Sweet tea is a style of iced tea commonly consumed in the United States, especially the Southern United States. Sweet tea is made by adding sugar to bags of black tea brewing in hot water while the mixture is still hot. Sweet tea can also be made with a simple syrup and is sometimes tempered with baking soda to reduce the acidity of the tea's tannins. The tea is served ice-cold and plain but may also be flavored, traditionally with raspberry, lemon or mint.
Sweet tea is typically brewed with a lower carbohydrate and calorie content than most fruit juices and sugary sodas, but it is not unusual to occasionally find sweet tea with a sugar level as high as 22 brix (percent weight sucrose in water), twice that of Coca Cola. An important part of the tradition of the South, it is often consumed daily as a staple drink.
Famous quotes containing the words sweet and/or tea:
“Of the wheel as it rolls unrelentingly over
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And over the haunts of Robert Pinsky’s mother and father
And wife and children and his sweet self”
—Robert Pinsky (b. 1940)
“I’d take the bus downtown with my mother, and the big thing was to sit at the counter and get an orange drink and a tuna sandwich on toast. I thought I was living large!... When I was at the Ritz with the publisher a few months ago, I did think, “Oh my God, I’m in the Ritz tearoom.” ... The person who was so happy to sit at the Woolworths counter is now sitting at the Ritz, listening to the harp, and wondering what tea to order.... [ellipsis in source] Am I awake?”
—Connie Porter (b. 1959)