Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 10 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 19 years, 9 months ago by
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I have some friends and relatives with ties to the South. They have told me and I have seen elsewhere that Southerners really like iced tea. They drink it with everything, at all times of year, even when they’re visiting us in Minnesota in the winter. They claim there’s no other way to drink iced tea but with tons of sugar. So, do other Southerners out there agree that iced tea is the official regional beverage of the Southland? That it must be enjoyed extremely sweet? What kind of tea is used most often? Something instant, like Nestea, or boiled leaves? Where did this begin? I mean, I know iced tea is good in the hot climate, but you have to boil it first. Why not lemonade or some other cold drink? Are lots of teas grown in the South? For the English, or others who know, what exactly is consumed at High Tea? Is it like brunch? Can you have High Tea at home, or is it customary to go someplace fancy and have it prepared for you? Who puts on the best High Tea in London?
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Name : Jennifer R., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Humanist, Age : 30, City : St. Paul, State : MN, Country : United States, Occupation : Writer/Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,High Tea and Low Tea refers to table height. Low tea, or Afternoon tea, is more like a snack, where a coffee table would be used. High tea is a meal, where a dining table would be used. High tea is consumed late in the day, depending on the area and people, around 5-8 pm. The meal would usually be something like we would eat at dinner. Depending on the class, it might be at home, or someplace fancy. The best High tea in London would all depend on personal taste.
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Name : Aysha19793, Gender : Female, Age : 27, City : Ammon, State : ID, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower class,I am from a small town in North Carolina. It is a normal routine for us to consume sweet tea with every meal. To make sweet tea you add about 3/4 cup sugar to the pitcher of hot tea and let is dissolve. It really tastes great. I have tried it unsweet and I thought it was horrible! Once when I was in California I spent several hours just to find some sweet tea, but all I could find was instant. Trust me, nothing beats a cold glass of sweet tea.
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Name : Laura28893, Gender : Female, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Baptist, Age : 20, City : Greensboro, State : NC, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I’ve grown up in the south (Texas and Arkansas) and I’ve been drinking sweet tea for as long as I can remember. I have childhood memories of my mom making ‘sun tea’ which is basically setting the water and teabags out in the sun so that it gets hot enough to make tea. To this day, the one drink that my parents always have in their house is sweet tea. They have a coffee maker that is dedicated to making sweet tea and they always keep it around. Most restaurants around here serve tea already sweetened, which is important because it tastes different. If you have a cold glass of iced tea and you add sugar to it, it tastes differently than if you add the sugar when the tea is still hot, then chill it. When making it at home, everyone I know uses tea bags such as Lipton or Nestea. I’ve never seen anyone make it with actual tea leaves, although some people might. I think most people would think it was weird to make it using instant tea. The traditional way is to boil it on the stove, then add sugar to taste. Like I said though, my parents use a coffee maker and just put a couple of tea bags in where the coffee grinds would usually go. Then they add sugar and water to make it by the gallon. I think Mr. Coffee makes an appliance that is basically a coffee maker that dispenses into a pitcher. It’s designed to make tea and I think they even call it ‘Mr. Tea’ or something to that effect. Or maybe I’m just thinking of the A-Team now. I know they make the appliance, but i’m not sure what it’s called. I can’t really explain why it’s such a prevalent drink in the South, but it definitely is. If you went to a good fish fry or bbq, they’ll probably be serving sweet tea, and I can’t imagine it being unsweetened. One of the tea companies (can’t remember if it is Nestea or Lipton) makes an ‘Extra Sweet, Southern Style’ tea in bottles. I’ve seen it at the store a few times, and I would say it’s a decent approximation of what you would find at a bbq or fish fry in the South. Not as good, but not bad for a mass produced version.
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Name : Elizabeth, City : Little Rock, State : AR, Country : United States,I have been drinking iced tea all my life and I don’t put any sugar in it. All across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida when I travel through there to visit family it seems that every restaurant offers ‘sweetened’ or ‘unsweetened’ iced tea. I have never understood why anyone would want to trust someone else with their sugar content of their tea but a lot of people do.
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Name : Gary, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Mormon, Age : 48, City : Houston, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : RN, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Speaking as an Englishman, I never use the term ‘High Tea’. I mostly associate it with the evening meals on farms in Enid Blyton books, lots of cold ham, tongue, fruitcake, homemade bread and real butter with lots of hot tea. My parents, who are from Northern England, retain the traditional northern/working class habit of calling the three meals of the day ‘Breakfast, dinner and tea’ as opposed to the middle class/American ‘breakfast, lunch and dinner’. ‘Tea’ in this sense usually means a bread-and-jam-and-cake/scones/crumpets type meal with hot tea, much like the ‘high tea’ on Blyton’s farms, only less fresh farm produce. ‘Brunch’ is not a word most people I meet ever say.
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Name : Adrian32490, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 36, City : Hong Kong, State : NA, Country : China, Occupation : Drama teacher, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Iced tea is very popular pretty much that disgruntled me the most about living in Wiscillinonsinois was the fact that if iced tea was available at all, it was only available in the summer. As for Southerners liking it sweet enough to induce a diabetic coma, I don’t know the whys and wherefores of that, but it might have something to do with showing off wealth, because refined sugar used to be very expensive.
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Name : Ann L. Lowenstein, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Animist, Age : 37, City : K.C., State : MO, Country : United States, Occupation : Administrative Assistant, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I have been a Southerner all of my life, and some of my earliest memories involve drinking sweet tea from a quart fruit jar (that’s a mason jar to most folks). Sweet tea (we just call it ‘tea’ and if you don’t want yours sweet, you’d better say so up front) is a vital part of our culture. My family consists of two serious tea-drinkers and a toddler who has an occasional sip out of Daddy’s glass, and we can go through about a gallon a day. Right now there are enough tea bags in my pantry to make more than 50 gallons. It’s good with dinner (served sometime around noon) and supper (in the evening), or anytime after breakfast. Tea is portable; a jug (Thermos bottle) of tea can go with you to work, on car trips, or to a little-league game. Tea doesn’t cost as much as most other cold drinks. It really hits the spot when you’re hot and thirsty. In fact, if I were to tell you everything I like about sweet iced tea, I’d be here all night typing, so let’s get down to the basics: making tea. Ingredients: two ‘Family Size’ Lipton Iced Tea bags, one cup of sugar, one gallon of water. Bring a quart of water to a boil in a saucepan; remove from heat and add tea bags. Cover and steep about 10 minutes. Half-fill a one-gallon pitcher with cold water. Remove tea bags from saucepan, add the sugar and stir. Pour the mixture into the pitcher with the cold water. Top off the pitcher with cold water, stir, and serve over ice. Store your tea in the fridge, and drink it within a week. Tea goes with everything. ‘Unsweet’ tea is something diabetics and dieters drink, and they usually add artificial sweetener. It would deeply offend most Southerners if someone offered them tea and tried to trick them with a glass of something instant. We would be too polite to point out the difference, but we certainly wouldn’t swallow any more of it than we could get away with. Tea comes in bags, which come in yellow boxes. Period. For the rest of your questions related to iced sweet tea: As far as where iced tea got its start in the South, I have no idea. Lemonade would have been impractical before motorized transportation became widespread; lemons were scarce north of the tropics, as lemon trees die in a hard frost. Most tea leaves are grown in southern Asia, and I have never heard of any being grown in the United States. I hope this clears up your questions about the South’s favorite drink.
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Name : Von Culver, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 26, City : Corinth, State : MS, Country : United States, Occupation : Sales/psychology student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Iced tea is definitely considered the ‘House Wine of the South,’ and the sweeter, the better. Instant tea will do in a pinch, but nothing beats the taste of fresh-brewed tea. Perhaps it is the fact that it is a time-consuming process (the tea is steeped, not boiled) that makes iced tea so cherished here.
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Name : Gary H., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 39, City : Mebane, State : NC, Country : United States, Occupation : Maintenance, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,In case ya don’t know, the South is HOT! I mean, like 90 degrees and humid for a good 8 months of the year. So it is only logical that a cold beverage would be the beverage of choice in a hot humid climate, right? Who wants a cup of hot cocoa in the summertime? Tea happens to taste good, is economical and better at quenching thirst than soda. As far as why it is liked so sweet, well, sugarcane was primarily grown in the South and so readily available. I can only assume that the supersweetness of it became an acquired taste over time. And no self-respecting Southerner would drink instant tea. That is reserved for the visitng Yankees.
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Name : Melody, Gender : F, City : St. Augustine, State : FL, Country : United States,Your point about a drink that you have to boil is a good one, but isn’t it possible to make sun tea, where you just set some tea bags in a jug of water outside in the sun and let it steep? Low maintenance, and no standing over a hot stove.
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Name : GC19537, Gender : Female, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Caucasian/Japanese, Age : 30, City : Oahu, State : HI, Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class,
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