A proper Long Island Iced Tea uses 0.5 oz each of vodka, gin, light rum, silver tequila, and triple sec, plus sour mix, ice, lemon, and a cola top. Measured that way, it is still strong, but it tastes like a bright cola-citrus highball instead of the harsh full-ounce version that gave the drink its reputation.
A Long Island Iced Tea is one of those cocktails people either order with nostalgia or avoid because they have met too many bad ones. The funny thing is that the classic spec is not chaotic at all. It is precise, balanced, and built on small equal pours.
The difference between a good Long Island and a punishing one is mostly the jigger. Keep the spirits at half an ounce each, use a fresh-tasting sour mix, add cola at the end, and the drink becomes crisp, citrusy, cold, and dangerously easy to understand.
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Where Long Island Iced Tea Came From
The Long Island Iced Tea is most commonly credited to Robert “Rosebud” Butt, a bartender at the Oak Beach Inn in Babylon, New York, who created it in 1972 for a triple sec cocktail contest. The trick was visual: five clear spirits, sour mix, and a cola top that made the finished drink look like iced tea.
Its reputation came later, when bars started turning the half-ounce pours into full-ounce pours. At the classic spec, the drink is strong but balanced. At the oversized bar spec, it becomes the drink everyone remembers for the wrong reasons.
Recipe: Long Island Iced Tea
Prep time: 5 minutes | Cook time: 0 minutes | Total time: 5 minutes | Serves: 1
Ingredients
The ingredient list is short, but the measurements matter more than usual here. Use 0.5 oz of each spirit so the cocktail stays balanced, then let the sour mix and cola do the softening. Fresh sour mix makes the biggest improvement; bottled sour mix can push the drink toward candy-sweet and flat. Choose light rum and silver tequila rather than aged bottles, because darker spirits change the color and make the cola taste heavier. Keep the lemon wedge simple and fresh.
- 15 ml (0.5 oz) vodka
- 15 ml (0.5 oz) London Dry gin
- 15 ml (0.5 oz) light rum
- 15 ml (0.5 oz) silver tequila
- 15 ml (0.5 oz) triple sec
- 30 ml (1 oz) sweet and sour mix, preferably homemade
- 30 to 60 ml (1 to 2 oz) cola, to top
- 1 lemon wedge, for garnish
- Ice, for the glass
Instructions
Build the drink cold and fast, and do not shake the cola. The spirits and sour mix need a quick shake with ice so they chill and blend, but the cola should go in last to keep its lift. A tall glass filled properly with ice also slows the dilution enough for the drink to stay sharp. Pour the cola slowly over the top so the color settles into that iced-tea shade instead of turning into a dark soda glass.
- Fill a Collins or tall pint glass with ice.
- Measure the vodka, gin, light rum, silver tequila, and triple sec into a shaker.
- Add the sweet and sour mix, fill the shaker with ice, and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
- Strain into the prepared glass.
- Top slowly with cola until the drink looks like iced tea, usually 1 to 2 oz.
- Squeeze a lemon wedge over the top, drop it in, and serve immediately.
Notes
The half-ounce rule is the whole drink. If each spirit becomes a full ounce, the glass jumps from a strong cocktail into something closer to a dare, and the flavor gets hot and muddy. Keep the pours equal, make the sour mix bright, and use cola for color and lift rather than sweetness.
Homemade sour mix can be as easy as equal parts fresh lemon juice and simple syrup, with a little lime juice if you like it sharper. Shake that with the spirits, then add cola only after the drink is in the glass.
Tips and Variations
Long Beach Iced Tea (Swap Cranberry for Cola)
A Long Beach Iced Tea keeps the five-spirit base and sour mix, then swaps the cola for cranberry juice. The drink turns pink, a little tarter, and more like a citrusy beach-bar highball than an iced tea lookalike. Use 100 percent cranberry juice if you can, because cranberry cocktail can make the glass too sweet and blur the lemony edge.
Keep the same measured half-ounce pours, even though the cranberry version can taste lighter than the original, because that softer fruit finish makes pacing even more important.
Adios MF (Blue Curacao for Triple Sec)
The Adios MF swaps triple sec for blue curacao and cola for lemon-lime soda. It becomes bright blue, sweeter, and more party-drink than classic highball, but the bones are still close to a Long Island because blue curacao is an orange liqueur with color added. Use a light hand with the soda so the drink stays tart and cold rather than sticky.
Keep the sour mix fresh so the drink does not turn syrupy, and garnish with a lemon wheel or lime wedge instead of anything heavy that makes an already-bright glass feel messy.
Texas Tea (Add Bourbon)
Texas Tea adds 0.5 oz bourbon to the standard Long Island base. The bourbon gives the drink a deeper vanilla and oak note, which works well with the cola, but it also makes the drink stronger and slightly heavier. Keep the bourbon measured, not free-poured.
I like this variation with a little extra lemon and a slightly larger cola top. That keeps the bourbon from flattening the citrus and helps the drink stay refreshing instead of turning into a sweet brown spirit stack.
Tokyo Tea (Midori for Triple Sec)
Tokyo Tea swaps triple sec for Midori and uses lemon-lime soda instead of cola. The result is bright green, melon-forward, and softer than the original, almost like a Long Island that took a vacation through a neon hotel bar. It is playful, but it still needs the same measured base so the melon does not cover a messy pour.
Because Midori brings plenty of sugar, reduce the sour mix slightly if your first sip tastes syrupy. A lime wheel or melon ball garnish makes sense here, but keep the measurements steady so the drink does not drift into punch.
Batch for a Pitcher
For a six-drink pitcher, combine 3 oz each vodka, gin, light rum, silver tequila, and triple sec with 6 oz sour mix. Chill that base well, then pour over ice and top each glass with 1 to 2 oz cola right before serving.
Do not add cola to the pitcher early. It will flatten before the last glass is poured, and the drink will taste dull. I also like to mark the pitcher clearly and serve smaller glasses with water nearby, because this batch looks calmer than it is.
What to Serve It With
A Long Island Iced Tea is not a delicate dinner-party cocktail. It wants salty, crispy, casual food: nachos, buffalo wings, fries, mozzarella sticks, fried calamari, pretzels, burgers, hot dogs, pulled pork sliders, or barbecue chicken. The citrus, cola, and five-spirit base need food with enough salt and fat to stand up to the glass.
It is also a drink to serve with a plan. Keep the portions measured, offer water, and do not treat it like a bottomless pitcher cocktail. The best version is fun because it is balanced, not because it sneaks up on everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Long Island Iced Tea?
A classic Long Island Iced Tea has vodka, gin, light rum, silver tequila, triple sec, sweet and sour mix, cola, ice, and lemon. The classic version uses 0.5 oz of each spirit.
Why is it called Long Island Iced Tea if there is no tea?
The name comes from the drink’s iced-tea color after cola is added, plus its Long Island origin story. There is no brewed tea in the classic cocktail.
How strong is a Long Island Iced Tea?
With the classic half-ounce pours, it is strong but not outrageous compared with other spirit-forward cocktails. Full-ounce bar pours make it much stronger and harsher.
Should a Long Island Iced Tea be shaken?
Shake the spirits and sour mix with ice, then top with cola in the glass. Do not shake the cola, or the drink will lose carbonation and taste flat.
Can I make Long Island Iced Tea ahead?
You can batch the spirits and sour mix ahead, then chill the base. Add ice and cola only when serving so the drink stays cold, fizzy, and properly diluted.
What glass should I use?
Use a Collins, highball, or tall pint glass filled with ice. The height gives room for the cola top, lemon garnish, and enough ice to keep the drink balanced.
Final Thoughts
A Long Island Iced Tea is better than its reputation when it is measured properly. Equal half-ounce pours, fresh sour mix, cola added at the end, and plenty of ice make the drink bright and balanced instead of harsh.
Make it for a backyard cookout, a beachy party night, or the kind of casual gathering where salty snacks and a big glass of water make sense beside the cocktail. The recipe is simple; the restraint is the craft.
Long Island Iced Tea
A proper Long Island Iced Tea uses 0.5 oz each of five spirits (vodka, gin, light rum, silver tequila, triple sec), 1 oz sweet and sour mix, and a cola top in a tall glass over ice.
Ingredients
- 15 ml (0.5 oz) vodka
- 15 ml (0.5 oz) London Dry gin
- 15 ml (0.5 oz) light (white) rum
- 15 ml (0.5 oz) silver (blanco) tequila
- 15 ml (0.5 oz) triple sec
- 30 ml (1 oz) sweet and sour mix, preferably homemade
- 30 to 60 ml (1 to 2 oz) cola, to top
- 1 lemon wedge, for garnish
- Ice, for the glass
Instructions
- Fill a tall Collins or pint glass to the rim with ice. The drink needs the volume of ice to stay cold while the cola goes in, so do not skimp here.
- Measure 15 ml (0.5 oz) each of vodka, gin, light rum, silver tequila, and triple sec into the bottom half of a Boston shaker. Use a jigger every time. Eyeballing the pours is what breaks this drink.
- Add 30 ml (1 oz) sweet and sour mix to the shaker. Fill the shaker with ice, seal, and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds, until the outside of the metal frosts.
- Strain the shaker contents into the prepared ice-filled glass. The liquid should come about three-quarters of the way up the glass.
- Top with 30 to 60 ml (1 to 2 oz) cola, pouring slowly so the color settles evenly. The finished drink should look like iced tea, not like cola. If it looks too dark, you used too much cola.
- Squeeze a lemon wedge over the top and drop it into the glass. Add a long straw and serve immediately.
Notes
The half-ounce spec is non-negotiable for a drink at 22 percent ABV. Doubling each pour to a full ounce gets you to 5 ounces of spirit in one glass, which is closer to a flight than a cocktail and will hit accordingly. The original 1972 spec uses the half-ounce rule for a reason.
Shake the sour mix with the spirits before the cola goes in. Shaking after the cola is added flattens the carbonation and gives you a glass of warm brown sugar water. Build, shake, strain, top, garnish, serve.
Last update on 2026-08-09 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API