OT somewhat - What's with sweet tea?

We have always made fresh brewed tea- not that @#$% instant stuff, or worse the canned, but have had several customers ask for something else when they find out they will have to add the sugar themselves. We provide both sugar and artificial sweetner.

When I was working in Lubbock, several of the staff would add so much sugar it was almost a syrup, but they never complained or requested sweet tea - always preferred to mix their own.

Not angry, Just curious.

I've had it both ways, and whether I add the sugar or it has already been sweetened, it makes me thirstier and will give me "cotton mouth" if I run or work hard enough to sweat outside.

I'm from West Texas, love sweet tea and have no idea why it's a regional drink. I do have two theories. One, it was Gatorade before it's time. A large plate of chicken fried steak and a glass of sweet tea replenished your salt and sugar after along day of working in the field. Two, it was too hot in the kitchen after frying chicken fried steak to bake, the sweet tea was a cool liquid substitute for dessert.

I, too, am a sweet tea lover! I like it sweetened while it's hot because the granules melt and dissolve into the tea then you add the ice and you don't have the sugar at the bottom of the pitcher/cup. I'd rather have a soda than have to mix my own sugar into unsweetened tea, because it takes alot of sugar to get it sweet enough for me and I have to keep stirring the sugar. The best tea has oranges or peaches added!

I know why, I know why!!! A northerner here, but I know why!

It's what broncbuster says -- the sugar at the bottom of the glass, but more than that, it's the guilty conscience you get when you realize just how much sugar is in 1 single glass of sweet tea. LOL!...

I think it would take 3 or 4 sugar packs to make a glass of tea into sweet tea, but heavens! I would never eat that much sugar in one sitting! -- Unless it just came that way, and then I could close my eyes to the horror of it all.

Suzy

This message was edited Jan 29, 2008 11:33 PM

Thanks all.

Suzy, you made me laugh.

My friend in Lubbock always started with 8 or 9 then tasted to see if it needed more.

It does take a lot of sugar - but really I still love it sooo much... one of those bad habits.

Oh, I love it, too!!! I couldn't care less how much lard you fry your chicken in or how much sugar you put in your sweet tea, I'll order both and love them, but I couldn't possibly do it here at home, why that would be unhealthy! LOL!

I order it whenever I am in the south -- ALWAYS order it. If they don't have it, I would do as most of your customers do, and order something else. LOL! (And you're right, there must be more than 4 packs of sugar in it because I have tried to make it here, and it never tastes as good. LOL!)

Suzy

Is this hot tea? That's strange, that's like having someone bringing coffee with sugar in it already..
I suppose it's just the way people have learned to drink it. In England, they put cream in their tea, and actually it's very tastey. Some teas I like sugar in, but for the most part don't add sugar. Again, this might have been learned- growing up we were not allowed soft drinks, and learned to like drinks that were not sweet, unless it was natural fruit juices. To this day, I don't like soda or sugar in my drinks...a learned thing?

As far as ice tea, I read an article that we're the only country who drinks iced tea. It's common custom to bring it unsweetened to the table, so why would hot tea be different indeed!? Good question.

Funny, Bill - I grew up on sweet tea....mom always had a fresh pitcher brewed and sometimes we'd go through 2-3 of those a day. Now that I'm all grown up, I prefer unsweetened with a little lemon. I always have a fresh pitcher made in my fridge but lightly sweeten it up for the family. Always make mine in the tea kettle, on the stove.

RJ, No it's iced tea. LOL! You must not really be from Texas, am I right? (hardy har har, I believe I already know the answer!)

I've had people from Aust, NZ, Eng, S. Africa, & N. Ireland stay here at the house and invariably they bring, not only their own tea, but their own ELECTRIC kettles! They make their tea in secret up in their room before coming downstairs. LOL! These are not sophisticated and jaded world travelers, just regular garden people who KNOW they cannot get a decent cuppa here in the states. (The tea is wrong and the water is never hot enough.) LOL!

LOL...okay..

I think there is a Tea revolution going on here in the states..No one is accepting poopy tea anymore and go through some lengths to get the good stuff.

We used to drink alot of tea when I was growing up southwest of Houston. We made it really strong and then each person added water to their liking. One of my brothers liked his really sweet. He would keep adding sugar and stirring to dissolve it, but then he would keep adding sugar until it wouldn't dissolve anymore. There had to be atleast a 1/4 inch layer of undissolved sugar in the glass before he would drink it. Yuck! He still does that and he's thin as a rail. If he's on the wrong side of a telephone pole, you can't see him.

My mother never added sugar to our tea. Only thing she would provide would be fresh mint and or lemon. Still the way we prefer. Having been born in the early 40's could have been because sugar was rationed during WWII. Who knows? I almost gag when I see someone add package/spoon after spoon of sugar. Just a tiny bit of honey to hot tea to bring out the best flavor. Born/bred Texan with a mother who was a gourmet cook and we didn't mess with the fresh flavors of anything.

LouC

Yes, Bronc is right, the sugar dissolves better in hot tea ~ and believe it or not needs less to sweeten as a result.

Prefering hot tea here... pod

Your all the sugar I need Christi! :)

I drink hot tea with honey every morning and evening in the winter time. I like a nice strong black tea. I know it's probably not good for me but oh well. When I was a kid we drank sassafras tea in the winter, my grandfather would dig roots on his farm and dry them. My favorite breakfast was (and still is) corn meal mush with maple syrup and sassafras tea.

Not to get off topic here....but I am also wondering what is up with the mustard or mayo thing? Up north we don't put mayo on burgers. Also, I love ketchup. Why don't they ask whether you want ketchup on your sandwich?

Cause 'maters' take the place of ketchup in the South! I like mustard on the pickle, onion, meat side of the burger, and mayo on the cheese, lettuce, tomato side.

Yes, a mustard cheeseburger seems to be the tradition down here. Ketchup is for the fries or tater tots. Mayo for sammy's.

When I make my iced tea, I place two large tea bags in my kettle and let it come to a boil. Steep for about 30 minutes so it gets good and strong. While still hot, add the sugar (I only add about a half cup for a big pitcher but everyone seems to like more). Stir it up good. Pour it in the pitcher and fill it halfway up with water and the rest of the way with ice. The ice melts and makes it cold right away. Pour into glasses filled with ice. Yum! It seems to be not too strong and not too weak but just right (as Goldilocks would say).

Well.....since I come from the Deep South....I'll tell you how I make tea sweet.....
Mix a cup of sugar into a cup of water and microwave it till it boils and the sugar dissolves. This is simple syrup. It takes a lot less of the syrup to sweeten tea. Pour enough of the syrup into a pitcher of tea for your taste. Will work in hot or cold tea. You can store the syrup in the frig. It's good for lemonade and also for mixed drinks. No sugar crystals in the bottom of the glasses......

Betcha can tell us how to make a good margarita with that syrup too! Do tell....

Why, yes ma'm, I can!
But I'm going to ask anyone instead...how do you make a good cup of hot tea? I've plunked the tea bag into a cup and waited 5 minutes, twisted the bag around a spoon, and tasted it..... Doesn't taste like the tea you get at someone's home that really knows what they're doing....and I'm not buying a kettle.....I have too many gadgets now. If I have to have a kettle.....I'll just keep drinking coffee...which I don't know how to make either!

Can't answer you on that one but I'll happily wait for that margarita!

Hot Tea the best way is to use loose leaf and a tea strainer ball....boil water, remove from heat put your lil metal tea ball in and let it steep 5-10.
Or take a pan of water and add your tea bags to it and bring it all to a boil...once boiling remove bags and boil 5 more minutes.

those are the two ways I have always done it other then just a cup of water in microwave to boil then put in tea bag of what ever flavor I want let it steep till med to dark in color


Original 1948 Margarita
Ingredients

* 1 oz. Cointreau
* 2 oz. Tequila, white
* 1 oz. Lime Juice

Mixing Instructions

The true authentic margarita invented by Margarita Sames in Aculpulco in 1948. Shake with ice and pour into a coupe glass with a lightly salted rim.

Ultimate Margarita
Ingredients

* 1 oz. Cointreau
* 1 oz. Tequila, white
* 1 oz. Sour Mix
* 2 tbsp. Lime


Mixing Instructions

Pour tequila, Cointreau, and sour mix over crushed ice. Add lime juice. Can be made as a frozen margarita by blending everything together, adding ice until desired consistency is reached (approx. 3 cups).






This message was edited Jan 29, 2008 11:09 PM

Come on Friday night! I'll make that and post how good it is. Requesting early forgiveness of hiccups. :P

BTW.

Jenny, Braveheartsmom, is English. I will go to the Tropical Gardening and ask her how she makes English tea. OT, if you haven't purused the TG forum, you are missing a lot.

Randy, you are a mess.

LouC

PS. Margarita:
1 can frozen M mix by Bacardi
1/2 can Jose Cuervo Gold
2 oz Cointreau
All in the blender, add ice to top. BLEND
yummm

Randy,
Hot tea is a whole "other thang". I do like a bit of local honey and heavy cream in mine - just enough honey to take the edge off the bitterness and enough cream to lighten the cuppa. Learned that in MN where we could get both from a neighbor.

DW & I sometimes brew tea instead of coffee in the morning - especially if it is really cold outside. I use about 6 bags in the coffee basket - comes out plenty strong. Any left over goes in a caraffe in the fridge for iced tea later in the day.

I used to boil water to make tea, until a SDIL told me that if you heat the water til it boils you'll have more bitter tea. I think she said the water loses too much oxygen. So now I heat it just almost to boiling. Makes great tea. I can't use sugar because I have blood sugar problems that I don't want to aggravate, so I make my tea with a blend of green and peppermint tea. With the peppermint in there I don't miss the sugar.

Kim, on the subject of mayo/ketchup. We always used Miracle Whip on our sandwiches etc. and sometimes mustard. When the army sent us to Germany we were in for a shock. One of the responsibilities DH had in his unit was to help man a booth at the community carnaval. He came home one day and said " I saw somebody put mayo on their fries. I thought it was a lie my eyes were telling me, but it wasn't."

Miracle Whip! Yes! Why can't restaraunts offer Miracle Whip?

I don't know. Maybe we should all band together and protest this discrimination.lol Maybe something weird like the mayo industry bought all the rights for selling to restaurants? Does that stuff ever happen?

I'm from New York and while we always put catsup on our plain burgers, but I also have come to like mustard too.

If we wanted fancy, we would make a "California Burger" with lettuce, tomato, catsup and Hellman's mayo. A&W driveins sold the california burger that way.

I had a friend from North Carolina that would put mayo on his fries. It was disgusting to me...but he loved it!

My wife worked for a company that owned most of the Whataburgers south of I-20, west of I-45, and east of 35W. I tried to get her to tell the owners to start offering Miracle Whip and they'd make a killin'. She never told them. Now, all hope is lost)~:

CA's In-&-Out Burger serves burgers with "special sauce" Really is just 1000-island dressing.

Pommes Frites (double fried potatoes) are usually served with a variety of flavored mayos available.

Same with McDs Big Macs - I had a friend who was over one and when they ran out they just bought 1000 island and it worked just the same.

I've noticed at fairs and festivals that a lot of people are putting mayo on their roasted corn. Sometimes with lime juice and chili powder.

I can't stand really sweet tea! As I grew older, beginning in my 40's, I gradually mostly lost my sweet tooth, although I have my moments. Such a blessing! I brew my tea at home and drink quite a bit of iced tea. I sweeten just slightly to take the edge off. Honey, Splenda or sugar, or combinations of two of those. I use herbal teas, black teas, red teas and on occasion green teas. I grow some things to add, like lemon grass, mint, etc.
blue_eyes, google the health benefits of black tea, it's good for you! So is green tea, of course, but the health benefits of black tea isn't so well known.
Some restaurants have two containers for tea, sweet and unsweetened. I always get unsweetened...the sweetened tea makes me nauseous because it tastes extremely sweet. I don't mind a little bit of sugar at the bottom of a glass until I get down to drinking from the bottom, then ick! So I just add more unsweetened at that point. Some restaurant have the worst tea, however! You'd think they'd listen to complaints and switch to a good brand. I tend to avoid those places.

This message was edited Jan 30, 2008 11:04 AM

LindaTX8,
Some make it so weak, I wish I had just ordered water and saved the $$. Other cram so much ice in the glass that there is only 3-4 oz of tea - even in a 24-32 oz glass.

Yes, that's another problem. I like tea that you can really taste the flavor good. With tea that's too weak, it's like drinking water...very sweet ice water, if they put too much sugar. You can water down tea that's too strong, but nothing helps when it's too weak or too sweet. And you know they make out pretty good on what they charge for it compared to soda.

knolan the mayo thing on corn is common in Mexico. My DIL grew up eating it this way. The first time I saw it I thought she was pregnant. That's the only way I figured anyone would want something as strange as mayonnaise on corn!

In Europe it's common to have mayo instead of catsup on your fries. I've always loved tartar sauce on my fries, but then I don' t eat catsup on anything. I don't mind the taste, but I can't stand the smell of catsup.

Crow