Sweet Tea(Need I Say More)

In North Carolina sweet tea is the drink that parches your thirst in the warm summer days, the first drink that you choose to order in any restaurant, and the drink that you choose to replace your oatmeal in the morning for breakfast. For every meal, for every hour, you'll hear the words "would you like some sweet tea?" And nothing sounds sweeter than that.

Sweet tea takes me back to the blistering warm days when family and friends would gather at my house, and my mother and grandmother would stand near the kitchen counter and stir the large gallon of tea. Taste testing is always necessary, because if it lacks the optimal sweetness, than 9 out of 10 times it'll end up sitting vacant on the dining room table, ignored by all the passerby's.The remainder 1 out of 10 times are for the select days when you've come back from running around outside and need the closest thing to hydrate your dry throat.It's better than Gatorade and is drunk like water.

It's the drink of choice at every homecoming and gathering at the local churches. Lemonade is at the table as well, but you only resort to that when the gallon of tea has run dry and another batch has to be stirred. When the waitress comes around to refill your drink you ask for "just one more please", but realize by the end of your meal that the same cup has been refilled 5 times.

You might feel like making a batch after watching Sweet Magnolias for the 20th time,but please remember that the recipe calls for 3/4 sugar to 1/4 tea.This is no exaggeration.Oh, and nothing is worse than Sweet n' Low or Splenda sugar substitute. It's basically like making chocolate cake with dirt, or without sugar.

The South has been the birthplace of some very sweet things.Coke, Cheerwine ( made in NC!), Dr.Pepper,Pepsi, and do not forget our tendency for desserts.Yet somehow, sweet tea has remained number 1 on our top ten list. It's so high on the list that growing up, rarely a day went by when my mother didn't have to curb her addiction by driving through the Bojangles drive-thru and ordering a large cup of that good ole' sweet tea. After many attempts to combat her addiction she finally realized that her happiness should remain the top priority.There you have it ladies and gentleman, the drug of choice in the southern United States is in fact, sweet tea.