Dolly Parton’s Secret to the Best Sweet Tea Ever

A pitcher of homemade sweet tea is a beacon of Southern hospitality. Always at the ready, you can offer a glass of the refreshing drink to any guest, at any time.

While you can find gallons of sweet tea at almost any grocery store in the South, locals pride themselves on their homemade recipes. Some swear by certain tea brands; others make simple syrup for sweetening, and nearly all houses have a special pitcher dedicated to serving the sweet stuff.

So, it’s really no surprise that Tennessee native Dolly Parton included a recipe for sweet tea in her latest cookbook Good Lookin’ Cookin’. What is surprising, though, is a special ingredient she adds to her tea after brewing.

For The Best Sweet Tea, Just Add Baking Soda

Strange as it may sound, adding a pinch of baking soda to a black tea after brewing is a fairly well-known Southern trick for tamping down bitterness. (My mother-in-law, born and raised in North Carolina, even adds a pinch of baking soda to her coffee grounds right before brewing for a smoother sip.)

Baking soda reportedly neutralizes the natural bitterness of black tea, and helps reduce cloudiness, often a result of brewing and then chilling the teas most often used for Southern-style sweet tea.

How to Use Dolly’s Sweet Tea Tip

Dolly’s recipe calls for brewing five family-sized bags of tea in four cups of just-boiled water. After steeping for 15 minutes, the bags are wrung out and “a pinch” of baking soda is added. (For a gallon of tea, I’d estimate using 1/4 teaspoon baking soda.)

At that point, Dolly sweetens the tea with granulated sugar and finishes it by adding cool water and chilling before serving over ice. (Don’t forget the lemon wedges.)

While I might disagree with Dolly about steeping time, and I have a favorite tea for brewing (Luizanne’s, if you must know), I did find her baking soda tip made for a very smooth, refreshing pitcher of sweet tea. Even my father-in-law—who considers himself a bit of a sweet tea connoisseur—commented on the deliciousness of this particular pitcher.

The next time you want to make a pitcher of what Dolly famously called “the house wine of the South,” try adding a pinch of baking soda for the best glass of sweet tea you’ve ever tasted.