Gourmet Southern Sweet Iced Tea
As a child of the South, sweet iced tea has always been part of my daily life. And when made correctly, it can be a wonderfully sweet and refreshing drink on a hot Summer day.
But too many people have accepted sweet iced tea made from bags of tea dust, rather than a truly gourmet Southern sweet iced tea that makes you ache for more. As a self-stylized expert on iced tea, I thought I would share my recipe for the perfect glass of this delicious nectar.
Gourmet Southern Sweet Iced Tea: Use 3 teaspoons of Darjeeling Margaret’s Hope black tea and 3 teaspoons of Rock Sugar. Heat water just to the boiling point and steep for 1.5 minutes. Pour over a frosty glass of ice. Enjoy on the back porch, preferably in a rocking chair.
That is correct: Three teaspoons of sugar. There are other options for this tea, since most quality Darjeeling loose leaf tea will work, but I’ve found that Margaret’s Hope is the best, most flavorful version. If you prefer a flavor, a tea like Raspberry Black tea is also delicious as gourmet sweet iced tea. However flavoring makes it a little less than traditional.
One warning: once you start drinking Southern iced tea, you’re likely to want more of it day and night. For this, use our 32oz Perfect Tea Maker and the Perfect Tea Pitcher, which will allow you to make it a pitcher at a time (they fit perfectly together). Just use 4 times the ingredients (12 teaspoons of each) and fill the Perfect Tea Maker to the top with water just at the boiling point. Fill the pitcher 3/4 full of ice and steep the tea for the same 1.5 minutes. You will probably have to top the pitcher off with ice after adding the tea.
Don’t worry, you can still laugh at Southern jokes if you must. But you may start to drawl just a bit as you drool over this iced tea.