Summer is here and the perfect drink for hot and humid days would be sweet tea. But whatever you do, don’t make sweet tea with tap water, make sure you’re using reverse osmosis water. Why? For the simple reasons that it will taste much better. There are things in tap water that will affect the way sweet tea will taste. Some of the notorious things to affect water texture and flavor would be water-soluble minerals such as calcium and magnesium. In addition, there are also chemicals such as chlorine or chloramine that municipalities use to treat water to kill off bacteria and viruses. The added chemicals are part of an EPA rule requiring local water districts to ensure that water that leaves their facilities and makes it into customers’ homes is safe to drink.
The problem with having all these chemicals in the water is that it greatly affects taste and odor. If you’ve ever drunk tap water, then the smell of chlorine would be all too familiar. It almost seems like you’re taking a drink of pool water, which isn’t something anyone likes to do.
Furthermore, tap water has a lot of minerals that are invisible to the naked eye. Minerals in themselves aren’t bad for your body, but when water evaporates, it leaves these minerals behind and can cause problems with water fixtures by creating limescale buildup. In addition, it gives water an odd texture or mouthfeel and sometimes, a metallic taste to it. These minerals can affect the flavor and texture of sweet tea, coffee, and lemonade, which means tap water shouldn’t be used to make such wonderful summer drinks.
With that in mind, we at Aquasure USA would like to recommend using one of our many reverse osmosis systems to provide the water needed to make sweet tea. Below we’ll go over a recipe and directions on how to make the best sweet tea you’ll have this summer, ready? Let’s go!
INGREDIENTS
5-10 individual bags of your favorite tea, Lipton seems to be a popular choice to use for sweet tea. Note: Lipton sells larger bags of tea for 1-gallon batches.
1 gallon of purified water
1 cup of granulated sugar
EQUIPMENT YOU'LL NEED:
Pot large enough to boil 1 gallon of water.
Long-handled spoon
Gallon pitcher
Fill the pot with reverse osmosis water and bring to a boil. Then turn off the heat.
Steep tea bags for 5 minutes then remove.
Add 1 cup of sugar to the pot and stir until completely dissolved. Let the tea cool off and once it reaches room temperature, pour into a pitcher and refrigerate until very cold. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Pour the sweet tea into ice-filled glasses. Add a sprig of mint or a slice of lemon for garnish, and enjoy while sitting on the porch after a long day at work.
It doesn’t take much to make great-tasting sweet tea, it only requires some basic ingredients of water, tea bags, and sugar. Though it sounds really simple, the factor that influences how sweet tea turns out comes down to the water. Always use purified water for every batch, by doing so, you will be able to experience all the nuances of the different flavor profiles that sweat tea has to offer without having to ingest a variety of contaminants that are found in municipal tap water.
