Search For Recipes

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

queenslee appetit

Bake it Beautiful

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
    • Privacy & Disclosure
    • Data Request Form
  • Browse Recipes
    • All Recipes
    • Sweets and Treats
      • Brownies/Blondies
      • Cheesecakes
        • Mini Cheesecakes
        • No-Bake Cheesecake
      • Cakes
      • Cupcakes
      • Frostings
      • Donuts
      • Milkshakes/Freakshakes
      • Parfaits/Trifles
      • Pies/Tarts/Crisps
      • Pudding
      • Frozen Desserts
        • Ice Cream Sandwiches
        • Homemade Ice Cream
      • Truffles
      • Cookies
        • Cookie Cakes
        • Cookie Sandwiches
    • Holidays
      • New Years
      • Game Day
      • Valentine’s Day
      • St. Patrick’s Day
      • Easter
      • Cinco de Mayo
      • Mother’s Day
      • Father’s Day
      • Canada Day
      • Fourth of July
      • Birthday
      • Halloween
      • Thanksgiving
      • Christmas
    • Favourites
    • Vegan
    • Savory
      • Appetizers & Snacks
      • Dinner & Sides
    • Breakfast
    • Drinks
      • Hot Chocolate
      • Summer Drinks
  • Contact
  • Resources
    • Resources for Food Bloggers
    • How to Start a Food Blog (Part 1)
    • Tutorials
  • Subscribe
Home » All Recipes » Homemade Lemon Iced Tea

Homemade Lemon Iced Tea

May 25, 2020 by Dedra | QueensleeAppetit Leave a Comment

Jump to Recipe

This Homemade Lemon Iced Tea is one you’ll want to add to the recipe book! A cold, refreshing and easy 5-ingredient drink that’ll keep you cool all summer long!

three glasses of iced tea with yellow striped straws and lemons and mint leaves in front of glasses

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my full disclosure policy for details. 

Even though it snowed last week (ridiculous, right?), it’s still summer, which means cool and refreshing drinks for everyone! 

One of my all time favourite drinks is iced tea or “sweet tea”. I drink it as much as I possibly can, I’m seriously obsessed. As you all know, every grocery store is almost completely empty. Sucks for me, right? 

So after three attempts of trying to order my favourite drink from the grocery store being a failure, I decided to try making my own. 

close up showing the inside of a glass filled with iced tea, ice cubes, mint leaves, lemon slices and a yellow straw

Why You’ll Love This Homemade Iced Tea Recipe

  • You’ll only need 5-ingredients 
  • Every ingredient is your basic everyday ingredient, some of which you almost certainly already have on hand
  • You will undoubtably let out a satisfied sigh after every refreshing sip
  • It’s not too sweet, but you can control the sweetness yourself by adjusting the amount of sugar you add
  • All the ingredients combined are cheaper than a carton of iced tea from the grocery store

close up of three glasses of sweet tea with halved lemons and mint leaves inside and around the glasses

Ingredients Breakdown 

Water — We’ll be using 10 cups of water. Half boiling and half cold. 

Black Tea Bags — This is where most of the flavour comes from! Since we’re using 10 cups of water, we’ll be using 10 bags of tea. Want a different flavour? Use flavoured tea bags!

Lemon Juice — This is lemon flavoured iced tea, so grab a few lemons and get to squeezing! You could even use lime juice if you want. 

Sugar — Black tea can be quite bitter, so I added 1 and 1/4 cups of sugar (talk about sweet tea). It’s very simple to adjust the amount of sugar. Add a little, stir, taste, add more if needed. 

Baking Soda — Secret ingredient! The baking soda causes a chemical reaction with the bitter caffeine in the black tea to give the tea a more neutral flavour. A lot of Southerners also claim that baking soda makes their sweet tea less cloudy. 

three glasses of lemon flavoured iced tea with striped yellow straws, fresh mint, ice and lemons inside and pitcher in the back

How to Make Iced Tea

Iced tea comes together in 6 easy steps:

  1. Boil the water: Add the first 5 cups of water to a saucepan and heat until it just begins to boil. 
  2. Steep the tea bags: Place all 10 tea bags into a large bowl. Make sure the string is hanging off the edge, or you can tie all the bags together. Pour in the hot water and let it steep for 5 minutes. Want a stronger tea? Steep for an extra 5 minutes. 
  3. Stir in the lemon juice: I pre-measured my freshly squeezed lemon juice, but if you wanna do it Southern-style, just grab about 5-6 lemons and squeeze the juice directly into the tea!
  4. Add the sugar: For this part, I measured out 1 cup of sugar and slowly poured it into the tea while stirring and occasionally tasting. After I stirred in the full cup, I could still taste a bit of the bitterness from the tea, so I threw in an extra 1/4 cup and it was perfect! 
  5. Add the baking soda: throw in the baking soda and stir constantly until the fizzing subsides. 
  6. Pour in cold water: Lastly, add the remaining 5 cups of water and give the tea a few more good stirs. 

two photo collage of ten black tea bags in a large glass bowl and iced tea with a wooden spoon inside

Now the tea won’t be super refreshing right away, you gotta keep it in the refrigerator until it’s completely chilled. I covered my bowl with plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator overnight. Believe me when I tell you it improved the flavour immensely!

Don’t get me wrong, the tea tasted amazing after I finished mixing it up, but it wasn’t “sluuuurrpp” “aaaahhhhh” amazing, ya know? Get it nice and chilled, then pour it over a glass filled with ice cubes and sliced lemons. 

two photo collage of iced tea in a glass pitcher with lemon slices inside and pouring iced tea into a glass with ice and halved lemons

A sprig of mint, a lemon wedge on the side and a bright yellow straw just adds to the summery perfection. That first ice cold sip will have you daydreaming about lying back on a beach basking in the sun with the cool breeze flowing through your hair! 

Sip and savour, my lovelies. 

top down shot of sweet tea in a glass topped with ice cubes, fresh mint and sliced lemons

SHARE YOUR PICS!

Follow me on Instagram and tag #queensleeappetit so I can see and share all of your Queenslee Appétit creations in my stories and the QA Newsletter!

>>PIN ME FOR LATER<<

long pin image for Pinterest

FOLLOW QUEENSLEE APPÉTIT 

Like what you see? Make sure you‘re following Queenslee Appétit for more tasty recipes!

Pinterest | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter |

Have any questions about the recipe? Contact me here, and I’ll be happy to help!

SWEETEN UP YOUR INBOX!

SUBSCRIBE to the Queenslee Appétit Newsletter to recieve new recipe notifications, monthly baking tips, sneak peeks to upcoming recipes, exclusive recipes and more!

Let’s get baking!

Continue to Content
three glasses of iced tea with yellow striped straws and lemons and mint leaves in front of glasses

Homemade Lemon Iced Tea

Yield: 10 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes

This Homemade Lemon Iced Tea is one you’ll want to add to the recipe book! A cold, refreshing and easy 5-ingredient drink that’ll keep you cool all summer long!

Ingredients

Lemon Iced Tea:

  • 5 cups boiling water
  • 10 black tea bags
  • 3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 - 1 and 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 5 cups cold water

To Serve:

  • Ice Cubes
  • Sliced Lemons
  • Fresh Mint Leaves

Instructions

  1. Bring 5 cups of water to a boil.
  2. Meanwhile, place the tea bags into a large bowl. Make sure the strings are hanging off the edge, alternatively, you can tie the strings together.
  3. Pour the boiling water over the tea bags and let it steep for 5 minutes. If you want a stronger tea, steep for 10 minutes.
  4. Remove the tea bags and discard. You can either pour the tea into a large pitcher, or continue mixing in the bowl.
  5. Pour in the lemon juice and sugar and stir with a wooden spoon until sugar has completely dissolved.
  6. Add the baking soda and stir until the fizzling subsides. Baking soda takes the bitterness away from the tea!
  7. Pour in the 5 cups of cold water and give it a few more stirs. If you used a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow tea to chill in the refrigerator overnight.
  8. To serve, either pour into a pitcher or serve with a ladle. Add a few slices of lemons to the tea and individual cups, along with ice and fresh mint leaves!

Notes

  1. Sugar: You can measure out the full 1 cup of sugar, then add it to the tea a little at a time while tasting occasionally to decide whether you want to add more.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

  • OXO Good Grips Wooden Corner Spoon & Scraper
    OXO Good Grips Wooden Corner Spoon & Scraper
  • Libbey Acapulco 2-Piece Glass Pitcher Set, 89.5-ounce
    Libbey Acapulco 2-Piece Glass Pitcher Set, 89.5-ounce
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 27Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 140mgCarbohydrates: 7gFiber: 0gSugar: 5gProtein: 0g
© Dedra | QueensleeAppetit
Cuisine: American / Category: Summer Drinks

BON APPÉTIT!

Love, Dedra

three glasses of iced tea with a glass pitcher in the background

©QUEENSLEE APPÉTIT. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.

Filed Under: All Recipes, Drinks, Summer Drinks, Summer Recipes Tagged With: iced tea

Previous Post: « Best Ever Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Next Post: S’mores Rice Krispie Treats »

Reader Interactions

Trending

Cajun Shrimp and Crab Mac and Cheese
Turtle Chocolate Layer Cake

You May Also Like:

Mini Salted Caramel Snickers Tarts! Mini pre-baked tart shells with a salted caramel peanut filling and a chocolate peanut butter topping. Finish it off with chopped snickers and more peanuts, and you have the easiest/most decadent and delicious, bite-sized dessert!

Mini Salted Caramel Snickers Tarts

Halloween Dirt Cups

close up spooning syrup onto a stack of French toast on a plate

Apple Cinnamon French Toast

Dreamy Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

About Dedra

Some may say I’m addicted to desserts, and they are absolutely right! Baking is my passion and has been ever since I was 6 years old, it just took about a decade for me to realize it. Now I am devoted to creating the BEST sweet and savoury recipes from my tiny little kitchen and sharing them with the world!

More about Dedra

LET’S CONNECT!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

SUBSCRIBE FOR THE LATEST RECIPES!


Footer

TRENDING

Cajun Shrimp and Crab Mac and Cheese
Turtle Chocolate Layer Cake
The Perfect Homemade Meat Sauce
Honey BBQ Chicken Wings
The Perfect Homemade Pizza Sauce
Loaded Cheese Fries

Copyright © 2021 · queensleeappetit.com·PRIVACY & DISCLOSURE·

Chocolate Chip aren’t the only kind of cookies we have on this site! This website uses cookies to provide you with the best possible experience. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.I'm cool with cookies Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.