Artificial Food Coloring Free Southern Sweet Iced Tea

Sweet, refreshing, and made entirely from scratch, this classic Southern iced tea is the kind of drink that disappears fast at any gathering. It's brewed with just black tea bags, water, and granulated sugar — nothing more, nothing less. That simplicity is exactly what makes it such a reliable choice when you're avoiding store-bought beverages loaded with unnecessary additives and synthetic dyes. Many commercial sweet teas and bottled drinks sneak in colorings to deepen their hue, but this one gets its gorgeous amber color purely from properly steeped black tea. The technique matters here: steeping without squeezing the bags keeps bitterness at bay, and dissolving the sugar while the tea is still hot ensures every sip is perfectly balanced. A tall glass over ice with a lemon slice and a sprig of fresh mint turns something simple into something genuinely special. It's the kind of homemade staple that makes you wonder why you ever reached for a bottle in the first place.

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