Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Sweet Tea for my Sweetie

Jesse's from the south. He grew up in Texas and then moved to Tennessee when he was in high school... then lived there off and on for the next 14 years. So, of course he loves sweet tea. *sigh*

For a long time I didn't get it at all. But apparently, there's a big difference between adding sugar in to your drink when it's served cold to you at the table and adding the sugar when it's warm. So, I'd do it at the appropriate time for Sweet Tea and it was okay, but not wonderful. And I really had no clue what I was doing wrong. And so, when Jesse cut out all carbonation from his diet, he resorted to going to McDonald's for Sweet Tea when ever he felt a migraine coming on.

Until last week, when I figured out the trick. Are you ready? A pinch of baking soda.


Really. It supposedly cuts down on the bitterness and keeps it from looking murky. Who'd have known?

If you want to give it a try here's what I do:

Put a pinch of backing soda in my pitcher, add two family size black tea bags, and add two cups of boiling water. Cover and let sit for 15 minutes. Add 3/4 cup of sugar; stir until dissolved. Add six cups of cold water. And I'm done. Goodbye, visits to McDonald's for Sweet Tea.

And Jesse's happy. So happy that he no longer feels any desire to ever move back to Tennessee. Right? 

5 comments:

Ali Winter said...

My friend recently taught me the baking soda trick too. I was amazed!! I'm not from the south, but I do love sweet tea! I can't believe how easy it is to make!!

Thalita Dol said...

Hi Bethany! Thanks for your visit!
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hugs to you!

Michelle said...

I love sweet tea also!! And the sweet tea at McDonald's is delicious! Are you boiling the water that you are mixing with the sugar? That will help it all dissolve nicely.

I love your new header by the way!

Bethany said...

Ha! Michelle, thanks for catching that... that's what I get for staying up to post when I've already fallen asleep on the couch trying to watch the news. Yes, definitely boiling water for the first two cups.

HB said...

We decided to cheat in our house. We spent the $20 on an ice tea maker and it's AMAZING!!! Now, we make sweet tea, just like you would make coffee and it's ready and cold in less than 15 minutes.
You put your tea bags in the top, fill the back with water and your pitcher with ice (my husband adds sugar, I would add a simple syrup, but he likes doing it his way) and you turn it on. In about 10 minutes, you have cold sweet tea.