Sweet Tea, the Wine of the South

Any woman worth her salt in the South has to know how to make "sweet tea".  I am not sure why sweet tea has never caught on in the North.  There is nothing like an ice cold glass of that delicious sweetness washing all over your mouth.  My family has traveled several times above the Mason Dixon Line and every time I think my children are going to go into DT's from the lack of sweet tea.  Luckily, the last time we traveled to upstate New York, McDonald's had sweet tea.  Don't you know that everyday we were there buying a large sweet tea.  I have relatives who live in California.  When they are visiting they love the sweet tea.  But I will never forget my cousing telling me how silly she felt ordering "sweet tea".  The first time we got her to do it, guess what, it was one of those rare places (a real swanky place probably owned by someone from the other side) that did not serve sweet tea.  She swore she would never order it again.  Some Southerners have been known to slip a little sweet tea in a baby's bottle, they say it calms the stomach.  I have never been guilty of putting it in a bottle, but you better believe I have put it in a sippy cup.  It does contain less sugar than a soda and black tea is known for having lots of antioxidents (ok, I feel better now).  So.... today I am going to share with you how I make my famous Southern Sweet Tea.  Yes, I said famous, it is asked for at all family gatherings, church gatherings, and my kids can easily drink a gallon a day.  Like I said, better than a soft drink.  Ok, lets get started.

First you need to choose your favorite tea.  I use whatever is on sale.  This I got for free with coupons.  Free always taste good.  Make sure it is the family size bags.  Place 2 bags in a four cup glass measuring cup and cover with at least 3 cups of water.

Put water and tea bags in the microwave and heat for 5 minutes.  You want it almost to the boiling point, but never ever let it boil, it makes it bitter.  Once it heats, let it steep for about 20 minutes in the microwave.

Remove tea from the microwave.  By the way, your microwave will be filled with steam and it is a great time to give it a good swipe with a dish rag to remove any food bits that may have splattered your microwave. 

Pour tea concentration into a gallon pictcher.

Fill pitcher to fill line with cool water.

Time to add the sugar.  1 cup of granulated white sugar.

Stir with a long wooden spoon until sugar crystals are visable.

Enjoy a long tall glass of sweet tea over ice and accented with a lemon if you choose.  I will be linking to Tip Tuesday at Tip Junkie here
Renee