All about sweet tea.

A couple of years ago, a southern comedian talked about sweet tea and how he "liked it so thick that you could use it for syrup if you ran out." I thought I would take some time to delve into sweet tea.

When I was ten, we moved to South Georgia. Our dad moved down a year in advance while my brother and I finished that school year. When we came to visit him, he said, "you have GOT to try this stuff called sweet tea!"

Sweet Tea: Orange Pekoe Cut Black Tea (typical American teabag tea) that is brewed and mixed with a combination of sugar water and cold water.

The word "sweet tea" is often replaced in southern culture by just "tea." "Do you want some tea?" means would you like a glass of sweet tea...not asking if you'd like to participate in High Tea.

"Tea," for the most part, has been unknown to regions outside of the South until McDonald's picked up "Southern Style Sweet Tea" and until Chik-Fil-A started making its journey out of the South. There's no mistaking its taste though makers of "tea" tend to stick by one tea bag or another...and almost never change.

I bring this up because I just got done sipping maybe 1/4 cup of sweet tea from the local BBQ joint. I remember gulping glasses of this stuff down as a kid. Believe it or not, "tea" tends to have less sugar in it than "cokes" (aka any carbonated beverage such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, etc. is referred to as "cokes" in the South). So I digress. I start sipping this Southern nectar when it hits me: an ultimate sugar shock. This tea was poorly made. There was no tea taste, which is sometimes okay (especially when "tea" goes bad), but this was like sucking on cane sugar water. What am I? A hummingbird?

"When 'tea' goes bad" - yes, "tea" can definitely go bad. When "tea" sits around unrefrigerated for an extended period of time (most restaurants keep their tea in metal spouted containers), bacteria finds its way into the tea, turns it a musty-sour taste and turns the tea dark. If you keep tea sitting out for a day or two, you'll even notice mold and bacteria growing on top of the glass, etc. that it is kept in. Don't drink this.

Otherwise, sweet tea is great (unless you're diabetic...then it's pretty lethal). However, I think I could have used the BBQ joint's tea as syrup on my pancakes last night.