Long Island Iced Tea Recipe (2024)

It’s amusing that someone considering a co*cktail with a laundry list of alcohol would blanch at the notion of having a little bit of co*ke in the mix. With 8 ounces of co*ke and factoring in the recommended 4 to 6 servings, you will be consuming at most a quarter cup. You’ll live. There are also numerous boutique soda brands out there now, who tend to use real sugar and less of it, assuming that’s likely a big part of the concern.

Make sure you have a designated driver. Deceptively intoxicating. We won't serve them in our restaurant.

Cola is a traditional part of the drink. Any brand will work. It won't be a Long Island Iced Tea without it, though.

Waiting tables in Charlottesville and later DC in the 1980s at fine restaurants this was always considered a down market drink and individuals who ordered it were suspect. Usually groups of people who would stiff you on the tip. Glad to see the recipe but still not convinced it is much of a drink but rather an express train to being drunk.

I rarely have more than a glass of wine and I usually order iced tea. At a job interview, having no idea what a "Long Island" iced tea was, I was asked if I wanted to try one at lunch. I agreed. I could tell it was alcoholic, but it didn't seem that strong. Luckily I was not driving, and I did get the job. And I do like the drink.

Jean, the Coca-Cola is what gives it the color of tea...hence the name. At least that's what I was told years ago. You'll live after a couple of sips. Trust me. It's delicious!!!

When I was in grad school in the 1980s, this drink was very popular and it was a regular Friday evening favorite amongst my group of friends. After our last class of the week, we would often gather at a bar on Newbury Street in Boston specifically for the Long Island Iced Teas. Seeing the list of ingredients now gives me pause but thinking about this drink brings back great memories. Cheers!

A martini is an express train to being drunk. 3 of these might get you there, but then, it's also a 3rd class ticket to the same destination.

This brings me back to my college days, circa mid-to-late-1970s. If you wanted a very quick buzz, you ordered one of these. For the "unsophisticated drinker" whose introduction to alcohol was a sloe gin fizz, this was often the second step, but the results were much more dramatic. I haven't had one of these in more than 40 years. Thanks for the memories.

Well, seeing the ingredients explains a lot.

For a more natural 'cola' flavor, check out the co*cktail syrups from Liber & Co. Order from their website or amazon. Their sugarcane 'Kola' syrup is fantastic. From their website: "A kola with a ‘k’ - made from the African kola nut, the original ingredient and eponym for the iconic drink. Crucially, this is a kola meant for co*cktails. Rich spices including cinnamon, vanilla and coffee anchor the flavor while top notes of citrus like bitter orange and lime offer a crisp finish"

Add pink grapefruit juice and it is a Long Beach Iced Tea.

Brings back the 1979 memory of my only LIIT experience. I was a Longislander in my first year of school at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. My new found southern friends asked me to come with them to a 2 for1 happy hour at Darryl’s restaurant/bar. I knew not of LIIT but my friends insisted because I carpetbagged from there. How light, refreshing, and not very alcohol-tasting! I drank one, then a quarter of my “free” one. I went to get up to go to the bathroom and fell off the barstool..

WorkedIn a bar in the mid 80’s and was never given the actual recipe for LIIT. I was using full shots of each liquor until 6 month after I started and the owner watched me make a couple and freaked out! It was supposed to be 1/2 shots

Try the same recipe but loose the salt and maple syrup. That's the original, not overly fancy recipe.

One ounce of maple syrup is adequate. Try good quality maple syrup and be sure to store the opened container in the fridge. The syrup should be amber in color.

co*ke Zero works just as well as regular co*ke.

I love the pitcher format but not the maple syrup. Not a flavor I want to detect in a co*cktail outside of a hankering for an autumn-themed old fashioned once in a while. Also, like honey, it’s not an ideal mixer and can get gloppy. And for the love of all that is holy, please never use maple-flavored pancake syrup if you’re using maple…not that anyone here would :) Maple and lime juice remind me of that weird “master cleanse juice” that was so popular in the 2000s. Okay. Rant over.

At my girlfriend's 19th birthday - circa 1969 - her girlfriends gifted her a Long Island Iced tea - I tried to warn her to no avail. At the time we both went to a Connecticut college just across the border from New York State where the drinking age was 18. Anyway, after three Long Island Iced Teas, my girlfriend passed out and I had to drive her back to her dorm and sneak her in. Lesson here, don't drink and drive - unless your boyfriend will bring your inert body back to the dorm.

I did the Penguin Plunge at Hampton Beach for the Special Olympics in 2007. On the bus we had cinnamon shock. Once at the event (with 2000 others) I had 3 long island ice teas. We had the courage at -3F and a 25 mile an hour wind thanks to the teas. I never felt the cold and we raised $25000 for the charity. I couldn't do it again, but boy, did we have a blast!!!

Many years ago Rob Feenie’s Lumiere restaurant served a drink that tasted to me like a less sweet LIT, that he published in his Lumiere Light cookbook. Wash a lime and cut into quarters, drop into rock glass. Add 1 tsp simple syrup, or in a pinch, some sugar will do. Muddle the limes so the juice and oils are released. Add 2 oz blended scotch (don’t waste expensive single malt)! Add ice, stir. Shockingly delicious. Basically a Brazillian Caipirinha, but with scotch instead of cachaca.

This was a popular drink when I bartended in Brussels in the late 80s. Mostly teenagers looking for the most bang for their money

Having grown up and worked in clubs on Long Island in the 70s and 80s, I speak from experience. On Long Island, at that time, we only knew the co*cktail as an "Iced Tea." There was no mention of Long Island. It wasn't until I was at a club in Florida in the early 80s that I overheard someone order a "Long Island Iced Tea." I had no idea what she was talking about. Also, maple syrup in an Iced Tea? No. Also of note, on Long Island, some bartenders used 7-Up, not co*ke. And a spritz of sour mix

It was 1978, freshman year at SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island, and I was in Baby Joey's - the bar in the basem*nt of the Irving College dorm, spinning grateful dead, marshall Tucker and rocky horror picture soundtrack records (not to be called vinyl for 20+ years) among others when I first had and learned to make a long island iced tea. Pretty much the only mixed drink you could get that didn't make the ingredients in the name (e. g. Gin & tonic).

Best hangover drink ever! Why on Earth would you ever want one of these unless you have a drinking problem?

Hold everything but the tequila, lime and salt. Hold it between your knees.

I grew up in Duluth. During early 80s summer breaks there from college, I would gather with friends at Grandmas Saloon and Deli. We’d eat their amazing Monte Christo sandwiches (the best anywhere) and toss back several Long Island Iced Teas. Seeing the ingredients now confirms why we always had such a great time!!!!!

As finance challenged college students, we spent many a Friday night at Googies bar on Sullivan Street, slinging back buckets of their delicious Long Island Ice Teas, stumbling home to our 6th floor walk up apartment on Sullivan Street. I am not proud of our shenanigans, but boy was it fun. Great drink, and boy does it catch up with you fast!

The bar in DC I used to work at would make this in a big pint glass with 1oz of all the liquors above, no maple syrup, 1oz sour mix, and 1oz Coca Cola.

Haven't had a LIIT since 1983 when I was a student at the University of New Hampshire. It was a one-time experience. Not sure how many I had that evening, but three days later I met up with a friend at the same restaurant and when I arrived the staff greeted me with glares. The hostess, who'd seemed so friendly on my first visit, walked up to me, arms akimbo, and asked, "So, are you hear to entertain us again?"