When I moved to Boston from South Carolina, I would on occasion go into otherwise-reputable restaurants and order sweet tea, just on principle. Most of the time, the server would give me a confused look and say, "I can bring you sugar with your iced tea..." and I would then explain how proper sweet tea is made.
It's dead-simple: make tea and put the sugar in while it's hot, then cool and ice it. That's all. Maybe some mint, maybe a bit of lemon.
But some sort of magic happens, and you end up with a pitcher of this beverage about which poems are written, which brings to mind slow lazy sitting-on-the-porch days and gracefully sprawling oak trees, which prompted legislators in Georgia to try to pass a law decreeing that any restaurant that offered iced tea on the menu had to offer sweet tea.
God rested on the seventh day, but early in the morning,
before the sun strained into the Southern sky,
she made sweet tea from scratch. She boiled the water
in a black kettle, put in the orange pekoe bags
and let them stand as the water perked, and then
she did what gods know what to do: she heaped in the Dixie
Crystal sugar while the brew was still warm as the day.
- From "Sweet Tea", by John Lane
It's dead-simple: make tea and put the sugar in while it's hot, then cool and ice it. That's all. Maybe some mint, maybe a bit of lemon.
But some sort of magic happens, and you end up with a pitcher of this beverage about which poems are written, which brings to mind slow lazy sitting-on-the-porch days and gracefully sprawling oak trees, which prompted legislators in Georgia to try to pass a law decreeing that any restaurant that offered iced tea on the menu had to offer sweet tea.
God rested on the seventh day, but early in the morning,
before the sun strained into the Southern sky,
she made sweet tea from scratch. She boiled the water
in a black kettle, put in the orange pekoe bags
and let them stand as the water perked, and then
she did what gods know what to do: she heaped in the Dixie
Crystal sugar while the brew was still warm as the day.
- From "Sweet Tea", by John Lane
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Signing UpStep 1: Boil water, add tea, steep.
Think of this as not so much instructions as the steps in a cultural ritual.
Some people have special iced-tea makers -- one of my going-away-to-college gifts from an aunt was an iced-tea maker just so that I could make sweet tea without even having to walk to the kitchen. For much of my first two years there, I carried a bottle of homemade high-octane sweet tea with me to class, instead of coffee. Double strong, double sweet, it was dangerous stuff.
You could use a coffeepot if you're desperate and don't mind your tea tasting like burnt coffee. You could use a teakettle and a good pitcher. Or you could use a big pot; that's what I do, these days, since I don't have the right kind of pitcher.
Boil the water, then turn off the heat and add the bags of tea.
For tea, my grandmothers use Lipton or Luzianne, the big iced-tea bags for making several quarts at a time. One of my grandmothers adds a small bag or two of Constant Comment. For the ~3 quarts of sweet tea I made yesterday, I used two big Lipton iced-tea bags, two small bags of roasted chicory (herbal) tea, and one bag of barley tea from the Korean market up the street. (Not "authentic", but very tasty in a toasted-grain kinda way.) Adding a bag of some kind of spicy chai also works well.
I brew mine a bit stronger than the instructions call for, 10 minutes or so.
Some people have special iced-tea makers -- one of my going-away-to-college gifts from an aunt was an iced-tea maker just so that I could make sweet tea without even having to walk to the kitchen. For much of my first two years there, I carried a bottle of homemade high-octane sweet tea with me to class, instead of coffee. Double strong, double sweet, it was dangerous stuff.
You could use a coffeepot if you're desperate and don't mind your tea tasting like burnt coffee. You could use a teakettle and a good pitcher. Or you could use a big pot; that's what I do, these days, since I don't have the right kind of pitcher.
Boil the water, then turn off the heat and add the bags of tea.
For tea, my grandmothers use Lipton or Luzianne, the big iced-tea bags for making several quarts at a time. One of my grandmothers adds a small bag or two of Constant Comment. For the ~3 quarts of sweet tea I made yesterday, I used two big Lipton iced-tea bags, two small bags of roasted chicory (herbal) tea, and one bag of barley tea from the Korean market up the street. (Not "authentic", but very tasty in a toasted-grain kinda way.) Adding a bag of some kind of spicy chai also works well.
I brew mine a bit stronger than the instructions call for, 10 minutes or so.
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GREAT story, though.
I worked at a restaurant in Maryland, just south enough that our more southern customers liked sweet tea, just north enough that we didn't have any. I absolutely hated when customers asked for this. IT IS NOT ON THE MENU! "Fresh Brewed Iced Tea." Like exactly every other cr@ppy restaurant, it was brewed just warm enough to become tea. What makes a customer think we have it, or that it's even possible for something that needs to be brewed and sweetened while still boiling, and then cooled? Even our hot tea was served as hot water with a tea bag. Still not as bad as the assumption that we had raspberry ice tea (plus I have the same problem with that as people who get diet coke, thinking it's better for them). At least I understood the difference and instead of "I can bring you sugar with it," I said "we only have unsweetened; the best I can do is..."
Still not gonna stop me from making a whole gallon of this ;) Made a jar of this the other day. Better than the McDonald's stuff, or worse, the Arizona stuff.
I have a whole box of tea (20 bags?) that I got from the USO for free. It's been pretty warm lately so I didn't want to drink it hot.
I'll definitely try this.
(I'm from San Diego so the only "sweet tea" I've had has been from McDonald's.)
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=210992181&listingid=41570834&dcaid=17902
im about to buy one...its just an awesome idea all around! but i dunno if i have much use for them, i have strict rules with tea that i go by
Set in sun and when the color is dark enough for you --- add ice. We drink so much in the DEEP SOUTH (Displaced Texan) it makes up quickly!
I love your technique and the love you put into making a truly fine brew.
I looooove sweet stuff! =D
By the way, check out my recipe too. Please comment on it.
Awsome tea!
Ice tea anyone I am in Canada and any Tea with ice is sweet.
they even have a powdered instant form