[Von Culver]

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, 

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