Doug The Food Guy: Good Ole' Sweet Tea

Good Ole’

Sweet Tea

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Nothing says summertime here in the South like a tall, ice-cold glass of sweet tea! This beloved beverage is a symbol of pure Southern culture, but do you know its history? To tell the tale of our favorite iced drink, let’s first rewind the clock to 1795. French explorer and botanist Andre Michaux introduced beautiful camellias, gardenias, and azaleas to Charleston. He also planted tea plants near Charleston at Middleton Place Gardens and South Carolina become the only colony in America to produce tea plants. It didn’t take long for the popularity of this “new” plant to spread across the New World. Recipes for tea known as “tea punches” began popping up in high-society cookbooks throughout the country. These recipes varied slightly from today’s teas, as they were typically spiked with alcohol and used green tea leaves. During the roaring twenties, especially around the American Prohibition, iced tea gained traction as people throughout the country turned to this refreshing drink as a suitable swap for alcohol. It wasn’t until 1928 that sweet tea became the southern thirst-quencher that it is today. This was after the Atlanta-based southern cookbook, Southern Cooking, gives the recipe that remains standard in the South to this day. This same recipe has been reprinted over and over in many “church” or “ladies society” cookbooks. “TEA – freshly brewed tea, after three to five minutes’ infusion, is essential if a good quality is desired. The water should be freshly boiled and poured over the tea for this short time. The tea leaves may be removed when the desired strength is obtained. A good blend and grade of black tea is most popular for iced tea, while green tea is best used for hot. To sweeten tea, put in sugar while tea is hot. Iced tea should be served with or without lemon, with a sprig of mint, a strawberry, a cherry, a slice of orange, or pineapple. Milk is not used in iced tea.” As described in Southern Cooking. Over the years, sweet tea has transformed from a high-society drink to an everyday refreshment that’s so cherished and loved by all that it even found its way into the South Carolina statehouse and was adopted as the state’s official hospitality beverage in 1995. Georgia then followed in 2003 by introducing a bill that required all restaurants in the state to serve sweet tea. Unsweet was considered optional. Most southerners swear by traditional sweet tea and drink it by the gallons. Here in the South, ice tea is not just a summertime drink, it is served year-round with most meals. When someone orders tea in a restaurant it is assumed you are asking for sweet tea unless you request unsweet. In my case, I only drink unsweet tea and have come to accept the fact that very often my first glass will come sweet.