Southern sweet tea is one of my favorite beverages but if it’s made right it’s anything but low carb. You have to boil the sugar in the water and then steep the tea in it. It makes a difference in the flavor that I can taste immediately.
For this recipe you’ll need: Xylitol, loose leaf tea or tea bags, lemon, mint leaves, sugar free sweetener, and tons of ice.
If you are in a hurry, feel free to Jump to the Recipe
Needless to say I don’t like unsweet tea or even unsweet tea with sweetener. It just never gets the right kind of sweet.
You can’t boil sweetener in water either, so I just pretty much gave up ever drinking sweet tea again. I know, this isn’t rocket science but it was a big deal to me and if you grew up on that syrupy sweet stuff we call sweet tea you’ll totally understand.
One day I decided to see if Xylitol would work. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol that doesn’t raise blood sugar levels. It’s the sweetener that Atkins uses in their shakes and snack bars. You get to totally discount the carbs from it.
There is one teeny problem. Some people are sensitive to it. If you don’t know how your body reacts to this stuff it’s best to drink it when you aren’t going anywhere for a few hours. It has a, well let’s just say it can have a cleansing effect on the system.
I used less Xylitol than I would have sugar and then after the tea was all done I did add a little more sweet flavor with my stevia powder. It was close enough to the real thing that I sat and drank a pitcher of it.
…I won’t be doing that again.

Use your favorite low carb/carb free add ins. I used the lemon slices as garnish but added a some of the carb free lemonade drops just to make sure there was no extra carbs happening in that stuff. You could also muddle mint leaves or whatever you like.
I promise a tall glass of this filled with ice is exactly the perfect thing for a hot, southern day.
I like xylitol … if you can find it locally it’s available on Amazon.

Table of Contents
Low Carb Southern Sweet Tea
Ingredients
- 1 cup Xylitol
- 1/2 gallon filtered water
- Generous 1/3 cup loose leaf tea or 3 family sized tea bags
- Tons of ice
- Lemon
- Mint leaves
- Sweetener to taste
Instructions
- Put the water in a large pot.
- Add the Xylitol and bring just to the boiling point, stirring until it is dissolved.
- Immediately remove from the heat.
- Stir in the tea or add tea bags.
- Steep tea bags for 5 minutes or loose leaf tea for 3.
- Remove tea bags or strain the loose leaf.
- Pour tea into a pitcher and let come to room temperature before adding ice.
- Taste and add sweetener of choice to get it just right.
Notes
Nutrition
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What about using a coffee maker?
I’ve never done it that way.
What are the macros?
0 net carbs. 0 calories.
Can you also use erythrotal? Or Swerve as that’s what I have on hand.
yes.
Does “steep” mean to leave on the burner that has been turned off? Love the hint of baking soda to keep the tea clear~! <3
It just means to leave the tea in the water for the recommended time. 🙂
I just want to say that I *love* your pitcher and glasses! And I’m also loving reading all of your recipes! Thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks. The pitcher and glasses were my moms… I think maybe from the 1940s?