Sweet Tea

Sweet tea is one of those things either you love it or you don't!  My husband loves it and I don't :)  When we are in Texas or some other southern state you can pretty much order it everywhere.  Well folks, we live in California and when you ask for sweet tea the waitress/waiter looks at you like you fell out off a turnip truck or something.  It's like duh, add sugar yourself.   There are a couple of places to get a good sweet tea (not that I personally order it) here close - Lucille's, Popeyes and even McDonalds has a decent sweet tea.  Here is a recipe I received from a true southerner and they take their sweet tea serious -

Perfect Southern Sweet Iced Tea

6 tea bags
1 quart of cool filtered or bottled water
Pinch of baking soda, optional (I don't use it)
1 4-cup glass measuring cup for steeping
2 quart glass pitcher filled with ice
1 to 1-1/2 cups of sugar, more or less to taste
Fresh lemon, sliced or wedges, and some mint sprigs, also optional

Bring water to a full rolling boil.  Place the water and tea bags in the measuring cup.  Allow to sit for about 7 minutes.  Let the tea bags steep. Do not go longer than 7 minutes or you risk burning your tea leaves and will end up with a bitter tea.   Remove the tea bags.  For insurance against bitterness you can add just a pinch of baking soda - no more than 1/8 teaspoon - to the steeped tea. It will not affect the flavor, but will take away bitterness if you happened to have burned your tea leaves.

Fill your glass pitcher with ice, pour the sugar on top of the ice and slowly and carefully pour the hot, steaming tea over the ice. If you prefer a sweeter tea, go with 1-1/2 cups of sugar. Don’t pour hot tea directly into a glass pitcher without ice in it!!

Stir well and serve over even more ice, garnish with a sprig of mint leaves and a slice of lemon.

Tea Tips:
1. For perfect tea always start with fresh filtered cool water - never tap water!
2. Cloudiness is often caused by putting hot or still warm tea directly into a cold refrigerator. My method prevents this since you are pouring your steeped tea directly over ice cubes.

2. Bitterness in tea is caused by overcooking and burning the tea leaves - that is why it is important not to boil the teabags and not to steep them too long in boiling water. To counter, a pinch of baking soda - only about 1/8 of a teaspoon - can be added to the hot, steeped tea after you remove the bags. It will not affect the taste of your tea, and provides insurance against bitterness.

3. Use wooden spoons to squeeze your tea bags, a glass container - like a large Pyrex measuring cup - to steep your tea, and store it in a glass pitcher, not metal or plastic.
4. If you prefer your sweetened tea more on the sweet side, you'll probably want to go with 1-1/2 cups of sugar.

5. If you like lemon in your tea, try making ice cubes out of lemonade to use in the individual glasses. As they melt, they will infuse the tea with lemon flavor!