Sweet Tea
Being from Columbia SC, I though all tea is served iced
cold and sweet. All barbeque is pork, and yellow, and
all tea, sweet.I went on a trip to Texas, and the visitor's
guide flagged this place that was supposed to have the best BBQ.
Now Im here to tell you, this stuff was like sliced thin london
broil, dried into jerky strips, and served w/ iced tea that leaves
you thirsty.
Nope, they just go about it all wrong. BBQ is slow roasted pulled
pork, served up vinager style, or better yet, with a spicey yellow
mustard sauce. Duke's, Shealy's, Maurices, Millenders - Oh My...
And if you are in Blythewood - Try Southern
Pig
History of Sweet Iced Tea
Now for a little iced tea history. In 1799 - South Carolina
is the first place in the United States where tea was grown and
is the only state to ever have produced tea commercially. Tea came
to the South Carolina in 1799 by way of a French botanist, Francois
Andre Michaux, who planted tea near Charleston at Middleton Barony,
now known as Middleton Place Gardens. Tea grown by The Charleston
Tea Plantation and sold under the name "American Classic Tea"
is the only commercially grown tea in South Carolina, or anywhere
else in North America. It has been the Official Tea of the White
House since 1987. Tea was officially adopted as the Hospitality
Beverage of South Carolina by Act No. 31 on April 10, 1995.
It is assumed that tea was taken hot until the 1904 world fair.
However, an article was written in 1890 documenting a reunion of
confederate soldiers.
"The following figures will convey some idea of the amount
of provision used a Camp Jackson during the recent encampment. There
were 4,800 pounds of bread, 11,705 pounds of beef, 407 pounds of
ham, 21 sheep, 600 pounds of sugar, 6 bushels of beans, 60 gallon
of pickles, and a wagonload of potatoes. It was all washed down
with 2,220 gallons of coffee and 880 gallons of iced tea. The committee
expended $3,000, a little in excess of the amount subscribed, for
the entertainment of the old soldiers."
Pat Villmer of the St. Louis World's
Fair Society, on learning of Professor Irwin's research, wrote that
tea, "wasn't invented at the World's Fair. The good people
of the South were serving iced tea in their homes long before the
Fair. It was just popularized at the Fair. It was called sweet tea
served cool not hot in the summer in the South. Ice, when available,
was used. Remember, ice was the premium in the early days before
refrigeration, not tea."
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