that the sugar fully dissolves into the tea. Simple syrup is just equal parts water and sugar heated long enough to dissolve the sugar. Flavor the syrup with lime zest and add cranberry juice for a unique iced tea.

10 tea bags
4 cups water, at room temperature
2 cups cranberry juice
6 – 9 tablespoons recipe for Lime Syrup (see related recipe)

Submerge tea bags in water in serving pitcher. Steep for 45 minutes. Remove and discard tea bags.

Stir juice and Lime Syrup (adjust amount depending on desired sweetness) into tea. Serve over ice.

Lime Simple Syrup

Simple syrup is the best way to sweetened beverages, everything from lemonade to iced tea. Unlike granulated sugar, which won’t dissolve readily in beverages, simple syrup is liquid so it won’t make cold beverages gritty.

Simple syrup is just equal parts water and sugar heated long enough to dissolve the sugar.
The syrup can be flavored with citrus zest or spices like a cinnamon stick. Simple syrup can be refrigerated for up to one week. - Cook's Illustrated