Many years ago a new little cafe opened up not far from us so we decided to see what their food was like. We ordered our meal and iced tea and were informed by the waitress that since it was winter they didn't serve iced tea. No amount of discussion would convince her that down here we drink iced tea all year round. Turned out the owner was from 'up north' and hadn't taken the time to find out what his potential customers expected in their dining experience, the food offered and the way it was cooked didn't go over with the locals either and the cafe soon closed it's doors. I found this article on the history of Iced Tea and thought I would share a little bit of southern tradition with y'all. http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/ ... istory.htm
Toni - I am a tea fanatic. Hot or cold. If I could figure out how to grow it here you can bet it would be. Where we are sweet tea is just starting to become popular.
Years ago I thought iced tea was a very strange thing to drink, but I got used to it and liked it on hot days, and it was the black variety too. Nowadays everybody drinks it, mostly the sweetened one.
Since I was little, I can not remember a refrigerator at home, a friends or family members house that didn't have a large picture of sweettea (one word donchaknow) waiting for whoever was thirsty. We never had sodas at home, too expensive for everyday drinking, so we drank lots of sweettea. I spent a week in Twin Falls, Idaho back in March of 2002 with a quilting friend. Every place we went for lunch I would ask for iced tea and got funny looks. One waitress did bring me a cup of hot tea and a glass of ice...just not the same.
Hot tea with a glass of ice! hehehe That kinda defeats the purpose. You would need much more than a glass of ice to cool the tea. Besides like you said...just not the same. You have to put the sugar in the tea when it is hot so it blends. Our fridge always had a pitcher of sweettea (Idoknowwhatyoumean), and more often than not, we made tea several times a day. We couldn't afford cokes (that's what I call all canned drinks) either.
For some reason, my mom didn't make sweettea (maybe because her mom was from New Jersey?) but all my friends' fridges always had that pitcher. And yeah, you have to mix in the sugar when it's hot.... The restaurants around here all serve it.
Yep,sweetea is a must .I have found Montana waitress look at you if you ask for sweetea.We have always had it here in Texas as long as I can remember.
That was an interesting history and explanation. I have had iced tea in the U.S. and in Malaysia. While they both taste markedly different, I am quite fond of them both.
