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This delicious Sweet Tea With Honey uses honey instead of buckets of sugar. Learn how simple it is to make sweet tea without refined sugar.
The wait is over – a sweet tea with honey recipe is here my friends!
Need a faster way to make a bunch of tea at once? Check out this post on Instant Pot iced tea.
How Long Will Sweet Tea With Honey Last in the Fridge?
This honey-sweetened tea is best consumed within 7-10 days if stored in the fridge.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes:
- Don’t have family-style bags? You can use 7 normal tea bags instead.
- Adding honey to cold iced tea just does not work. Make sure you add it after the 15-minute steeping process before it goes into the fridge.
Recipe Variations:
- Our preferred way of enjoying this sweet tea is 3/4 tea and 1/4 lemonade – ‘Palmer style!
- Pro tip: use lemon-flavored sparkling water to make it a sparkling Arnold Palmer.
- Try experimenting with flavored teas like fruity or tropical teas.
- Add lemon or lime wedges or add fresh fruit.
I won’t even compare this sweet team with honey to “real” sweet tea in terms of sugar consumption. But, let’s just say this version won’t give you the crazy energy rush that would allow you to tie a rope around your waist and tow your car home.
Sweet Tea With Honey
Ingredients
- 1 family style black or green tea bag
- 1/3 cup raw honey
- 4 cups water {boiling}
- 4 cups water {cold}
- 1/8 tsp baking soda {optional}
Instructions
Stovetop Instructions
- Bring 4 cups of water to a near boil.4 cups water
- Add tea bag(s) and (optional) baking soda, and cover the pan. Remove from heat, and let steep for 15 minutes.1 family style black or green tea bag, 1/8 tsp baking soda
- Remove tea bags, pour into a pitcher, add the honey and stir.1/3 cup raw honey
- Add 4 cups of cold water and place in the fridge.4 cups water
Sun Tea Instructions
- Place tea, honey, 8 cups of room temperature water, and baking soda in a sun tea jar. Place in a sunny place.
- Stir occasionally if possible to distribute the honey. The length of time to steep will depend on how hot it is outside.
- Serve over ice if you’d like to serve immediately. Transfer to the refrigerator and cool.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My Luzzane Family Tea Bags uses 4 cups hot water and 4 cups cold…BUT 2 teabags? Should I do this??
Without knowing the serving size, I can’t say. I did look online at their site to see if I could find that info but it wasn’t listed. If their instructions are 2 bags per 8 cups of water, then I believe it *should* be fine.
Did not see how much honey to add.
Recipe card notes 1/3 cup but you can sweeten to taste:
Ingredients
1 family style black or green tea bag
1/3 cup raw honey
4 cups water {boiling}
4 cups water {cold}
1/8 tsp baking soda {optional}
Is your recipe for 2 qrts or a gallon?
4 cups boiling water add 4 cups cold water
Sounds like 2 arts is this correct?
It’s for a half-gallon/two quarts Ruth.
When you say ” family style” tea bags, do you mean like gallon size tea bags?
Because when I use my family size tea bags I use 6 for a gallon.
With the “normal” tea there will be boxes marked “family size”. Each tea bag is a lot bigger. From the notes section: Don’t have family-style bags? Use 7 small tea bags instead.
If you normally use 6, then go ahead and do that! Super adaptable to everyone’s preference.
I dont understand the measuerments for this sweet ice tea.
Hi Norma, what part is confusing you? How can I help?
From the recipe:
INGREDIENTS
1 family style black or green tea bag
1/3 cup raw honey
4 cups water, boiling
4 cups water, cold or ice cubes
1/8 tsp baking soda
From the recipe notes:
Don’t have family style bags? Use 7 small tea bags instead.
Have you tried making it in the Instant Pot?
I haven’t because it seems like the stovetop is just as easy. Have you had any success with it?
I was very picky with sweet. I was drinking Gold Peak Sweet tea and wanted something more healther. This was amazing! I do have a question, how long would it last in the fridge?
Hi Chris! So glad you liked our sweet tea recipe. It’s a family favorite!
Honey has an infinite shelf-life, but I found that 7-10 days in the fridge was about the max for optimal taste.
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe of sweet tea I’ve been drinking sweet tea since I was 16 and I’m 50 now just found out I have a bad liver due to all the sugar that I’ve been drinking all these years trying to find out different ways to enjoy sweet tea without all the sugar I would definitely try this
You’re so welcome Eva, and I do hope you enjoy this tea.
I’m not a dietician or anything but I know there are a lot of food plans out there that are supposed to help a body recover from liver damage. I would speak with a professional if you haven’t already consulted one. I’m sure there are many yummy ways you may be able to bring yourself back to better times. Good luck to you!
Ya big freak
I’ve read that making tea in the Instant Pot also makes it smoother tasting. I haven’t tried it yet though.
That would be great for larger batches too! I think my 8 quart has a max fill line of about 6.5/7 quarts. If you have one of those huge drink dispensers it would be nice to brew a huge batch. I must investigate.
I worked at Arby’s a bit over a decade ago in South Carolina and they use 10oz of sugar per gallon (1x 32 oz cup filled up to the top for a 3gal container was normal, then a 21oz cup and a 32oz cup filled for a 5gal container).
I’ve done honey before and while good, I could definitely tell the difference (almost every Mexican restaurant in the south has super sweet tea and I use that as a comparison when I make tea). I just switched to raw blue agave in my coffee 12 months ago and will try that in my tea next time I brew.
Thanks for the baking soda idea! Have not heard or thought of that!
That is sooooo much sugar. I bet it was insanely delicious.
I was in the drive-thru line at Wendy’s and happened to see them mixing up the sweet tea there (in WV) and they were pouring a five pound bag of sugar into a five gallon bucket of tea. No wonder it tastes like syrup to me!
Yikes, no thanks!
I read elsewhere about the baking soda too 🙂 I love sweet tea, especially in the summer! Thanks for posting and reminding how easy it is to make!! I know my kids should love to help with this!
I squeeze a small amount of organic agave syrup in ours. We prefer our tea just a little sweet. I will try the baking powder for sure. I’m guilty of adding a tiny sprinkle of salt to coffee or the grounds to “reduce” the bitter taste.
Why not just steep the tea for a shorter amount of time and avoid the bitterness altogether? 15 minutes is a very long time and I have never steeped it longer than 5. Just curious, I’ve been making sweet tea all my life and came across your blog looking for a less sugary method. Kudos and thanks in advance.
I thought the point of raw honey was not to heat it. Are we killing the benefits? Hope not, cause it sounds delish!
I thought the point of raw honey was not to heat it. Are we killing the benefits? Hope not, cause it sounds delish!
It kills the health benefits if you hate it too rapidly. My advice would be to make the tea without the honey and then once it’s done boiling, let it steep. Once it’s cooled down to a semi drinkable temperature maybe just a little hotter than drinkable, add your honey and then mix with cold water. That way you’re not killing the benefits of the honey, and you’re still getting the same great taste and sweetness etc.
Heat*
Thank you so much for posting this that! Being that I am from the south and a true southern gal I LOVE sweet tea and probably drink a pitcher every other day by myself. I just found your blog this weekend and look forward to trying this and many other of your recipes.
Im just curious do you have any home made hippy lemonade recipes! this Bitch loves Palmers style
This bitch, too. Share, please!
I don’t! We just buy the Santa Cruz organic lemonade when it is on sale in the summer 4/$5.
Baking soda…I never would have thought of that. I just happen to have an over baked batch of sun tea going…it DOES work to cut the bitter. Cool!