This notorious drink has earned a reputation for packing a powerful punch, but in the original recipe lies a certain amount of nuance to achieving a smooth drink with so many powerful players in the mix. 

With a little context for the alcohol volume of this drink (and maybe a little soda water to help you pace yourself), the Long Island Iced Tea can be a sipping quality cocktail that you can make right at home.

What Is a Long Island Iced Tea?

The Long Island Iced Tea, sometimes abbreviated as LIIT, is a cocktail that includes five different kinds of alcohol, a splash of cola, and some sweet and sour, served over ice. Notoriously strong, the drink gets its amber color from a splash of cola. The drink’s name ultimately derives from this color, rather than using tea as an ingredient.

How Strong Is a Long Island Iced Tea?

The Long Island Iced Tea contains on average 22% alcohol by volume (ABV). It’s one of the strongest drinks you can order, and is equivalent to consuming 4-5 beers in a single glass.

Long Island Iced Tea Recipe

Serving size: 1 drink

Drink strength: 22% ABV

Prep time: <15 minutes

Equipment needed:

• A highball glass
• Cocktail shaker

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ oz gin
• 1 ½ oz tequila
• 1 ½ oz vodka
• 1 ½ oz white rum
• 1 ½ oz triple sec
• 3 oz Gomme Syrup
• 2 ½ oz lemon juice
• 1 sash cola
• Ice
• Optional: lemon wheel for garnish

Directions:

1. Fill your cocktail shaker with ice and pour the gin, tequila, vodka, rum, triple sec, Gomme Syrup, and lemon juice into the shaker.
2. Shake for a few seconds until chilled.
3. Pour the drink over the glass filled with ice, and add a splash of cola.
4. Garnish with a lemon wheel and serve.

Notes:

• You can stir the cola gently into the drink with a straw, but don’t add it to the shaker.
• You can use sweet and sour mix in place of the lemon juice, it may just have more processed ingredients.

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The History of the Long Island Iced Tea

As with most stories of cocktail inventors, the credit for who invented the Long Island Iced Tea has been disputed. The most widely supported claim is that the drink was invented by Robert "Rosebud" Butt, as an entry into a contest to invent a new triple sec drink. Rosebud worked at the Oak Beach Inn on Long Island at the time, hence where the drink was given its name.

But another has come forward to claim credit for the LIIT’s invention — Tennessee. According to lore, the drink was created in a community known as Long Island in Tennessee, purportedly during the Prohibition period. However, this particular cocktail included whiskey and maple syrup, and the proportions of the other liquors in the drink were not even as they are in today’s Long Island Iced Tea.

It seems more likely that Rosebud’s was the original LIIT, and that the drink from Tennessee was a distant cousin, similar in large part due to its shared propensity for combining copious amounts of potent spirits.

Long Island Iced Tea Ingredients

The Long Island Iced Tea ironically does not contain any actual iced tea. Instead, it’s a concoction of five different kinds of hard liquor, flavored with lemon juice or sweet and sour and a dash of cola, and sweetened with a few ounces of Gomme Syrup. In some cases, people will swap out the dash of cola or diet cola, or even — you guessed it — iced tea.

The original Long Island Iced Tea includes equal parts each of vodka, gin, silver rum, tequila, and triple sec.

The Best Gin for a Long Island Iced Tea

A dry gin is best for a Long Island Iced Tea. Gins with a heavy juniper note might prove to be too pungent for the drink, so a staple variety like Tanqueray is usually best.

Can You Leave Out the Tequila?

You might be searching your liquor cabinet and realizing you come up a bottle or two short to make this liquor intensive cocktail. You can make a Long Island Iced Tea without tequila, but just like with any drink, it won’t really be a traditional LIIT. If you choose to omit the tequila and want to keep the alcohol content the same, you’ll need to add about ¼ ounce extra each of the gin, triple sec, vodka, and rum to compensate.

What Is Gomme Syrup?

Gomme syrup is a concentrated sugar syrup made in ratios of 2:1 sugar to water. It’s flavored with gum arabic, which is crystallized Acacia tree sap, and has a slight orange blossom taste to it. Gomme Syrup, or gum syrup, can have the effect of slightly emulsifying, or thickening, your drink.

Long Island Iced Tea Recipe Variations You Can Try

There are plenty of spinoffs on the original Long Island Iced Tea, each with one common thing: lots and lots of alcohol. Play around in particular with variations on the cola and triple sec to get a more unique flavor.

Tennessee Iced Tea: For a variation that more closely resembles Tennessee’s claim to the Long Island Iced Tea, swap out the tequila for a nice rye whiskey from Tennessee instead.

Long Island Iced Tea with whiskey: Also known as a Texas Tea, add an ounce or so of whiskey or bourbon to the recipe for making this version of the Long Island Iced Tea.

Hawaiian Iced Tea: Swap out the cola for pineapple juice and the Gomme Syrup for orgeat syrup for a more tropical take on the tea.

Long Beach Tea: Simply replace the cola with cranberry juice for this variation.

How to Make a Long Island Iced Tea

Making a Long Island Iced Tea requires a fully stocked bar and a cocktail shaker. Have a large glass to serve it in, such as a highball or a Collins glass.

To get started, you’ll need:

• A highball glass
• Cocktail shaker
• 1 ½ oz gin
• 1 ½ oz tequila
• 1 ½ oz vodka
• 1 ½ oz white rum
• 1 ½ oz triple sec
• 3 oz Gomme Syrup
• 2 ½ oz lemon juice
• 1 splash cola
• Ice
• Optional: lemon wheel for garnish

1. Fill your cocktail shaker with ice cubes (not crushed — you don’t want to water down this drink).
2. Pour the gin, tequila, vodka, rum, triple sec, Gomme Syrup, and lemon juice into the shaker. Shake for a few seconds until chilled.
3. Pour the drink over the glass filled with ice, and add a splash of cola. Garnish with a lemon wheel and serve.

Enjoy promptly.

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If you like this drink, try:

Mai Tai recipe

Margarita recipe

Cosmopolitan recipe