How to Build a Sweet Tea Bar for Outdoor Parties

How to Build a Sweet Tea Bar everyone will love – this creative party idea will elevate your backyard barbecues this summer. Put your own special Southern twist on an outdoor drink station.

The following post is sponsored by Southern Breeze Sweet Tea. However, all thoughts, ideas and opinions are 100% my own.

Memorial Day weekend marks the start of summer; bike rides, American Flags, hotdogs and cold beverages. It doesn’t get much better than that. Every year, Austin and I  go to the beach, hangout with family and eat a ton of barbecue! So with the holiday weekend right around the corner, I started brainstorming DIY party ideas for outdoor gatherings. You may know that I recently partnered with Southern Breeze Sweet Tea, which gave me the inspiration for this perfect idea: a Southern Sweet Tea Bar.

Cold Brew Sweet Tea

I want to start by saying that you can use any sweet tea for this drink station – home-brewed or store-bought.

I prefer to use Southern Breeze Cold Brew because it is zero calories and guilt free so it can be enjoyed glass after glass. It’s easy to make too; they offer both single serve and family sized bags. The family sized bags are best for this sweet tea bar. Learn more about How to Make Sweet Tea. I also love that Southern Breeze has a full-line up of flavors to choose from. If you want to learn more about this zero calorie cold brew, check out my honest review here.

For my sweet tea bar, I decided to serve 3 flavors: peach, raspberry and classic sweet tea. You may also choose to serve half-and-half, unsweet or green tea if you’re feeling zen. My advice is to judge your crowd, pick one or two fruit flavors, but be sure to serve something classic that everyone can enjoy.

Toppings & Garnishes

I took the liberty of developing a few flavor combinations for you to try – all tested and approved by me. Well, I guess you can say my family has a hand in this too. I used them as my guinea pigs for this post. 😉 I was actually shocked that my dad said he liked the original Southern Breeze cold brew because he usually drinks unsweet or diet! Of course, Austin went for peach-basil and my step mom had the raspberry-mint.

• Peach Tea – Basil
• Half-and-Half – Lemons or Strawberries
• Classic Sweet tea – Oranges, Limes or Lemons
• Raspberry Tea – Berries, Lemons, Mint or Basil
• Unsweet – Lemons, Limes, Oranges, Cherries or Strawberries
• Green tea – Berries, Cherries, Oranges or Limes
• Don’t forget ice!

Personally, my favorite is the peach-basil combo. However, there are hundreds of combinations you can serve on your sweet tea bar. My #1 recommendation is that you serve FRESH fruits and herbs to keep the tea light and refreshing. I am interested to see what other flavors you come up with so if you decide to make your own sweet tea bar, post a photo on instagram and tag me @bluecheesebungalow!

Supplies

• Mason jars – one for each guest
• 3 large carafes or pitchers
• Mini servings bowls
• Cute cocktail napkins
• Paper straws

I try to keep things simple for parties… and I think most of you will appreciate that. Everything I used for this drink station set-up is from Target and linked below. I am not getting paid for anything you purchase – I just like shopping there 🙂

Large Carafe | Kitchen Towel | Mini White Bowls| Mason Jars| Serving Tray

Share the sweetness y’all!

Kelsey Renee

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