How to Make Great Southern Sweet Tea

Sweet Tea Link List

Sweet tea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sweet tea is a form of iced tea in which sugar or some other form of sweetener is added to the hot water before brewing, while brewing the tea, or post-brewing, but before the beverage is chilled and served. This especially sweet variation of tea enjoys most of its popularity in the Southern United States, though bottled iced teas labeled "Southern Style" or "Extra-sweet Southern Style" appear in refrigerated cases throughout the country.

History of Iced Tea, History of Sweet Tea

There are two traditional iced teas in the United States. The only variation between them is sugar.

Southerners swear by their traditional sweet ice tea and drink it by the gallons. In the South, ice tea is not just a summertime drink, it is served year round with most meals. When people order tea in a Southern restaurant, chances are they will get sweet ice tea.

Outside of the southern states, iced tea is served unsweetened or "black," and most people have never even heard of sweet tea.

What makes Southern sweet tea so special? - By Jeffrey Klineman - Slate Magazine

"It's rough. It's been rough on that food. It's different eating here than it is at the house. Ain't got no sweet tea , and ain't got no fried chicken." -Boo Weekley, PGA golfer from Milton, Fla., interviewed by the BBC on Day 2 of the British Open, 7/20/2
Drinking sweet tea is one of the oldest and most exceptional Southern traditions. As Dolly Parton's character in Steel Magnolias puts it, it's the "house wine of the South"-a clear, orange-to-red tinted tea brewed from six or seven Lipton or Luzianne tea bags, poured hot onto a cup or more of sugar or a pool of simple syrup, and then diluted into a gallon pitcher in the fridge. It's served over a mound of ice in a huge glass-so cold that you can watch your napkin drown in a puddle of condensation.

How to Make Sweet Tea

We in the south make the best iced tea you'll find. Maybe it's how it's done, or maybe it is the water in the south, or maybe it's just that a southern belle has put a lot of TLC into making the tea. Who knows!

Southern Sweet Tea Recipe

Having lived throughout the south for my entire life, there's one thing I can tell you for sure. Life is just a whole lot sweeter with a cold glass of Sweet Tea. (And even though many of us are now following low carb lifestyles, Splenda can be a lifesaver!)

Now it depends on how sweet you like it, but this is the way many southerners make their tea (and the way my grandmother used to make it--although she used some kind of metal ball to hold the tea leaves, and we use regular tea bags that are thankfully more common now.)