Before you make the tea, start with making simple syrup. Simple syrup is made by boiling together one part water and one part sugar. Typically, 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar boiled together until the sugar dissolves works well.
After the sugar dissolves, remove the simple syrup from the heat and allow it to cool.
Next to make your gallon of sweet tea, start by filling a pot with 16 cups of water (1 gallon). Bring the water to a boil and add 16 tea bags. Boil for approximately 5 to 8 minutes, then remove it from the burner and discard the tea bags.
Add in the simple syrup as desired. You may prefer it sweet, or not super sweet, so feel free to add as much simple syrup as you like.
Once the simple syrup is mixed in 250, you can store the sweet tea in the fridge, or serve it hot.
Please note, if you are making sweet tea and wish to enjoy it as iced sweet tea, there is no need to boil all 16 cups of water. Instead, we recommend boiling 6 to 8 cups of water with the 16 tea bags. Add sweetener as desired to the hot mixture, then pour over the remaining cups (8 to 10 cups) of ice cubes in the picture. This makes a lovely gallon of iced sweet tea.