Mmmmmmmmm I love sweet tea. Everytime I head south, I drink it obsessively. I keep trying to make it at home, and have never been successful. Like hushpuppies, it will always be something I'll drink / eat anytime I see it on the menu, just in case they get it right.

I am drinking much sweet tea every day. I never realized how sweet tea was supposed to taste until I lived in north Florida. And now I will never forget it and it's the only way I can drink iced tea now.

I use 1.3 cups of sugar.

(I actually make a simple syrup out of that sugar and water then add the tea.)

Oh and I don't know how many bags I use - enough to get it to the right color.

I think that's the best way, the simple syrup. Although it's basically the same thing if you pour the boiling tea-steeping water over the sugar and fully dissolve the sugar before adding more water.

Stirring granulated sugar into already-cold tea just doesn't cut it.

Oh and I don't know how many bags I use - enough to get it to the right color.

Oh yes, I'm glad the Slate piece touched on this. Sweet tea should NEVER be translucent. Part of what makes it so good is how strong it is.

My dear sweet Pawpaw, who passed away last year, used to make this stuff by the gallons (literally). You can also buy it by the gallon at Chick-fil-A but it's not as strong as it should be.

It's a wonder I didn't get fat as kid drinking all that sugar.

Blatant self-link: The South really starts at the Sweet Tea Line.

My momma grew up in Virginia, so she knew her sweet tea. And when she raised us, she did so the right way. Knowing how to make sweet tea. Her secret is to put one cup of sugar in a pan with one cup of water. Stir it well and then bring it to a boil. Let it boil for exactly two minutes before filling the pot up with more water and adding 6-8 teabags (Luzianne, but of course). She preferred 8, we preferred 6 as kids. Let that come to a boil. Turn off the water, let it sit till you can fish the bags out of the water and squeeze them to get all the good tea-ness out. Then pour it in a gallon jar full with ice, top off with ice cold water. Then serve.

There's something about that initial boil that gets some carmelization to happen. Its an extra step but adds a layer to the tea. Since I'm living in Chicago, and don't like the idea of watching my teeth fall out, I use 1/4 cup of sugar to a pan full of water and 8 teabags. Bring it to a boil and continue as above. And its good. But not as good as my mama's. Strange that I haven't made tea this way in over 10 years, but I know exactly how much and how long. I guess it was my mother's version of religious upbringing.

I can't stand sweet tea. But I'll take a good Arnold Palmer every time.

I'm addicted to sweet tea, but I thought that article was way too much about the sugar and not enough about the tea. (I was actually surprised to see that the author was a southerner.)

If your tea is too sweet (like you get in fast food places and other places where they make it in a hurry and don't taste it), I'm sorry, you're drinking sugar water, not sweet tea.

The House Wine of the South

I live in the house south of the wine.