The 1 Ingredient That Should Never Go In Traditional Sweet Tea
If you're not from the South or you didn't grow up drinking sweet tea, you might get it confused with unsweet iced tea. There are so many teas that look basically the same on first glance. However, Southerners know there's a huge difference between sweet tea and unsweet tea (and that down South, it's practically sacrilege to confuse them).
According to MasterClass, the key to telling sweet tea and unsweet tea apart lies in one key ingredient that you'll never, ever find in traditional Southern sweet tea. (If you find that your "sweet" tea has this ingredient, you're probably either not in the South or a restaurant or recipe is giving its iced tea a serious misnomer (per First We Feast).)
This common ingredient can be a refreshing addition to nearly any tea, cocktail, or frozen drink, but be sure to leave it out of your sweet tea in particular.
The difference between sweet and unsweet tea
In "Steel Magnolias," Dolly Parton's character, Truvy, calls iced tea "the house wine of the South" (via Yarn). Both sweet and unsweet iced tea are made with black tea leaves. But sweet tea, as the name suggests, is sweetened with sugar, while unsweet iced tea has no added sugar (per Brewed Leaf Love).
The other significant difference, though, is that lemon will never make an appearance in your glass of sweet tea. Although it brightens the flavors of many types of tea, you'll never find lemon, lemon juice, or lemon zest in traditional Southern sweet tea. Lemon can be served on the rim of a glass of sweet tea — but only if there's no lemon in the tea itself (per MasterClass).
Some "sweet tea" recipes do call for lemon juice in the tea, which adds to the confusion. But according to steadfast Southerners, that's just iced tea, not sweet tea. Don't put lemon in your "Southern house wine" if you want to avoid hearing the infamous "bless your heart!"
How to make traditional Southern sweet tea
Traditional Southern sweet tea may feel like an intimidating beverage to make if you grew up far from the South. But thankfully, the process is fairly simple and only requires a few ingredients (per Southern Living).
To start your sweet tea off right, bring a gallon of water to a near-boil (this should take about five to seven minutes). Then, turn off the heat and add the tea bags — Southern Living's recipe calls for 11 regular black tea bags or four family-sized black tea bags. Swirl the tea bags in the water and let them steep until the tea has cooled. You'll know this step is done when the tea is cooler but the bag is warm to the touch, which should take around 30 minutes. Then, stir in a cup of sugar until it fully dissolves, and chill the drink in the refrigerator for at least one hour. When you're ready to serve the sweet tea, pour it over ice and garnish the rim of your glass with a lemon wedge if you'd like (per MasterClass).
If you want to make authentic Southern sweet tea, leave the lemon as a garnish. It's a perfectly good addition to plenty of other beverages, but sweet tea is so refreshing that you won't even miss the lemony accents.