How to make southern sweet tea...

[Ol Smoke]

How to make the best Southern Sweet Tea you ever tasted.

 

 

1.  Go to the store and find "Lipton Loose Leaf" tea.  Not tea bags.

2.  Get a tea bobber.  That's what we called it.  It is a golf ball sized metal strainer with a chain attached to it.

3.  Granulated sugar.

4.  Very large tea glasses.

5.  A glass gallon jar.

6.  Make lots of ice.

7.  One whole very juicy lemon.

8.  A fine mesh liquid strainer that will sit inside the lip of the gallon jar.

 

Boil 2 pints of water in a sauce pan.  Fill the tea bobber with the loose leaf.

Once the water boils fully, set it off the burner and drop the bobber into the sauce pan of water.

Now let it "stew" for about 20 minutes.

While it is doing this, cut the lemon in half so that you get two round sections.  Then cut a 1/4" thick piece

from each side of the cut lemon.  These two are all you will need.  Trim the peel from the lemon pieces and 

remove any seeds.  Place them into the gallon jar.

 

Now take a full cup of sugar and pour it into the jar also.

 

Get your ice out of the freezer and empty it into a large bowl.  You will need 4 trays of ice cubes.  

 

Now after the twenty minutes has come, you remove the bobber and let it drain a little.  Then place your

strainer over the jar's mouth and pour the hot tea into the jar.  Do this in the sink.  Now stir the contents

really good to get the sugar to melt into the hot tea.  Fill the jar, from the kitchen tap, about halfway.  Stir

some more until the tea starts to clarify. (Important!)  Once the tea is clear and not turbid, then put in the

ice and keep stirring.  Once the ice melts, test it to see how cold it is.  If it isnt really cold, then add more

ice.  If it feels cold enough, then add more water up to about 2 inches from the neck.  That way, if it gets

warmer, you can add more ice to fill it up.  Put on the lid.

 

Now the important thing.  Put the jar into the refrigerator for 3 hours. This will let the sugar, lemon and tea to

come together into a singlular taste.  Most people don't do this.  So you get a taste of tea, sugar, and lemon.

 

Using tea bags will give it a totally different taste, so don't use them, unless your stores don't stock loose leaf

tea.

 

To make a southern taste from deep Georgia, use a sprig of fresh mint and lime juice instead of lemon.  Place one

sprig of mint into a bowl along with two peeled wedges of lime.  Then mash them with a mortar and pestel or something

until you get a good amount of liquid.  Then add it to the hot tea as above.

 

To give the tea a party kick, add 3 ounces of Jack Daniels Black Label to the cooling tea before you put it in the

refrigerator. 

 

If you really like the taste of lemon in your tea, then try this option.

Using a lemon grater, grate the yellow part of the peel into a fine consistency.  Don't get any of the the white interior

peel in it if you can help it.  That stuff is bitter.  You just want the yellow skin.  This will add an extra zesty taste

to the tea.

 

This is how it is done in South Carolina.  Home of Lipton Tea.

[Medic Kane]

I hear the diabetes calling.....

 

It's calling my name....

 

And I ain't seen the toes since I don't know when,

 

I'm have to accu check, and time keeps draggin' on

 

But that sugar keeps a rollin' on up to to 4 hundred..

[Wizbang]

 

Now take a full cup of sugar and pour it into the jar also.

 

Now the important thing.  Put the jar into the refrigerator for 3 hours. This will let the sugar, lemon and tea to

come together into a singlular taste.  Most people don't do this.  So you get a taste of tea, sugar, and lemon.

YES YES YES!

 

Love me some sweet tea!

[Shinobi]

MY FAV DRINK thx smoke

[Achiyan]

well, im black, born in  south carolina (beaufort), and whole mothers side is from georgia (augusta, albany, and atlanta.) we also jar it up and let the sun do the rest.

[gibson66]

Can't get it right up here in the northern states. Your sweet tea and our sweet tea are completely different.

[parrot]

I love me some sun tea. Keep the sugar outta mine though, and I also put mint in it. It's all good until you forget the damn jar is outside and it oversteeps LOL

[Gorilla]

Seems like a convoluted way to make a cup of tea. Couldn't you just use a tea bag, some hot water and a tea spoon of honey ?

[Artanis]

Seems like a convoluted way to make a cup of tea. Couldn't you just use a tea bag, some hot water and a tea spoon of honey ?

 

 

Go away you!