Sweet Tea

Quite a few posts here I'd put in the category of tea snobbery. There's something to be said for high quality loose teas when brewing a hot cup and drinking it straight, but for iced tea, and most especially sweet tea, I'm very happy with your basic Wal-Mart bags (OK, Lusianne or maybe Red Rose for the deep South purists). To me, the quality of the lemon I use probably matters more than the pedigree of the tea.

I never buy bottled tea. It's too easy to make. I use Piggly Wiggly tea and stevia, which is a sugar sub made out of a plant. I swear it tasted like sugar and makes great sweet tea. Gee it's about 100 outside, I think I need some now.

Sweet Tea is my morning fix. I don't do coffee, so each morning on the way to work, I stop and buy a cup of sweet tea over crushed ice.
We make it at home alot also. I grew up with my Mom using Lipton and I have continued to do so. Sweet tea is called the table wine of the South.

quote:

Originally posted by shanklemsw

Gee it's about 100 outside

Gee, it's 63 here. I don't need any right now.

Oh, man. Sweet tea, oh man. Early lunch, say like 11:00am. Bring that huge icey pitcher. Cool. Then bring me the biggest plate of collards, beans, rice and gravy, and fried chicken ever known to "this" man. Y'all shush now...I'm takin' my nap.

tea is certainly a personal thing down here in the deep south. most every new customer of ours will ask for a sample first. imho, my wife makes the best i have ever had. we use commercial size u.s. food brand. makes 3 gallon at a time. we brew it like coffee, loose in a filter. then tons of sugar while still hot. and still, some folks say it aint sweet enough! i prefer her unsweet, which is brewed by mother nature in a one gallon pickle jar. no artificial sweeteners. just tea.

Living as I do in Arizona, I have tried almost all the varieties of Arizona tea, and I feel it is overpriced for the quality. I make my own sun tea with Luzianne, and sweeten it with Splenda (being a diabetic, also). My wife has been gaga over Red Rose tea for years, and it is very difficult to find down here. Occasionally, the local Safeway store will order it for her, but that is a very iffy proposition. She tried Wal-Mart's brand, Great Value not too long ago, and found it to be of a quality that met her standards, and is an acceptable substitute for Red Rose. If I want lemon in my tea, I cut a real lemon into 6 wedges and throw one in the glass. I could never get used to lemon juice added to tea.

i only made and served luzianne in my cafe
and people would ask for a pitcher on their table..
i like the diet arizona tea with ginseng
and i add a can of diet minutemaid lemonade to
the gallon. i also make "swamp tea"..
a loose tea from the hilltop herb farm in
east texas called tranquila tea.

I dont use sugar in my tea.
Lemon only.....!
Or nothing....
I buy Lipton Cold Brew tea bags. That is all I have buying for the last 3 years.....
Easy, no muss, no cloudy tea... ready in 20 minutes at the most.

I have never liked sugar in my tea and that certainly gave me away as a "northerner"when I was in North Carolina.I would ask for unsweetened tea and the waitstaff would look at me with a mischeivious gleam in their eye and say"y'all arent from around here are you?"That actually was a great way to have some fun conversations.......

I love the flavored teas, when going out to eat I always ask if they offer any flavored teas. There is one restaurant in TN that I eat at that makes their own fruit tea, I think it has pineapple juice, orange juice and other flavors in it, and it is absolutely the best fruit tea I have ever had. I also like raspberry and mango fruit tea. When I order reg. tea I always ask for a slice of orange and I put orange slices in my tea at home.

About 90% of the time I drink sugar-free tea, but sometimes in the flav. teas you can't find sugar-free. Wilers makes a great sugar-free peach tea and I add some canned peaches and juice (light) to it. Also when using the diet lemonade I always add the juice of one lemon and scrape out the pulp (this takes aways from the blah taste.

Sassy, you can also put a little CrystalLite (any flavor, I like the raspberry) in your unsweetened tea. Adds no calories and the taste is delicious. I have some in the fridge now; it's hot and 100% humidity (and I'm in Ohio!) so I guess I'll go have a glass.

shortchef - Thanks for the tip, I will try this, sounds great.