Sweet Tea Born in South Carolina

There is one thing that we Southerners have grown up with and it is a part of our lives, for most of us on a daily basis.  You may ask what is that one thing? 

It is Sweet Tea.

It has it's roots right here in South Carolina

Sweet Tea is our mainstay drink of choice.  There are very few people from the South that don't like tea. I have only known one in my lifetime.

I can remember as a young adult traveling up North.  We stopped in a restaurant to eat along the way and ordered Sweet Iced Tea.  The waitress looked at us so puzzled and asked what the heck is that? I could not wait to get back home where they knew what grits were and for goodness sakes Iced Tea..

There are differences in how certain families make their tea.  They swear by how they make it and you can't, nor will you get them to change their way, because to them it is the best.

It is something that tastes completely different no matter who makes it and it can be made by the same recipe and taste totally different.

Some people put their water on to boil and right when it begins to boil put in their tea bags, then remove from the heat to steep.  Some will put their tea bags into the pot with cold water...Oh that is another thing the water you are using makes a big difference in how your tea will taste.  I have moved a few times and the water makes such a difference, so much so in that I have changed tea bag brands because of how they taste with different waters.

People differ in the amount of tea bags and sugar that they add also.

You should experiment if you are new at it and your family doesn't have a traditional recipe.

My husband makes a better pitcher of tea, than I.

We make it by the gallon and in the summer depending on how many people we have coming in we sometimes make two gallons.

Chuck's Recipe for One Gallon of Sweet Tea

 3 family size tea bags

Put into a pot with the cold water

Bring this just to a boil

  Remove from the heat immediately and let it sit to steep for about 5 minutes.

Put 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups of sugar into the pitcher

Add the hot tea mixture to the pitcher that has the sugar in it

Stir while hot to dissolve sugar thoroughly

Finish adding water to the fill the pitcher

Let sit on counter for a short while maybe even up to an hour, it just seems to taste better if you do this.

Refrigerate

Add ice and lemon if you like

Lemon, another thing, people either like it or hate it in their sweet tea. 

I love it!

You can make flavored teas with say peach or spiced tea.. Experiment the internet is full of recipes.

My Mama "Dot" always made the best tea around, and the house was always full of people wanting her iced tea and some of her home cooking.  Her tea was strong with not so much sugar but delicious. I have tried to make it like her but I can't master her tea.

I can remember as a child my grandmothers making tea.  One would add baking soda to her tea, it would be a very dark tea.

The other would add saccharin because she was at the time watching her weight. I found that tea to have an awful after taste, but then again I shy away from sugar substitutes.

We all know now that saccharin is not healthy being a possible carcinogen.
*note I was informed that they no longer suspect it as a cancer causing ingredient.*

A Little South Carolina Tea History

Summerville’s place in tea history always has been on pretty firm ground. The first plants were brought to America in the late 1700s and put in the soil near what is now Middleton Plantation. 

Eventually, sprigs of those same tea leaves were transferred to Wadmalaw Island, where tea is still grown and cultivated today at the Charleston Tea Plantation. But how do we know people here were drinking sweet, iced tea before anyone else? The answer’s coming ...

The Post & Courier

 (credit)

More about Tea from
South Carolina Information Highway 

(credit)

Tea was first brought to North America in 1799 by famed French botanist André Michaux. A gift for future governor Henry Middleton, owner of Middleton Barony in Dorchester County, the plant was grown solely as an ornamental and its leaves were never brewed. Since then, however, the coastal region of South Carolina has proven to be ideal for harvesting tea.

One area in particular features the tropical climate and sandy soil best suited for tea growth. Wadmalaw Island is located just south of Charleston and is the home of "America's Only Tea Garden," the Charleston Tea Plantation. 

 

Owned in part by R. C. Bigelow & Company, this modern plantation boasts 127 acres and 320 varieties of tea.

 Tea is South Carolina's Official Hospitality Beverage.

Now go and make yourself some Sweet Iced Tea with or without Lemon!

Please feel free to share your recipe with us too, if you wish!