Sweet Tea

[bcracker]

I've been in Ohio for the past 14 years, and one of the many disappointments of living among the buttguys is you can't get good sweet tea in restaurants. The few that do serve it (i.e. Cracker Barrel and Waffle House) have yankees (no offense @PhillyGirl) making it, and the result is indescribably horrible. So I always order coke when dining out.

Sweetater makes good sweet tea. She fills a sauce pan with water and brings it to a boil. Then she removes the pan from the heat and adds the tea bags (6 per half gallon). She places a pinch of baking soda in the pan, covers it and lets it steep for fifteen minutes. After steeping she places the pan back on the heat, adds the sugar, and heats it until fully combined. She then pours the contents in a jug and tops it off with water.

I was curious to know how some of y'all make yours.

 

[PhillyGirl]

Ain't no tea like southern tea. I don't even bother trying to find it up here.

I think Chick Fil A supposedly has good sweet tea but I have yet to try it.

 

[Big Balls]

I went to Los Angeles three years ago and it was like the Clampetts coming to town. My wife and I went out to eat at several different restaurants while there and we learned very quickly to stop asking for tea. They kept bringing us hot tea. So after about the third time or so...my wife asked for iced tea and they looked at her like she had a third eye. They said I guess we could make hot tea and then put ice in it for you...

 

[bamachine]

Sun tea is the best tea. These days, I don't go for just straight sweet tea. I either get half and half(half sweet/half unsweet) or the half unsweet/half lemonade. Milo's sweet tea would make me sick these days, it is so sugary.

 

[bcracker]

we learned very quickly to stop asking for tea

hahahahahaha!

Same thing happened to us when we moved up here. We ate at an Italian place and I asked for sweet tea. The waitress looked at me like I was speaking Swahili. She brought me unsweetened raspberry tea, the kind that comes out of a coke dispenser. I tasted it, and told her, "I ordered sweet tea."

She said, "There's the sugar"--pointing at the sugar packs on the table.

"Never mind," I said. "Please bring me a coke." She walked away and didn't even ask me what kind of coke I wanted.

 

[RhinoGuy]

I'm a half and half or unsweetened tea guy. I like the community brand tea with just a little bit of turbinado sugar added

 

[planomateo]

Not really a sweat tea drinker anymore. Then again, I rarely drink cokes anymore (yeah, when I say coke it means soda).

 

[Sgt. Lincoln Osiris]

Bring one gallon-size Red Diamond bag to the start of a boil in a medium saucepan. As soon as the water starts rolling, turn it off and let it steep for about 5 mins.

While steeping, make simple syrup in your tea pitcher with about 2 cups of hot water and 1 & 3/4 cups of cane sugar. Stir till dissolved. The simple syrup blends with the tea much better than just dumping sugar into hot tea water. Don't ask me how or why. I'm not a scientist. I've tried it both ways, and the simple syrup just tastes better.

Pour tea in pitcher while holding the teabag in the pan with your spoon. Rinse the tea bag in the saucepan, twice, with about a cup of cold water to get all the tea out. At this point, your tea pitcher should be about 2/3 full. Fill the rest up with ice cubes to quickly cool the tea.

Pour into glass, and enjoy.

 

[Barnabus Stinson]

We ordered hot tea, a glass of ice, a glass of water, and some sugar once in Colorado. We figured we might could make sweet tea.

In case you're wondering, they look at you like a moron and you can't make good sweet tea anyway.

 

[Hannibal Lecter MD]

You can make 3 gallons of better tea out of 1 gallon of Milo's. It's about 3x too sweet.

 

[bamachine]

You can make 3 gallons of better tea out of 1 gallon of Milo's. It's about 3x too sweet.

The problem then is the flavor is too diluted, agreed it is way too sweet. Captain D's tea is also an instant diabetic coma.

 

[Hardkore]

I take a pitcher and put in a cup of sugar. Add Hot water (doesn't't have to boiling but enough to be steaming), then put in two tea bags (I use Luzianne).Stir well and let sit for one hour. Any longer and it tastes too strong. After 1 hour remove tea bags and put in refrigerator to chill.

 

[Snout Spout]

My wife has the opposite problem. She tries to order tea and they bring her sweet tea, so she has to specify "unsweet," and even then sometimes they bring her sweat tea and she gags and spits it out.

She doesn't understand why people in the south make sweet tea. Her reasoning is if you want it sweet, you should add sugar to it. How does anyone know how sweet you want it if they add the sugar for you?

 

[Hardkore]

My wife has the opposite problem. She tries to order tea and they bring her sweet tea, so she has to specify "unsweet," and even then sometimes they bring her sweat tea and she gags and spits it out.

She doesn't understand why people in the south make sweet tea. Her reasoning is if you want it sweet, you should add sugar to it. How does anyone know how sweet you want it if they add the sugar for you?

Most places around here (don't know if all or not) serve both sweet and unsweetened tea. You just clarify which you want. There have been times I say sweet and they bring the other. I take a sip and start to gag. Then again a in some times the sugar doesn't always get stirred up enough and is still sitting on the bottom.

 

[Snout Spout]

Why is it you can't put sugar in it afterward? Then you wouldn't have the problem of it being too sweet or not sweet enough. Does it taste better if you put sugar in while it's still hot or something?

I used to drink it when I was a kid but haven't in maybe 25 years.

Someone let me know because I want to explain to my wife.

 

[Sgt. Lincoln Osiris]

Why is it you can't put sugar in it afterward? Then you wouldn't have the problem of it being too sweet or not sweet enough. Does it taste better if you put sugar in while it's still hot or something?

I used to drink it when I was a kid but haven't in maybe 25 years.

Someone let me know because I want to explain to my wife.

Sugar won't dissolve in cold tea.

 

[Snout Spout]

Sugar won't dissolve in cold tea.

It dissolves fine in cold Kool-Aid.

 

[Hannibal Lecter MD]

It dissolves fine in cold Kool-Aid.

I've never found that to be true.

 

[bcracker]

Sugar won't dissolve in cold tea.

And that's the key to good seeet tea.

 

[Snout Spout]

I've never found that to be true.

You're probably right. I've only made one pitcher in the last maybe 23 years.