The Best Sweet Tea

I have come to a massive conclusion. Sweet iced tea is an art. I used to think most people could make good tea, but now I honestly believe that sweet iced tea is a masterpiece if well made. There is such a difference between places you drink tea. You wonder how they all can miss the mark so easily. McAlister’s has good tea. Bush’s chicken has good tea. I make great sweet iced tea. I brew it up a gallon at a time. No reason to brew a quart when a gallon will do, and the more tea I brew the more people drink.

Now I know the British drink tea hot, which is fine I guess if I lived there but I live deep in the heart of Texas. We drink it plenty sweet and plenty cold. The reason I think my family prefers my tea over other teas is I brew it strong. When you think about it you really need strong tea, we fill our glasses to the brim with ice. Then we pour the steaming hot tea over the ice and watch it crackle. The steam dissipates (yes I do know fancy vocabulary!) and all that remains is the smooth flavor of good iced tea. My family firmly prefers Lipton’s. We don’t like the cold brew either, we like those big gallon packets ready to pop into a coffee pot. It is very important to have a cleanly washed coffee pot, to bring out the smoothness of the tea.

With one gallon of tea, I use two cups of sugar. I know it is a lot of sugar. I have tried other sweeteners with no approval. There is always some kind of wang (wang- southern term for odd bite on the end of a drink or bite of food). If no wang than there is a side effect, like with Splenda you get foam on top of your tea. I know there are reports that sugar is the enemy my contention is that sugar is a natural plant product. It is a ground product, so unless you are a diabetic my family will use sugar. Sugar substitutes have many side effects that are unhealthy any way.

Which brings me to which type of sugar we use, and yes that is important. Don’t go there with me, Dr. Pepper from Dublin, Texas does not taste like the Dr. Pepper from Dallas, TX. The difference is the sweetener. If you really want to bring out good flavored tea, use pure cane sugar, not beet sugar. Pure cane sugar comes from a plant called Sugar Cane. Beet sugar comes from processing a beet. I have found an article from San Francisco Chronicle here. Just so, you don’t think I am uninformed. We always make tea with cane sugar preferably using Imperial Pure Cane Sugar. It is grown in Sugarland, Texas. Personally, I think Imperial has the best sugar in the land. It is the Neiman’s of sugar!

The next time someone is hot and thirsty in your house make them a perfect glass of tea, now you know how to! I promise they will relax and be glad you did. As always, Lipton and Imperial Sugar did not pay me to write this, I will not turn down any coupons or products though if they come my way! My goal is for you to be a great southern host with a glass of tea to envy over.

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