It’s A Southern Thing

In all my travels, I have met numerous tea enthusiasts who are hypercritical about how they have their tea, but I have yet to meet anyone quite like Southerners in the United States. Down South, they take their sweet tea extraordinarily serious just like which college football team they support. This drink specifically is an iconic part of Southern culture and can be found in nearly every restaurant east of the Mississippi River.

Essentially, sweet tea is just as its name implies. It is a lot of black tea with a lot of sugar mixed together and served over ice. Typically, I have known a multitude of Southerners who prefer to use Lipton tea when they make it at home, but any black tea will do. Sweet tea is not the kind of tea you make individually as you go. Generally you make at least a pitcher full to have for later. When I worked at Whiskey Bar (Kitchen) for a short time when I was living in Augusta, Georgia, I often had to make several batches throughout the course of the day. Restaurants have giant tea urns and brew the tea in big batches, because if you are having wholesome southern comfort food you have to wash it down with a cold glass of sweet tea.

To say sweet tea retains a lot of the health and nutritional benefits would be misleading. Most recipes call for a 1-1 ratio of sugar to tea. When restaurants use large tea bags for their brewing in 4 to 5 gallon urns they usually add one standard sized drink pitcher for one tea bag used. At home, you boil about three liters of water and add several tea bags once the water is hot enough for about fifteen minutes. I like to brew about fifteen tea bags for fifteen minutes. Still using this 1-1 ratio, you pour three cups of sugar for three liters of water. To put it plainly, there is enough sugar in sweet tea to make your teeth sing right on out of your mouth. This is not the type of tea to over indulge in, especially if you have diabetes, since the copious amount of sugar added will make your sugar levels spike through the roof. Unsweetened iced tea is also drunk in the South and is a healthier choice.

Since the weather is generally hot and muggy down South, they drink both sweet and unsweetened tea over ice. On a sweltering hot summer day in Georgia a cold glass of sweet tea acts like a little pick me up. Throughout the history of the South, this is the go to drink to serve and enjoy while socializing or hosting a party.

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Picture Credit to Jose Izquierdo on Flickr

Picture Credit to Wikimedia Commons