sweet tea vodka

[maritime]

thought i would post this here also.

my wife and her friends are into the sweet tea vodkas. they are damn pricey for what it is.
so i took,
750ml of 40%, always birdwatchers for me.
steeped two tea bags for 48hrs
then added 1/3 cup of white sugar, shook well a few times.
it is right on. dead ringer for the store stuff, at around $4 a bottle.

[SuburbanStiller]

Never heard of this. The gals like it do they?

When I was a little kid my gramma used to make sun tea - just a few teabags in a big jar with water and leave it out in the summer sun all day. Then we'd put it in the fridge overnight and have ice tea the next day. Do you have to heat the likker while its steeping? How do you serve it- cold? over ice? mixed? watered down? Have you tried brown sugar or honey as a sweetner?

[Caprimulgus]

Ever tried using Lapsang Suchong? If not, you are in for a smokey treat!

[NcHooch]

that;s a great idea ....I love me some sweet tea, and so does Mrs Hooch

NChooch

[maritime]

it is the rave around me.

i just made 40% from my birdwatchers
tied the two bags together and dropped them in. i had it sit next to oven on the counter for both days. my wife was baking cookies.
i'm sure you could set it in the sun and do the sun tea thing with it.
i didn't want to heat it, you will loose the good stuff through evaporation.
i think you could make sun tea or boil water and steep, then us that tea to cut your 95% down to 40%.

my wife takes a shot of tea vodka and tops it off with some regular sweet tea, on the rocks. never know it's there.
enjoy.

[athiril]

Ever tried using Lapsang Suchong? If not, you are in for a smokey treat!

Thats such a good tea.

Even just taking it out of the wrapper the smokey aroma hits you straight away, its great.

[andrewgwu]

Glad I ran across this...My brother's fiance loves the firefly stuff... I hope to make a small batch soon to give to her. I done my cleaning runs last weekend and I am ready for my first drinkable run as soon as I return from being out of town for new years. I have 10 gallons of Gerber fermenting and I am about to strip it and put 10 more gallons to work.

[scotty]

I have 10 gallons of sugar wash that is almost ready for the boiler.

I didnt like any of the infused vodka that i made from my last run. Except for the orange infused one.

This tea thing sounds great. It will make a good gift. Thanks for the post. and recipe

[treka]

Sounds interesting. Never seen sweet tea vodka before. Might make some and try it on the mrs.

what kind of tea are you using now? Just curious as I would imagine it would change the flavour a lot and I dont have all that much vodka to spare just now. The Lapsang Suchong also sounds like it might be worth a try in the future too....

[maritime]

i couldn't tell you what tea bags i put in it. what ever the wife had in the litte jar.
next time i may go up to 3 bags, just to get a stronger tea flavor, but the sugar is right on.
the firefly(store brand) is only 35 or 36%, so mine is stronger, but i always make 40%. wife says she can taste the difference.

i don't really drink the stuff, but she's happy.

[Rargh]

Well I have never tried the commercial stuff so I have nothing to compare against but I made some of this and its great.

Had some birdwatchers lying about that didn't fit into anything in particular. I was thinking what can I do with it and I remembered about this.

It wont be hanging around too long I can tell you

Cheers

[Braz]

I gave a bottle to my trusted bartender, who likes sweet tea vodka. Next time I went in she was raving about how much better mine was than the stuff on the shelf. Figured that might be a good time to mention that I was looking for a keg. Came away with one for the cost of the deposit ($30).

I only left the tea bags in for about 6 hours because my wife told me it could turn bitter if steeped too long. I also used 1/3 cup of water with the sugar and made a simple syrup to add to the vodka thinking it would mix better.

[maritime]

glad you guys like this one.
my wife is almost out of the batch i made.
time for another.

i too thought about make a simple syrup instead of dumping sugar in. one problem is the sugar solidifying on the mason jar ring. i need to get a different bottle for this.

[Elroy303030]

I know this is a older thread, but Im wishing it was summer already.. Cant wait to try this.

[Bushman]

It's a good recipe, I haven't made it in a while but liked the results when I did!

[stillenand chillen]

Chillen and I were just reading this one and remembered about the recipe for choco - vodka. Had to put the bottle of vodka in the dishwasher to melt the chocolate. So I thought we would do the same to invert the sugar and release the tea. It's in the dishwasher as we speak. Let you know how it turns out.

[myphriend]

I made a sweet tea vodka last summer and everyone loved it, I added a good sized lemon wedge or a 1/2 a peach to each quart for a day or two just for a little extra zing for the ladies. Fourth of July I must have gone through a gallon in one weekend. I also used a simple syrup, it made it easier to get the sweetness just right.

[ipee7ABV]

i don't drink tea but love this stuff. what kind of tea is everyone useing.

[frozenthunderbolt]

i don't drink tea but love this stuff. what kind of tea is everyone useing.

I tried earl grey and was sad not to get the lovely bergamont flavor over - it just tasted generically tea-ish

[ipee7ABV]

no earl grey. got it

[rgarry]

I will make some today and post feedback. If this is as good as posted, then maybe tried and true is in its future

[HungoverHog]

This sounds great. I may need to look into making some neutral.

[Drauka99]

Mine turned out PERFECT... I diluted with filtered water to 100proof and am letting it bottle age a little.... a very little

[USACelt]

WOW,
I'm gunna be in trouble again for makin stuff the old lady can't get enough of.

Used two bags of "Constant Comment" and the sugar and POW, that stuff is smoooooth.


Thanks for the recipe!!!!

[zouthernborne]

Got a bottle of this up in the cabinet right now. I'm slowly building my bar thanks to the recipes on this site. It's amazing how many different bottles of booze you can get when you combine this site and a 10 gallon wash of birdwatchers.

[bentstick]

Got a bottle of this up in the cabinet right now. I'm slowly building my bar thanks to the recipes on this site. It's amazing how many different bottles of booze you can get when you combine this site and a 10 gallon wash of birdwatchers.

zouthren feels good to know it is better than the store bought!
Wife liked the sound of this but is using Assom Melodey tea(I have no clue) she is the expert.

[NcHooch]

ended up with some really nice piggyback white after a slow run in my flute ... I started 2 quarts of this today after diluting down to 80 proof. 1 bag Earl Grey, 1 bag irish breakfast in each. I'll sweeten it up on Sunday.
I can hardly wait to try it

[bentstick]

Wife loved it,we used simple syurp instead of plain sugar.
Tell ya what, it must be the caffine in it, holly hell after 3 small glasses on the rocks of this,she was bouncing off the the walls good for happy drunk time.

[mendodistilling]

Has anyone tried to dilute the vodka w/ premade sweet tea vs. direct tea bag submersion to see how the flavor would change?

Also, how much of the sugar recrystallizes in solution? Does it only happen above the solution level?

This sounds really good, I'd love to bring a pitcher of this to a summer dinner party, its definitely right up my alley of flavor for SURE! Thanks for the recipe!


Also, I found some tips on wikipedia about historical sweet tea recipes. They used Green Tea pre WW1, black tea afterwards. I'm not a sweet tea expert or even a tea savy person at all, I'm just curious what anyones experiences are with using green tea might be? I'm gonna have to make some of this!!!

I also read that baking soda was used for tannins from the tea, I wondered what that would do, is it that noticable of a bitter taste in alcohol? Anyone know any party foul issues in mixing baking soda w/ alcohol?

[HolyBear]

Hell Yea!!! I can't believe that I hadn't thought of this before. We here in tha south love us some sweet tea. I know to those across the pond, it might be sacrelidge, but damn this is some good stuff!!! I took a half gallon of birdwatcher diluted down to 60%, added two bags of "morning thunder"by by celestial seasonings, sweetened to taste, set out in the sun like sun tea to melt the sugar.... Damn.,. Cup packed full of ice (when it melts helps to dilute)... PERFECT!!! I'm considering sending a quart to Rush Limbaugh to give him an idea for his "Two if by Tea" line.... I bet he'd make a killing!!!!