- Theresa brought it to my attention
a few minutes ago, y'all,
that I have never made sweet tea on any of my videos.
So I'm gonna share with y'all,
how I always made my sweet tea.
And this is kinda like before the restaurant,
because I would make it a gallon,
you know, for my family.
And we wouldn't drink at all at a meal,
but, you know, I'd put it in the refrigerator
and we might get two days out of it.
So, to a gallon of tea,
I would use four family-size bags.
And I'm funny about my tea,
there's only one brand that I really like.
And I think it's like a Southern tea, I'm not sure.
But to make a gallon jug of tea,
I would use four of these.
Now I got 'em all twisted up, y'all.
So this is the biggest pitcher I have in the house.
So I'm gonna use three family-sized
tea bags for that amount.
And I'm gonna put these over in boiling water,
and I'm gonna dip, dip, dip.
And then I'm gonna put the lid on it and let it steep.
You know, it depends on how busy I got during the day.
You know, I might let it steep 30 minutes,
I might let it steep three hours.
And it didn't seem to, you know, make a difference.
But they don't pay me a thing y'all, so, (chuckles)
this is strictly, you know what
myself and my family loves.
And we serve it in all of our restaurants too.
So, we like fresh mint in our tea.
And we grew this in the yard.
Didn't we Eddie?
- [Eddie] Yes.
- I can't remember whereabouts in the yard this is.
- [Eddie] We haven't found a, in the ground spot yet.
- (laughs) Oh we hadn't, so it's in a pot.
- [Eddie] We have a couple of pots around the yard. (laughs)
- And of course, lemons.
And look at this color of this lemon, y'all.
That's a Meyer lemon, which is so good,
I could just bite into 'em like an apple with salt.
So, now to, a gallon of tea,
seems like I use like a cup and three-fourths.
One and three-fourths cup of sugar for a gallon of tea.
Now some people may not like it that sweet.
So you just need to
make that according to your preference.
I might have used one and a half cups, I can't remember.
But I do know that the longer your tea sits,
the sweeter it gets.
So I remember sometimes I'd have to add some water to it
'cause it was just a little too, too sweet.
So, that's strictly your call.
So for this, I'm gonna use about a cup,
or almost a cup.
- You know, when I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
I said, well, you know, I gotta try to help myself here.
I would drink diet sodas in the morning when I got up.
I didn't drink coffee, I wasn't a coffee drinker then.
And at 11 o'clock when we started lunch
I switched to sweet tea.
And I would drink sweet tea until I crawled in my bed.
And I usually have my sweet tea glass sitting by my bed.
So I said, you know, this is something I can do.
I'm consuming so much sugar just in my tea.
So I put down the sweet tea and I started using,
you know diet sweet tea.
I would use an artificial sweetener in my tea.
And I've gotten used to it now.
It tastes good to me, now with the artificial sugar.
But some people make tea using,
you know, they'll buy the big bags
of whatever kind of sugar substitute they care to have.
And they'll sweeten their tea with an artificial sweetener.
Which is fine too.
It's, you know, whatever,
whatever floats your boat.
So a lot of this is strictly your pallet.
So you would change this accordingly.
Some people like real strong, strong tea.
So you might wanna use more tea bags.
Let's see what the directions say.
And that just calls for one tea bag for a half a gallon.
And see, I like mine stronger.
So if I was making a full gallon,
I would have four family-sized teabags in there.
But since I'm making it in this pitcher, I have cut back.
That's gonna be some good tea.
So we'll let it steep,
maybe 15 minute.
Or if I get busy maybe 30 minutes.
Okay, I probably let this steep what?
15 to 20 minutes, would you say, Theresa?
- [Theresa] Yes, ma'am.
- And this water is still hot as blue blazers.
But that's good 'cause that's gonna.
No, I'm gonna do it right here, but thank you.
That's all right,
because that hot tea is gonna melt my sugar.
(hot water trickling)
So there we go.
And I take the back of the spoon and I press out
every drop of that strong part of the tea bag.
All right, so we're gonna just give it a stir,
let all that sugar dissolve.
And like I said, it won't take but a minute.
Theresa, I would like-- - Lots of ice?
- Lots of ice.
And get everybody else a glass too, if y'all want some.
Now I take my tea bags,
(water splashing)
and I just cover 'em with cold water,
and enough to fill up my pitcher.
Or almost fill it up.
I just make sure I get off the goodie
out of those tea bags, y'all. (chuckles)
And like I said, the longer this sits
the sweeter it's gonna get.
- [Eddie] It doesn't matter.
I mean, it looks really dark.
- Yes.
- [Eddie] Is there a--
- That orange pekoe, that pekoe?
Is just good.
Ooh, thanks Therese.
- [Theresa] I know you like lots.
- I do.
And this hot tea will melt that ice in--
- Two seconds. - Just, yes, in two seconds.
All right, I'm gonna add a little bit more.
- [Theresa] People don't really realize
that there is a science to tea.
And that you do, like steeping it.
Like boiling your water and steeping it separately.
'Cause a lot of people think you put your bags in
and let it boil and it gets bitter.
- No, I don't boil.
I don't boil my tea bags.
That's a pretty pitcher of tea, isn't it?
Gonna see if it's sweet enough?
That is so good.
But--
(Paula and Eddie laugh)
I did a scant cup of sugar.
So I think it needs just to--
- [Theresa] Scant more.
- Yeah, just not much, but just a little bit.
Just a little bit.
Not so much.
- [Theresa] Oh, that's a little bit.
- Yeah, just a little bit, like I said.
- [Theresa] Look at Daddy's face.
(Theresa and Paula laugh)
- Like I said, I've got to wash my spoon
'cause I drank out of it.
So that was probably a full cup.
'Cause like I said, I didn't fill my cup all the way full.
- [Eddie] I had never had sweet tea until,
you know, I moved here into college.
And I remember, you know,
in the dorms we weren't supposed to have any microwaves,
any hot pots or anything like that.
And I think I had like a rice cooker.
- That's so good. - But these two
girls that I met from North Carolina,
in their room they had a hot plate and they--
- [Theresa] Made their tea.
- [Eddie] They made their tea every morning.
And I remember going over there--
- Did they drink hot tea or cold?
- [Eddie] No, they made their sweet tea.
And I thought it was the most amazing thing.
(Theresa and Paula laughing) I thought it was.
- [Theresa] What is the most amazing thing?
- Okay.
Squirt of that Meyer lemon in it.
And if you come to any of our restaurants,
you're gonna get your tea with mint in it.
So if you just put it up there
you're not gonna get any flavor.
In order to get the.
Oh my gosh, it felt so good.
In order to get that mint flavor through your tea
you have to crush your leaves
and that opens up the pores in your mint.
It opens 'em up to release that flavor throughout your tea.
Here's to y'all.
Here's to you
- [Eddie] Go sit on the porch.
- [Theresa] And say, "Hey, y'all."
(Eddie chuckling)
- Y'all come on in and have a piece of cake,
and a glass of sweet tea. (chuckles)
"Love and Best Dishes".
It could be a little bit sweeter.
(Theresa and Paula chuckling)