The Art of  Sweet Tea

There’s no doubt that sweet iced tea is the Table Wine of the South, especially in the heat of summer. But any Southerner will tell you that not all sweet tea is created equal. Yes, there is definitely an art to creating the perfect batch, and luckily, there are plenty of local restaurants — like Dreamland BBQ, with locations in Roswell and Norcross — that know how to brew it right.

The sweet tea recipe at Dreamland was created by Larry Pendleton, now manager at the Roswell location, when the chain opened in Birmingham in 1993, and customers have been coming back for more ever since. To create your own perfect, refreshing glass, Pendleton offers the following tips:

Start with high-quality tea leaves. Dreamland uses a premium blend from Leroy Hill Coffee Company (visit www.leroyhillcoffee.com to order online).

A watched pot brews just right.

Pendleton suggests adding 8 to 10 regular-sized tea bags to one pot of water (at least 32 ounces) and ­heating on the stove until it boils, about 15 to 20 minutes.
As the water is heating, pour sugar into a gallon-sized pitcher — the sweeter the better.
To replicate Dreamland’s tea, Pendleton suggests using 1 ¼ cup of sugar, but you can adjust the sweetness to your liking. (Beloved ­Southern chef Paula Deen uses two cups of sugar for every one ­gallon!
Once the water begins to boil, leave it on the stove for exactly 60 seconds.
Remove the pot from the stove and discard the tea bags; pour brewed tea over the sugar in the pitcher and stir until the sugar has totally dissolved.
Fill the rest of the gallon container with ­filtered water.

Stir it up and ice it down. Stir the gallon of tea briskly for 60 seconds, then pour some of the liquid into a separate container and stir it again. Add the reserved liquid back to your tea pitcher and stir again for about 15 seconds to ensure that the sugar is distributed equally throughout your pitcher. Before you serve, pack the glasses full of ice. “If it doesn’t get cold fast enough, it doesn’t taste right,” Pendleton said.

“Add a big slice of lemon,” Pendleton suggests. And enjoy!

Photo Courtesy of ©istockphoto.com | David Smith