November 7, 2006

Tea-riffic


Tea-riffic
Originally uploaded by mirthmobile.
Do y'all have sweet tea? (pronounced Sw-ay-et Tay)
That's one of the first things I heard my brother Dave say in a restaurant. I knew I was in the South and that Sweet Tea is the house wine down there, but I hadn't considered the ramifications of finding both sweet and un-sweet tea. It turns out that maintaining sweet tea is a bunch of work.

For those who don't know what Sweet Tea is - it's not just tea with sweetener in it, and it's definitely not from the soda fountain. It must be brewed, and brewed hot. While it's still on the stove, you add sugar, when it disolves, add more sugar. Then when that disolves, add more sugar. Once that disolves, add more sugar. (you getting the idea here?) Finally when you add sugar and it doesn't disolve, it's done. Serve chilled over ice.

I snapped this photo at the Atlanta Bread Co. and they do a fine job. Sweet tea is also finally available in West Michigan at a few other places I like to go - Moe's Southwest grill, and Famous Daves BBQ.

This is one time when a small world is absolutely Tea-riffic. (yeah... I just went there)

Maybe it's just me...

3 comments:

Morgan said...

I know you love it, but I gotta tell you, not a fan of the sweet tea. But maybe I need to give it a shot again. Or maybe that's just me.

Anonymous said...

Your brother must not be from the south originally, eh? Because, I thought in the south there was no such thing as "Sweet" tea, just "tea" which happened to reach it's complete sugar saturation point about 4 tablespoons ago...

Anonymous said...

In comment to Stever:
Yes, Brian's baby brother is a bonified authentic Southern Boy, the only one in the family actually born and raised in Mississippi. Actually, both of Brian's brothers were born in the South, but Miami is more NYC on vacation than anything else, so it really doesn't count.
Yes, there is sweet and unsweetened tea, but down here, if you don't specify, you will get sweet tea.