Sweet Tea....quite possibly the greatest thing to come out of the South

[TK421]

how have I lived without it before?

Discuss:bounce:

[cbayer]

1. Yes indeed.

The secret is to add the sugar when the tea is hot and steeping. Um, Um, Good.

[TK421]

22. Are you telling me I could make this shit at home? Do I add the sugar

when the tea is boiling? ( I do it the old fashioned way...on the stove with two quarts of water and about 8 tea bags ) That would make sense....it's actually cooking into it.

[HamstersFromHell]

52. Here's how I do it...

Quart pan on the stove, filled with water. Empty gallon milk jug at the sink. When water's to a boil, kill the heat and put in 6-8 tea bags. Let steep 4-7 minutes (depending on how strong you like it.) Meanwhile, pour 1 1/2 cups sugar in the bottom of the milk jug. When the stuff on the stove's ready, pour it in the jug over the sugar, shake well to dissolve, then add cold water to make the gallon and off it goes to the fridge.

Of course, play around with the proportions to get it "just so" for your taste. The secret IS mixing the sugar while the tea is very hot...the tea will hold more sugar in suspension mixed that way than cold.

Up here in NEPA (transplant from Nashville and I live on sweet tea in the summer), they don't have it the way I like it, but Turkey Hill stores do have something these Yankees call "Lemonade Tea" which is pretty damn close to sweet tea with a lot of lemon...the way I prefer it. The stuff they bottle and label as "sweet tea" contains very little sugar.

[Sequoia]

2. When was your "first time".

No, no, not when you went to 3rd base, but the tea? (wink)

[TK421]

4. You always remember your first time...and it was at a restaurant in

Georgia about four years ago. We were driving back from visiting my sister and her family in Florida, and that was my first time. It might have been a Waffle House...come to think of it, I think that's where it was?

[Ava]

3. well considering i grew up on it

it really ain't all that great to me, lol. down here everyone drinks it on a regular basis.. i'm not a huge fan though.. a tad bit too sweet for me :hi:

[TK421]

5. It wouldn't be Sweet Tea otherwise, Ava !

but day-um did it keep me awake for that trip :hi:

But I guess if you grew up with it, it wouldn't seem like a big deal, like many other things

[ashling]

27. Its like anything else, it can be made wrong, but

when you get a large tea glass full of icy sweet tea on a hot day ... well, that can be a religious experience. Amen!

[TK421]

32. Hell Yeah !!!! PRAISE JE-ZUSS!

I hear you loud and clear! I'm just loving this stuff! and the biscuits and gravy? don't even fucking get me started on that stuff! :9

[ashling]

38. And if it's not just right

(that is, not sweet enough or too sickly sweet) check the kitchen ... they just may be a dadgum Yankee back there!

[TK421]

39. .......

:spray: use the bayonet!!! You just made me spew milk out of my nose,bastard

[bamademo]

6. Jack Daniel and Dickel aren't bad either

And they taste good in sweet tea with lemon.

[TK421]

7. I would love to try that someday...but I am trying to cut back on the liquor

and beer as of late :thumbsup:

[Wcross]

60. I live within walking distance of the Dickel distillery-woo hoo!

In case of a national crisis/economic meltdown maybe they will allow me to trade for some dickel!

[lost-in-nj]

8. noooooo

traitor!!!!!!


your from the north


no "sweet tea"


my sister married a guy from Georgia

she actually had to learn how to make this.....


I don't like Iced tea to begin with.

so


blech



lost


:hi:

[TK421]

37. Lost.....I am at a loss for words here, this stings..it really does

I have never been at such an internet-related impasse such as this, but I still love you!

Yeah, I'm a Yankee, but I'm still a sucker for good stuff! even if it's from the South....and I love biscuits and gravy, too! ( and yeah, I'm a sucker for a good Yankee Pot Roast...maybe you should invite me over sometime? nudge-nudge..wink...wink ) hahahahaha!!!

[Kat45]

9. McDonald's has it now.

[TK421]

19. No shit! I wonder how good it is...I may have to try it

[RainDog]

10. Buddy Guy's Sweet Tea is good too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s12xNR2tibE

[Richardo]

11. I have to order 'unsweet tea' when I'm in Georgia

The first time I just ordered 'tea' in Atlanta I got the brown sugar water x(

[davsand]

43. Columbia SC. I ordered Iced Tea and I could not drink it.

Richardo describes it as "...brown sugar water..."

YES! That exactly describes how that tea tasted to me! I swear it must have had about a pound of sugar in that glass along with a half cup of tea. I asked the waitress for a glass of water instead. She asked if there was a problem with the tea and I had to explain that it had "sugar" in it. She laughed at me and said she'd be happy to make up some UNsweet tea. Gawd, I felt like an asshat.


I drink a lot of tea but I never put any kind of sweetener in it. I grew up in a family that used to put sugar in tea (and on everything else for that matter) and once I learned to drink tea without sugar I just can't DEAL with it any more.

:puke:


I adore most southern foods but I have to admit that I really AM a Yankee when it comes to tea.



Laura

[Digit]

12. I prefer iced coffee to sweet tea

I am in the south, and sometimes the waitress will ask me how to make it...

[TK421]

31. I can get iced coffee right across the street from my work, thankfully

a gelatto shop opened up there last November, and their prices are pretty reasonable, too! Problem is, I have found that coffee does not sit well with my stomach anymore these days

[driver8]

13. I love me some sweet tea!!

Man, that stuff is good.

We were at a "Cajun" restaurant in the Los Angeles area and I had ordered a beer. The waitress then mentioned that they had sweet tea. I said, "Cancel that beer. I would love some sweet tea!"

I gave up beer for sweet tea...how effed up is that?

[yellowdogintexas]

15. actually, you were right on target there.

that sweet tea is the greatest, made correctly that is.
My granny made tea so black and strong it looked like coffee, plenty sweet with lots of lemon. She never ever used tea bags either. Loose tea strained through this ancient tea strainer.

I have sacrificed my sweet tea on the altar of weight loss but it really is good stuff.

[TK421]

23. Aside from the sugar content, nothing else about it is fattening?

:shrug: I'm just looking for answers here, is all

[yellowdogintexas]

90. exactly. Tea w/o sugar has no calories, and does have potassium which

we all need.

Southern Sweet Tea is plenty sugary and you can drink a lot more of it because it isn't carbonated, so it is basically empty calories. To be applied in moderation ...it is a easy thing for me to take out of my food plan since I like it both ways.

[TK421]

18. Nowadays for me, that is quite fine....this happens to be my first day off of the drink

and I downed three Sweet Teas at work tonight ( between two hours ) and I'm getting the shakes...but it is a good "shakes" :D

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

14. I got the habit while living in Nashville.

Now, years later in Dallas, I still love it.

[Flaxbee]

16. oooh, too sweet for me, but half sweet, half unsweet, now that's perfect!

I'd never had it until we moved to Atlanta... had a sugar high for hours and hours and hours and ... :)

[TK421]

20. and that is EXACTLY what I am experiencing right now....I can't even come down

from this! :bounce: Yeah, I'm bouncing off the walls right now, and I feel like I could type for hours...this beats beer by a mile. This might not be a good thing for DU, by the way.....

[Midlodemocrat]

17. You're kidding, right? Unsweet is the way to go, baby.

:bounce:

[TK421]

21. Raised as a Yankee....I drink it semi-sweet...but this stuff is through the roof

in a very good way ( think biscuits and gravy good ). You get my meaning...

[Tektonik]

24. Uggghh no that stuff is awful

I was in San Antonio last summer. The problem I had with it the several times I had it was that there was WAYYY too much sugar and no fucking lemon or some other acid in it. It's a disgusting sugar bomb. :puke:

[TK421]

28. Sorry about your experience with it...the stuff saved my life ( quite literally ) on my

drive up 95 from Florida in 2004...I guess it's not for everyone

[KitchenWitch]

25. Do not be surprised if you find yourself craving sweet stuff

Alcohol has a lot of hidden sugar.

:hi:

I prefer my iced tea unsweetened with a twist of lime (I know, I am strange!).

[TK421]

29. Not strange at all, KitchenWitch...my grandmom used to make sun tea

if you don't know what that is ( and lots of people don't ) but she had these huge-ass jars of water with tea bags that she would let sit out in the part of the house that had the strongest amount of sunlight...no sugar or anything, and serve it just like that. It was good...especially in the summertime

[KitchenWitch]

30. I love sun tea.

I think I am the only person who wants lime instead of lemon in my tea though.

:crazy:

[TK421]

34. Ha ha....nope! you are definitely not! I use limes when I make my home-made iced tea

I started doing it a couple of years ago as an experiment...limes are more refreshing in iced tea than lemons for some reason, I don't know...but my guests certainly agreed with me on this one!

[ashling]

26. It is simply amazing how anything can be sooo goood w/out

using butter, corn meal, fatback, or deep frying. mmmmmmmm, mmmmm!

I think I'll go make some right now!

:beer:

[TK421]

35. What...Sweet Tea?

would you send some my way? and put a little fatback in with scrambled eggs, and it does absolute WONDERS to your breakfast experience....OH...FUCKING....YEAH!!!!!!!!!

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## DON'T DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

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This week is our second quarter 2008 fund drive. Democratic Underground is
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[TK421]

36. Can GrovelBot use some Sweet Tea right now?

because he sure sounds pretty bitter! :P

[NewWaveChick1981]

40. I came out of the South....but I'm not a sweet tea fan...

:P :hi: My husband loves it, as does just about everyone in my family.

[MonkeyFunk]

41. I'm a Yankee

I've never had it. I just associate it with "To Catch a Predator". Evidently pedophiles like sweet tea.

[Richardo]

47. You are a *master* of the broad brush, MonkeyFunk

:rofl:

[Beer Snob-50]

42. okay before i actually go to mcdonalds and order this...

is it basically iced tea with lots of sugar and lemon in it? or is there something magical about it.

[TK421]

46. From what I've heard, it's how it is brewed...upthread someone had

said something about adding the sugar while the tea was still steeping

[Critters2]

78. It's water with lots of sugar in it. There's so much sugar you won't notice any tea.

:puke:

[Ekirh]

44. Remember going to a restaurant in Mass. one day .

My best bro had finally gotten me out of the south for a weekend to visit the town his family was raised in.. and see Fenway park.

Went to a restaurant and the waitress asked to take our drinks?

Friend: I'll have water.

Me: A glass of sweeet tea please.

Waitress: Umm, what?

It was a horrible few seconds before she finally went "oh, there's sugar packets on the table"

[WritingIsMyReligion]

49. Hahahahaha. We don't *do* sweet tea here.

Iced tea, sure. You can make it sweet yourself by adding sugar.

I'd probably like sweet tea: I add sugar to my regular iced tea. Although I dunno--that southern stuff looks DAMN sweet.

[stuntcat]

45. I second that

love it :loveya: makes me proud of being southern!

[WritingIsMyReligion]

48. What, regular iced tea doesn't cut it for ya?

:P :P

:hide:

:D

[TK421]

53. It does ....it's what I drink the most of

but this stuff is pretty tasty! ;-)

[Rob H.]

50. Pair it up with some hushpuppies for a real treat

Mmm, hushpuppies.... :9

[TK421]

54. Am I strange for liking maple syrup with my hushpuppies?

by the way...I haven't had them in ages :hi:

[Rob H.]

61. Yes. Yes, you are.

Just kidding! :P I haven't had them in a long time, either, but now I'm starting to feel a craving.

[Schema Thing]

51. Ick. No sugar. There is plenty of sugar in the Pecan Pie

Sugar seriously lowers the Refreshment Ratio (R:R) of Iced Tea.

[SPKrazy]

55. Just not my cup of tea though

I live in the south and I like my tea unsweetened thanks...

:hi:

[hedgehog]

56. Here's how I survived working summers in a steel mill (especially

on 3x11 and 11x7):

Make up a good pot of black tea - loose tea leaves of course. I make it Irish style - it looks like coffee it's so strong.

Fill a quart bottle with ice cubes, throw in a couple tablespoons of lemon juice ans sprinkle some sugar over the ice cubes.

Pour the hot tea over the ice cubes and fill the bottle to the top.


The temperature came out just right and I'd take a couple of sips whnever I needed to cool down a little. Heaven!

[kentauros]

57. I'm from the South and NEVER liked sweet iced tea

:P

Thai Iced Tea, however, is quite another thing entirely...

[PermanentRevolution]

58. Makin' me homesick, TK421...

Can't find good sweet tea in Miami, at least not that I've found - too far south to be in the South.

And why aren't you at your post, hmm?

[TK421]

64. Hey! I'm at work now, so I'm off and on constantly

and I just remembered that it was indeed a Waffle House in Georgia where I tried it first :-)

[TommyO]

59. I'll add biscuits and gravy to the list!

oops, already added, but still it's one of the things that makes traveling south great, they're just not the same up here in Pennsylvania.

[TK421]

63. Food of the gods, indeed

and my sister makes one kick-ass sausage gravy :9 pretty spicy, too

[TommyO]

69. This thread is worthless without the perfect sausage gravy recipe

Sweet tea is easy enough that us northerners can handle it, but we definitely do need help with sausage gravy, Bob Evans just doesn't cut it.

[east texas lib]

62. Now you'll need something to wash down with that tea.

And what better than red beans (also known as pinto beans) seasoned with salt pork with chow-chow on top, fried potatoes and onions (cooked in the same skillet), and hot buttered cornbread.
Oh man!:9

[TK421]

65. Everything there made me drool except for the onions....

my hatred of them is legendary, but everything else :9

[Rabrrrrrr]

66. While I think it sucks, it does still qualify as the greatest thing to come out of the south.

[Critters2]

79. Agreed completely. nt

[struggle4progress]

67. Remember: if it's not sweet enough to crystallize in your kidneys, it's not the real thing!

[texanwitch]

68. I like my ice tea not to sweet.

If it is to sweet I can't taste the tea.

I mix 3 different brands of tea bags for a really good glass of ice tea.

I do like my ice tea.

We had a bbq today I couldn't make enough.

My ice tea maker was really busy.

[TommyO]

70. I'm hoping one of those teas is Red Rose.

[texanwitch]

73. No, I haven't seen brand of tea.

If I can find it I will give it a try.

[TommyO]

76. It's my personal favorite for basic brewed tea

I use it for hot tea, iced tea, and sweet tea (a rare treat as I'm trying to lose weight and can do without the calories).

[Inchworm]

71. omg.. you are so missing the point

sweet tea is like crack.

Do you wanna be a ho? Be careful. All I'm sayin...

:patriot:

[kwassa]

72. Sugar in tea is an abomination.

Ruins the flavor of decent tea.

[Critters2]

80. Thank you. No civilized human being puts sugar in tea.

That's why they sell it at McDonald's.

[TK421]

91. I'm down with abominations!

:D I like unsweetened, also....I've just recently been re-acquainted with this stuff ;-)

[Miss Carly]

74. It's the house wine of the south!!!

Goes good with a big ole plate of fried okra!

Carly

[Digit]

75. Speaking of the south, what is up with these huge sausages they sell

Do people eat that stuff for dinner down here?

I never saw those for sale up Nawth.

[TommyO]

77. You ain't never seen a kielbasa like my mother served then!

[Digit]

82. You eat that stuff for DINNER?

I can maybe handle two little sausage links now and then for breakfast, but geesh!

Why is it a big thing here and not up in Northern Va?

The origins of regional preferences is fascinating to me.
Is it because there are so many hog farms here?

[Critters2]

81. Sweet tea....

:puke:

[ceile]

83. eww-can't drink the stuff

texan thru and thru, but that stuff makes me cringe. "would you like some tea w/ your sugar?" yucky

[begin_within]

84. Sweet tea makes me forgive the south for boiled peanuts.

[JCMach1]

87. Bite your tongue! Boiled peanuts are the BOMB

I craze them endlessly because you cannot get green peanuts in the UAE...

[begin_within]

88. Okay. I just bit my tongue and it still tastes better than boiled peanuts.

Sorry, I thought they were slimy and gross.

[TK421]

92. I tried those once......

once :(

[Manifestor_of_Light]

85. Grew up on it.

We drink it year round in the South. Didn't know that the rest of the world doesn't drink iced sweetened tea in the winter. Except that our winters are almost nonexistent!

I remember hearing on the TV when I was a kid that "children should not drink coffee or tea" and thinking "Whaaat????". We drank iced tea at every meal and thought nothing of it.

[JCMach1]

86. and the thing that most people never get quite right

especially restaurants

[Miss Carly]

89. Grandy's has about the best restaurant sweet tea I have tasted

Carly