Music Monday: Cravin’ Melon - Sweet Tea

Yes, folks, there’s actually a song about sweet tea.  If I had a theme song, I think this would be it.  Aside from the fact that it’s about my favorite beverage, it’s a great song.  Listen to it, I think you’ll like it.

Here’s a link to my sweet tea recipe, just in case the song left you wanting a nice glass of sweet tea. 

Is there a song about your favorite beverage?

Watermelon Lime Tea

Today is National Iced Tea Day, so of course I have to share a tea recipe with you.

Being a southerner, I only drink sweet tea. Flavored teas are fine. They’re a nice change sometimes, but they have to be sweet. For me, it’s all about the sweet tea, regardless of the flavor.

I just love tea, and I love trying new flavors of tea. I also have a tendency to buy way too many packages of flavored tea bags, so sometimes I try different combinations to help use up what I have. This recipe came about from trying to use up packages of small tea bags and putting off going to the grocery store to buy a package of large tea bags. It’s absolutely delicious!


Watermelon Lime Tea

3 Watermelon Lime tea bags (I used Celestial Seasonings, but I’m pretty sure any brand would be fine)

4 small black tea bags (I used the brand from Aldi for this batch, but I’ve used Lipton before as well. I think any brand will work)

1 gallon of water, divided

1 ½ cups sugar

Place the tea bags (with any tags or strings removed) and six cups of water in a medium sauce pan over high heat, and bring to a full boil. Boil for about 45 seconds. Cover, and remove from heat.

Steep for 6 - 12 hours. Allowing enough time for steeping is the key to perfect sweet tea. Good things usually take time. It’s worth the wait!

Pour the sugar into a one gallon pitcher.

Remove the tea bags, and pour the tea into the pitcher.

Fill the pitcher the rest of the way with hot water, stirring constantly. Continue stirring for one minute.

Cover, and leave the pitcher out on the counter for 2 - 6 hours, until the tea has cooled back down to room temperature. Refrigerate, and serve over ice.

Enjoy!

So what about you? Will you be enjoying a nice glass of tea today?

Green Tea With Blackberry & Mint

It’s finally blackberry season here in western North Carolina (also in the upstate of South Carolina). The roadside stands are open, and blackberries are on everyone’s mind. They’re just perfect right now; so plump, sweet, and juicy.

Blackberries also happen to be my friend Crystal’s favorite berry, so of course we had to visit a roadside stand to get fresh blackberries. Some of them went into the meringue cake experiment, more than a few were eaten fresh, some made their way into the freezer, and some became part of this incredible tea.

Crystal loves tea at least as much as I do, maybe even more, so we tend to drink a lot of tea when we’re together. I was getting ready to start another batch of sweet tea during her last visit when I decided that iced (sweet, of course!) green tea might be good. Crystal agreed, and suggested adding blackberries since we had so many. I thought that sounded great, and thought mint might also make a nice addition. Mint grows wild all over our yard during the warm weather, so we have plenty available. We thought it all sounded good and decided to give it a try.

Here’s the recipe:

1 gallon of water, divided

6 green tea bags

1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, shredded

2/3 cup fresh blackberries, crushed with a fork

1 ½ cups sugar

Place tea bags (any tags/papers removed) and six cups of water in a medium sauce pan over high heat. Bring to a boil. Cover and remove from heat.

In a small bowl, combine blackberries (along with all of their juice) and mint. Pour the mixture into the pot with the tea. Cover and allow it to steep for 4 - 8 hours.

Place sugar in the bottom of a gallon pitcher. Using a fine mesh strainer, slowly pour the tea mixture into the pitcher. (This should prevent any chunks of berries or mint leaves from ending up in your glass of tea). Stir well. Add hot water to fill the pitcher, stirring constantly. Stir for another minute. Cover and leave the pitcher on the counter for a few hours, until the teas has cooled back down to room temperature. Refrigerate. Serve cold, over ice.

This tea was absolutely delicious! We used (and I highly recommend if you can get it) Charleston Tea Plantation Wadmalaw Island Green Tea. Otherwise, just use your favorite green tea. It’s a great, refreshing summertime tea.

Sweet Tea

It occurred to me recently that I do not have a recipe for sweet tea on my blog. It’s just unacceptable for Sweet Tea Reads not to have sweet tea, so I knew that had to be my S post.

For those of you not in the know, sweet tea means cold (iced) tea with lots of sugar, served in copious amounts, sometimes with lemon or mint. It needs to be strong, and it needs to be sweet. The sugar also has to be added while the tea is hot. Bringing a glass of unsweetened iced tea with a sugar bowl or packets when someone asks for sweet tea is a bit like a restaurant bringing you flour and yeast if you’ve asked for bread. It’s just not right.

Sweet tea is one of most delicious things you can possibly drink. It’s refreshing, and it goes well with any meal. It’s also the perfect beverage to offer guests. Nothing says hospitality like a big glass of sweet tea.

Making sweet tea is a slow process. It cannot be rushed; there is simply no way to make good sweet tea in a hurry. Some things in life are worth waiting for. We southerners take our sweet tea very seriously, and pretty much constantly have a batch prepared, and a batch in the works. Growing up in the south it’s ingrained in you that you always offer guests sweet tea. 

It took me a few years to come up with what I consider to be the perfect method for making sweet tea. I spent years watching my dad try and discard recipes and ask anyone, particularly older southern women, what their method for perfect sweet tea was. I didn’t realize it until fairly recently, but he was on a quest to duplicate the sweet tea his grandmother made.

I don’t actually remember what the sweet tea at her house tasted like. At least not consciously. I can remember drinking sweet tea out of big plastic cups there, and that it was the coldest, most refreshing thing. My dad swears that my sweet tea tastes exactly like hers did, and insisted that I come up with measurements and an exact method so he can make it at home. So here it is:

Sweet Tea

1 gallon of water, divided

3 family sized tea bags (I usually buy any whichever brand is on sale, but if forced to name a favorite, it’s the round Tetley ones)

1 ½ cups sugar (NOT artificial sweetener)

Place tea bags (with any tags or strings removed) and six cups of water in a medium sauce pan over high heat, and bring to a full boil. Boil for two minutes. Cover and remove from heat. Allow to steep for 6 - 12 hours (the longer the better). Pour the sugar into a one gallon pitcher. Remove tea bags and pour into the pitcher. Stir well. Add hot water to fill the pitcher completely, stirring constantly. Stir for another minute. Cover and leave the pitcher out on the counter for 2 - 6 hours, at least until the tea has cooled back down to room temperature. Then refrigerate. Serve cold, over ice.

Enjoy!