I love sweet tea.... but I hate consuming all that sugar. Some time ago, I had begun using Stevia as an alternative to sweeten my coffee. At the recommendation of a friend, I use Nu Naturals Alcohol-free Liquid Stevia. I barely notice that I don't have sugar in my coffee. I recommend this brand also. I did try another brand of stevia because NuNaturals is not available to me locally and I was out and needed some. I went to the local bulk food store and bought 'off the shelf'. I was very disappointed to discover that all stevia is not created equal. I order mine on Amazon:
Anywho, back to my sweet tea, I was craving some this afternoon and having recently seen on Pinterest a method to make iced tea with your Keurig, I decided to give it a try and make mine calorie-free. It took a few tries to get it figured out but I finally did and enjoyed my tall glass of guilt-free sweet tea.
My first attempt, I used the My K-cup filter like Christine did. The tea was very weak and not good. I tossed that out and started again, using just the K-cup insert that comes with the machine. If you go this route, be very careful inserting the tea bag; there are sharp objects in there. (I know the machines say this but I feel like I need to put that so I'm not liable for an emergency room visit or something.) The first time I used this method, I used too much ice and nearly overflowed my glass. The third attempt was the winner. Here's what I did:
Fill a tall (16 oz) glass 1/3 to 1/2 full with ice cubes and place under the Keurig dispenser. (You will need to remove the bottom 'spacer thingy'.) (not the technical term, haha)
Then take a tea bag and wet it quickly under the tap. I used store brand classic tea:
Carefully tuck the tea bag in the cavity instead of a K-cup and, leaving the tag dangle over the edge, pull the lever down.
| Sorry this is such a poor picture. It's very difficult for this amateur photographer to photograph a dark hole and be able to discern what is in there. :) |
After closing the top, choose the smaller cup size and let it brew. It will melt the ice somewhat but not to worry, you will add more later. This is what it looked like after brewing:
Lastly, you add the stevia (I use about 1/2 dropper of the 2 oz bottle I noted above) and top off the glass with ice. Give it a quick stir and enjoy your ice cold sweet tea with NO GUILT.
I am aware that there are K-cups with tea but they are usually not cheap and this route gets you the same results for much less money.