The House Wine of the South (Sweet Tea)

Good Morning Darling!!!

I just discovered a magazine called "Southern Lady".  By page 7 (the page where they list the editor, etc) I was hooked.  It is gorgeous, gracious, beautiful.

This issue has an article on making sweet tea.  Few drinks are as perfect on sultry summer days than sweet tea.  It is filled with antioxidants and love.  It is refreshing for body and spirit.  The sugar makes it easy to drink, and the hydration is vital for one working outside. 

{Excuse my "medical hobbyist" interlude for a moment, but plain water is not the best way to hydrate if one is dehydrated.  Plain water takes longer to be absorbed than does water that has a slight bit of sugar and/or salt.  Sugar and salt are pulled into the body first, and the attached water comes along for the ride.  Additionally, various salts are necessary electrolytes (things that help nerves communicate).  When one is dehydrated, your electrolytes can become imbalanced.  Actually people have become very sick and died from "water intoxication"--hyponatremia-- because they have drunk too much water and diluted or eliminated the sodium ions from their bloodstream.

Now, for regular hydration, water is king.  But for replenishing the dehydrated, water with a pinch of sugar and salt is better.  Oral rehydration solution has both sugar and salt in it, and is easy to make. It must be NO saltier than tears--otherwise it is dehydrating. If you need to replenish the fluids in a sick or dehydrated person, the recipe for oral rehydration solution is readily found on the internet.}

Ok back to making sweet tea!

First of all, start with GOOD tea.  Lipton has a harsh, bitter edge that I find unpleasant for sweet tea (though it is fine in hot tea).  Luzianne is wonderful, as is Community Coffee's tea line.

We brew our tea (instead of doing sun tea or cold brew).   I start by filling a pot with water and adding my sugar (about 1.5-2.0 cups).  Sugar needs heat to dissolve properly.  (However, if you are going to split a batch of tea into sweet and unsweet, it is possible to use powdered sugar in already brewed tea, which should dissolve).  

Parenthetically, people who are exerting themselves can taste sweet and strong flavors much more readily and generally find them unpleasant.  That is why Gatorade is sort of bland--the flavor sharpens in the mouth of the one exerted.  In fact, I took the wine glass of tea to TWS who was working in the field and he came in later mentioning how terribly sweet it was.  I actually had thought this batch rather timid (I had reduced the sugar accidentally).  This is in direct contrast to when he makes the tea--it is so full of sugar, you can practically pour it on your waffles!

Another tip:  Add 1 tsp of baking soda.  This will cut the acid of the tea and make for a smoother finished product.  This is especially good, I think, if you are going to use Lipton or other tea brands. (not so much necessary in the Community Tea or Luzianne).

Start heating your water.  This point is key:  DO NOT LET THE WATER BOIL!  Most instructions say to bring your water to a boil, but my mom always admonished that "made the water tired", and she was right!  There is a subtle, but definite, difference in the flavor of tea made with water brought to a full boil vs water that was just brought to simmer.  Let the water just come to a simmer.  Turn off the heat (you can keep the pot on the burner) and add your tea bags.  Let them brew for 4-8 minutes depending on how strong you like your tea.  If you let them brew too long, the tea might taste bitter.

You can just see the bubbles starting to form in a simmer :)

Remove the tea bags and pour tea over ice in a pitcher.  Add water til the pitcher is filled.  I use a gallon pitcher, so I use 4 family size tea bags of the Community Tea.  If you keep two pitchers around, one can be used for tea whilst the other is being cleaned.

That is all there is to it.  House Wine of the South