Sweet Tea

Sweet tea is more than a beverage. It is a southern tradition, and is truly the drink of choice for southeastern regional folk. A peep into millions of refrigerators would reveal its place between the milk and the orange juice. I wish I had a nickel for each time my son yelled from the kitchen, "Mom, we need more tea." Even when I gave him my not so secret formula and shared all of my secrets hoping he'd become the tea-maker, he'd say, "Mine's not as good as yours." That's his way of saying he'll drink it when someone else makes it. 

It should be noted that in the south "tea" is also a colloquial term meaning "cold." For one to have tea served hot, the person say, "I'd like hot tea." Otherwise, tea is cold served with ice cubes, never crushed ice. 

I don't recall the first time I tasted sweet tea. I'm sure it was by the age of six months. My mother remarked that she put tea in my baby bottle. That might have been stretching things a bit; however I don't remember the time there was not a pitcher of tea in the front row of the top refrigerator shelf. When there were bunches of young 'uns coming in and out all day in the summer, a gallon jug with a screw top was filled each morning to be used all day. Mom complained when there was not enough left for supper (supper was our night meal and dinner was our midday meal). That's when we accompanied the meal with tap water with ice cubes from an old aluminum ice tray that had a pull up release.

Creating sweet tea has nothing to do with rocket science, but has everything to do with taste. An avid tea drinker knows the sugar and the strength of the tea have to reach a delicate balance. Pale amber water has little to do with tea because it tastes like "sugar-water." That happens when too little tea is "whispered" through boiling water.

I've never thought much about the brand. We used Luzianne because my grandmother used it. In fact, we always used Duke's products because that's what my grandmother used. We'd never dream of using Hellman's or Kraft's mayonnaise, because they were not southern.

Entering a restaurant in the south means they should have ice tea ready to pour, and lots of it. What an insult to be poured a glass of unsweetened and then told, "The sugar's on the table."

Who would ever think to ask if the tea was sweet? Once unheard of, patrons now must also ask if the tea is fresh or canned. If tea drinkers don't want their tea mixed in a plastic pitcher, they certainly don't want to drink it from a can. The taste is not fresh and pure unless concocted in glass. Drinking tea from a can is akin to drinking hundred dollar champage in a plastic glass with a removable stem and pedestal.

Before bottomless glasses of soda were offered in eating establishments, water, tea, and coffee were freely poured. Sometimes a pitcher or pot might be placed on the table for diners to share. Who would ever think to ask if the tea were sweet? Unheard of! Nowadays patrons must ask if the tea is sweetened and if it is fresh or canned.

Bojangles probably saved tea as southerners used to know it, although the makers often get a little carried away with the sugar. When McDonald's began a national advertising campaign for a budget-sized tea, it became apparent that Bojangles had been on to something all along. Now we can all think, "profit" from the southern beverage that doesn't have to be bottled and shipped. The tea is steeped, the sugar and water are added and there's a fresh glass in minutes. (Depending on the steeping time.)

Tea fixin' ranks along southern cookin'. What's not to love about it?       

Comments

[Cora Baldwin]

I love sweet tea. However I don't see anything wrong with using a plastic pitcher; I've had tea from plastic pitchers all my life.

I remember watching my mother make tea when I was a little girl. She would take what she called her "tea making pot" and fill it with cold water. She would set it on the stove and turn on the burner. She would put three family sized tea bags in it and put the sugar in her plastic Tupperware pitcher. When the tea on the stove was all foamy on top and on the verge of boiling, she would take it off the stove and pour the tea in the pitcher. She had a special spoon she used to sqeeze the rest of the tea out of the teabags, then the teabags would go in the trash. She stirred the tea until the sugar was dissolved and added cold water until it was a gallon.

Our family consists of six people. Three of us kids were teenagers at the same time. Our ages were13, 17, and 19, the youngest was 7 at that time. During that time my mother had to make a gallon of tea nearly every day.

I did not start making tea until I got my first job at age 18 ( I was the 17 year old when three of us were teenagers at the same time). I helped an elderly lady in her home.

I learned quickly that there was more of an art to making tea than I had thought. For the first few months my tea would turn out bitter. I felt bad for the elderly lady, but she never complained -- she didn't drink much of it, but she never complained! I tried cooking it longer with the thought that maybe it needed to boil. No, it got worse. I think it was my granny (my mother's mama) who finally cued me in on my problem. I was leaving it on the stove too long. What a pleasure it was to finally make tea that was good to drink, and yes, it was in a plastic pitcher!

[Mary Grimes]

I am head over hills for sweet tea. Nevertheless, I would much rather drink sweet tea from all over the world. Traditional southern sweet tea is fine but, there's nothing like trying new blinds and different ways of drinking sweet tea. My sister and I go out to different reaturants every so often to try different flavors of sweet tea and compare them to one another. In my opinion, out of all the reaturants i've been to Wendys has the best and the most addictive sweet tea. I also love the way my Sudanese boyfriend and his fellow African friends make their sweet tea. They perfer their tea hot with milk, straight from the stove top kettle. This is my favorite way to drink sweet tea.

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