Sweet Tea!

ScottM

ScottM

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iBazinga!
Yep time for another sweet tea thread.

I just am feeling a little left out from all the cool Gaston's posts. Great reads and it sounds like y'all had fun.

But anyway with temps into the 80's here it is time to sit back and drink some nice cool tea. Up here in yankee land we can't get sweet tea. So here is a recipe for all of y'alls that are inclinded to make it yourself.

Southern Sweet Tea

Start to finish: 10 minutes. Makes 1 gallon.

12 bags black tea

6 cups boiling water, plus additional cold water

1 to 1-1/2 cups sugar

Ice

Lemon wedges or fresh mint sprigs (optional)

Place the tea bags in a large heat-proof 1-gallon pitcher. Add the boiling water and steep for 5 minutes.

Spoon out the tea bags and squeeze them into the tea, then discard the tea bags.

Stir in 1 cup sugar. Add enough cold water to fill the pitcher. Taste and adjust with remaining sugar as desired.

To serve, pour into ice-filled glasses, then garnish with lemon wedges or fresh mint.
 
Ahem. There is no such thing as "sweet tea." It is, simply, "tea." The abomination and corruption of the recipe that is made sans sugar is known as "unsweetened tea." Or, more appropriately, "northern swill."
 
alaskaflyer said:
Ahem. There is no such thing as "sweet tea." It is, simply, "tea." The abomination and corruption of the recipe that is made sans sugar is known as "unsweetened tea." Or, more appropriately, "northern swill."
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You've got that all backwards. Damn southern yokels cannot appreciate the refined, sensual taste of unadultered tea. God forbid something shouldn't be altered by heaps of fat and sugar...

Cheers,

-Andrew
who thinks sweet tea is the Devil's own nectar
 
alaskaflyer said:
Ahem. There is no such thing as "sweet tea." It is, simply, "tea." The abomination and corruption of the recipe that is made sans sugar is known as "unsweetened tea." Or, more appropriately, "northern swill."
Click to expand...

One of my professors learned the hard way that if you order "tea" here in SC, you'd best be expecting sugar in it. Then he went on a spree of occasions where he tried to teach waitresses that "regular tea" means "unsweetened". Never really worked.

Personally, I like a little bit of tea with my sugar. ;)
 
alaskaflyer said:
Ahem. There is no such thing as "sweet tea." It is, simply, "tea." The abomination and corruption of the recipe that is made sans sugar is known as "unsweetened tea." Or, more appropriately, "northern swill."
Click to expand...

There is only one way to make tea IMO. Iced and sweet. :yes:
 
wbarnhill said:
One of my professors learned the hard way that if you order "tea" here in SC, you'd best be expecting sugar in it. Then he went on a spree of occasions where he tried to teach waitresses that "regular tea" means "unsweetened". Never really worked.
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Often an outsider will attempt to educate locals in North Carolina on the ways things should be done by explaining the way it is done in the North. The usual response is that they are welcome to return to the North.

Personally I preferred the last invasion of the South by the Northerners - it was not only legal to shoot them, it was encouraged.:rofl:
 
NC Pilot said:
Often an outsider will attempt to educate locals in North Carolina on the ways things should be done by explaining the way it is done in the North. The usual response is that they are welcome to return to the North.

Personally I preferred the last invasion of the South by the Northerners - it was not only legal to shoot them, it was encouraged.:rofl:
Click to expand...

But unfortunately they are rubbing off. Last week I was in Cary, North Carolina (Westchester South) and some of the $#&* restaurants are caving and serving unsweet tea as default :eek:

Yeah, I know, Cary really isn't in North Carolina any more ;), but still...
 
alaskaflyer said:
But unfortunately they are rubbing off. Last week I was in Cary, North Carolina (Westchester South) and some of the $#&* restaurants are caving and serving unsweet tea as default :eek:

Yeah, I know, Cary really isn't in North Carolina any more ;), but still...
Click to expand...

Cary = Containment Area for Relocated Yankees
 
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Had lunch today with a guy from Lynchburg. Ordered ice tea - so did he, then he called the waitron back to say "unsweet, please"....
 
wsuffa said:
Had lunch today with a guy from Lynchburg. Ordered ice tea - so did he, then he called the waitron back to say "unsweet, please"....
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To quote Rush... "The way things ought to be." :yes:
 
Nothing worse that taking a big 'ole drink of what you think is unsweetened tea, only to find out it's tea colored sugar water. Blech! :vomit:
 
ausrere said:
Nothing worse that taking a big 'ole drink of what you think is unsweetened tea, only to find out it's tea colored sugar water. Blech! :vomit:
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Oh, there's worse. It's getting a glass of OLD tea which has a tannin buildup so it tastes like they boiled old auto tires in it. The unsweet iced tea they served at Gaston's for Saturday night dinner was just over the edge of that.
 
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mikea said:
Oh, there's worse. It's getting a glass of OLD tea which has a tannin buildup so it tastes like they boiled old auto tires in it. The iced tea they served at Gaston's for Saturday night dinner was just over the edge of that.
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i guess i thought thats what all tea tasted like
 
:rofl:
NC Pilot said:
Often an outsider will attempt to educate locals in North Carolina on the ways things should be done by explaining the way it is done in the North. The usual response is that they are welcome to return to the North.

Personally I preferred the last invasion of the South by the Northerners - it was not only legal to shoot them, it was encouraged.:rofl:
Click to expand...

Hey pal, we crushed you once... we can do it again. Next time, we make tea (not that sugary pap you all proclaim to love, but unadultered, unfettered, pure delicious tea) the national beverage!

:rofl:

Cheers,

-Andrew
if you don't know my tounge is in my cheek... sigh.
 
alaskaflyer said:
Yeah, I know, Cary really isn't in North Carolina any more ;), but still...
Click to expand...
Most often heard quote in Cary - "Hey, where can I get a copy of the New Yok times?"

I live 5 miles from Cary and will not go there unless I have to.
 
astanley said:
:rofl:

Hey pal, we crushed you once... we can do it again. Next time, we make tea (not that sugary pap you all proclaim to love, but unadultered, unfettered, pure delicious tea) the national beverage!

:rofl:

Cheers,

-Andrew
if you don't know my tounge is in my cheek... sigh.
Click to expand...

Is the harbor still tea flavored? :rolleyes:
 
Still working on the sweet tea line map. Today I do have the sad news to report that Brownsville, TX has the world's worst tasting sweet tea. Sorry. Brownville........bleeeeeech.
 
Unsweet tea? Why?

*blech*
 
I just loved my grandmama's tea - it was strong and sweet enough that if you were careful about what you were doing you could WALK on it! :)
 
etsisk said:
I just loved my grandmama's tea - it was strong and sweet enough that if you were careful about what you were doing you could WALK on it! :)
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Must be the 'real' thing -- my grandmother still refuses to measure the sugar she puts in the jar when making tea. She actually makes it in a 1-gallon pickle jar (she has 3 of them that have survived many many many years of tea making). In her old age, though, she must be unable to see sugar b/c it's getting closer and closer to tea syrup. ha! Good stuff on a hot Alabama Sunday afternoon, though!
 
Frank Browne said:
Hmmm.....JOHNNY GET YER GUN! :lightning:;)
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You won't be able to... the diabetic shock from drinking sweet "tea" all afternoon will make you guys roll over! :D One of you guys are probably going to come back and say you put milk and sugar in your coffee, too. Heck, you may even ICE it first.

Seriously, though, I cannot really do sweet tea. It is so sweet it hurts my teeth. I drink my coffee black, my wine red, my bourbon neat, and my tea steeped perfectly. That means 3 minutes, from initial splash, of 195F water. Green teas go less than that, 180-170F for 1-3 minutes (depending on particular varietal), and black teas (like Pu-erh, the greatest tea in the world) go a wee bit longer (because the tea is fermented first, a great deal of the tannin is converted in the tea)

I think it warrants mentioning that 99.999% of people overbrew tea, overextracting the tannin in the tea and giving it that mouth puckeringly bitter flavor, which is an equal abomination as adding sugar (or lemon or milk) to said tea.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
astanley said:
You won't be able to... the diabetic shock from drinking sweet "tea" all afternoon will make you guys roll over! :D One of you guys are probably going to come back and say you put milk and sugar in your coffee, too. Heck, you may even ICE it first.
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Yep, I like iced coffee as well and with sugar and cream. I keep having to give the recipe to the Starbucks folks when I order it though. When I ask for it they tell me they are out. I ask them if they then have coffee and ice. If they answer yes, and frankly it is a duh question, I tell them fill a glass with ice and pour coffee into it. Many come back with a comment that they did not know that was all there was too it. Probably because their only experience up north is with taking powdered tea and adding it to water for iced tea and figure it is something special. Not realizing that they are the ones missing out on the 'special' of sweet brewed tea.
 
smigaldi said:
Yep, I like iced coffee as well and with sugar and cream. I keep having to give the recipe to the Starbucks folks when I order it though. When I ask for it they tell me they are out. I ask them if they then have coffee and ice. If they answer yes, and frankly it is a duh question, I tell them fill a glass with ice and pour coffee into it. Many come back with a comment that they did not know that was all there was too it. Probably because their only experience up north is with taking powdered tea and adding it to water for iced tea and figure it is something special. Not realizing that they are the ones missing out on the 'special' of sweet brewed tea.
Click to expand...

Man Scott... you seemed like such a nice guy. Sadly, you are dead to me now. ;)

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
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