There are two traditional iced teas in the United States and the only variation between them is sugar.
I think what makes it transparent to most southerns that I am a transplant from the north is that I don't drink my ice tea with a truck load of sugar in it! I'm actually sweet enough, just sayin!
Seriously, I don't care for sugar in my tea so that makes me an oddity here with my Virginian friends and neighbors.
Seriously, I don't care for sugar in my tea so that makes me an oddity here with my Virginian friends and neighbors.
"T" is for tea
Southerners in general swear by their traditional sweet ice tea and drink it like it's going out of style. Here in the south the ice tea is consumed year round from morning to night and with most meals. And indeed there 's a good reason; history! South Carolina is the first place in the United States where tea was grown.
It's my experience that you don't like {very} sweet tea like me, you better be clear and ask for it unsweetened. I have come very close to gagging and spitting out sweet tea across the table in the face of many a family member. When people order tea in a Southern restaurant, chances are they will get sweet ice every time. Waitress mistakes can be deadly!
Sweet tea is one serious beverage down here.....let me tell you!
How seriously you ask?
Just check out this April Fools day joke five Georgia State Representatives pulled back in 2003, ya think they're serious about their tea? They prank-ed their fellow rep's by proposing a bill regarding ice tea. The text of the bill proposes:
(a) As used in this Code section, the term 'sweet tea' means iced tea which is sweetened with sugar at the time that it is brewed.(b) Any food service establishment which served iced tea must serve sweet tea. Such an establishment may serve unsweetened tea but in such case must also serve sweet tea.(c) Any person who violates this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.
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Here's recipe that I found! It happens to be the oldest sweet tea recipe from a published cookbook, I thought it was rather interesting so I wanted it to share it with you today.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia, by Marion Cabell Tyree, published in 1879:
So my friends...what's your poison? Tea or not? And if so how do you like it?Ice Tea. - After scalding the teapot, put into it one quart of boiling water and two teaspoonfuls green tea. If wanted for supper, do this at breakfast. At dinner time, strain, without stirring, through a tea strainer into a pitcher. Let it stand till tea time and pour into decanters, leaving the sediment in the bottom of the pitcher. Fill the goblets with ice, put two teaspoonfuls granulated sugar in each, and pour the tea over the ice and sugar. A squeeze of lemon will make this delicious and healthful, as it will correct the astringent tendency.
I've never tried sweet tea even though I've been down here a year. However, I had never tried unsweetened tea when I was up north either. lol
ReplyDeleteWHEN I make tea, I make it really good :) and it's not icky-sweet. Red Diamond is the best kind, IMO. But I don't drink sugary drinks, not tea, not soft drinks, except maybe when I have a cold, like now. I drank a Dr. Pepper yesterday.
ReplyDeleteCoffee? That's different. I have two cups with sugar every morning.
Fun post! I'm an herbal tea gal myself. I like to add honey on occasion, or a peppermint candy cane! Caffeine in regular tea makes me very, very sick! :( ~ Angela, Whole Foods Living, http://www.wholefoodsliving.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteHoney! I forgot about that! Thanks for mentioning it Angela. And peppermint candy how fun is that!
DeleteI drink it all day long! I love it, there's nothing better in the world! Of course, I now drink green tea and I sweeten it with Turbinado instead of refined sugar. But I still drink it! And I still drink it sweet! :)
ReplyDeleteI love iced tea! I like it somewhere in the middle, not totally unsweetened, but not as sweet as the southerners. I was at a conference in Las Vegas once and went to dinner with a group from Georgia. One guy started to order iced tea, but then stopped himself and goes "oh yeah, you all don't have sweet tea around here, do ya?" I pointed out that he could add sugar with the packets and he gives me a serious look and goes "it's not the same!"
ReplyDeleteSweet tea gives me the willys! Yuck! I love ice tea but unsweetened with lemon, that's it. My daughter went to Clemson for 1.5 years and grew a fondness for it. When she came home, she realized she would never have it again and now her coffee is that sweet. Yuck again!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you. Don't need a pound of sugar in my drink. I'd rather have it in my chocolate. :=)
ReplyDeleteI just heard on the news about a woman who complained that her tea wasn't sweet enough and sent it back twice at a McDonald's. Finally, she just asked for unsweetened tea, and decided to add sugar to it at home. When she opened the lid to add the sugar, she noticed that the employee added something else instead! I like your tea better! Julie
ReplyDeleteLove it both ways but find the older I get the less sugar I like... From the heart of Dixie here :-) Mississippi
ReplyDeleteHey Jen, I love ice tea but only with sweet'n'low in it...NOT sugar! But I'm also a hot tea drinker and my favorite brand is Bencheley...very mild and not bitter flavors such as Almond Vanilla, Raspberry, Strawberry....great "T" word!
ReplyDeleteTea is huge here in Missouri, especially iced tea with no sugar. But I'm not big on it. I just stick to H2O
ReplyDeleteTell me about it!! I recently returned from a trip to Chattanooga, TN. My dear friend was SHOCKED that I had never tasted sweet tea. She didn't understand that up north, sweet tea IS NOT common. In fact, if you ask for sweet tea in Chicago, you'll probably get the question, "Sweet tea??? Do you mean you want some sugar for your tea?" Sweet tea is not something that is part of northern culture. However, when I was in TN, I drank nothing but sweet tea. It tasted great, don't get me wrong, but it's far too sweet for me to drink all the time. I do like to eat food and drink beverages that are part of the culture of whatever location I'm visiting. So I am glad I got to try sweet tea!
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny! I'm really not sure if i went back to NY and went to a diner or something and asked for tea what I'd get, maybe a can of tea or something. You're right, every region has it's culture!
DeleteI hate sweet tea. Love me some CA sun tea. ;) I can't stand Micky D's sweet tea, $1 or not.
ReplyDeleteIs that just brewed in the sun, un-sweet? I wound't get Micky'D's Tea either :)
DeleteYes. Not like our sun rays are better. ;) It just tastes better that way.
DeleteAs a Virginian, I do love me some sweet tea. Every party my mother throws, there will always be two pitchers of sweet tea for every picture of unsweetened. And she's from Cuba :-) The South really rubs off on you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog, Jen. I wanted to let you know I passed the test :-)
My born in Virginian friend do the same exact thing, as do the churches around here! Great news about your test!
DeleteI don't like sweet tea. It's a little bit too sweet for me. I do like iced lemon tea. Or most other teas - a chai tea latte, the black kind I make at home, lemon tea, arizona's various flavors of iced tea.
ReplyDeleteSonia Lal @ Story Treasury
I agree, it's much to sweet for me too Sonia. There are so many choices however so i guess us tea drinkers will never go without regardless of our sugar likes or dislikes!
DeleteI learned the hard way when we went to visit Bing's relatives in Louisiana that tea is ALWAYS served sweet in the south unless specially ordered.
ReplyDeleteSince I am diabetic, I had to be very careful.
OH! That can be very dangerous Maria!
DeleteI'm sure it's best for you to always make your own using a sugar substitute, or drink it un-sweet. Any mistake could have horrible consequences for your health!
I love good sweet tea but love it unsweetened too, strangely enough just depends on my mood.
ReplyDeleteLol...we've had numerous sweet tea debates with friends down here. I like the South...but I can do without their cavity drinks. Even their desserts are too sweet. But so are the people, so it equals out. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're so funny Michelle..... cavity drinks lol!
DeleteI like wine! And I'd have it in the morning following coffee if their weren't repercussions. ;-) I am from South Carolina but born up North. So sweet iced tea never was a beverage of choice in our household. My friends already thought we were strange. First of all we were vegetarians, second of all, our iced tea was Peppermint and it was sweetened with honey. If I have a taste for it, at Chic-fila I asked for the half and half regular lemonade and unsweetened iced tea. I love that combo. But if I HAD to drink, I'd prefer it unsweetened then I would put one Splenda in it. I didn't know what a big deal it was until a co-worker and I traveled on business from Florida to Delaware. We were at a Mexican restaurant and she asked for tea. She called the waitress to tell her that she wanted sweet tea. The waitress gave her a blank stare and my coworker returned the stare when she found out they didn't have sweet tea. This is very funny now because then I didn't get what the big deal was.
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