Being a somewhat long-time drinker of sweet tea (going on 16 years now - though it used to be "water? no thanks, I'll have sweet tea," and has now changed to, "maybe I'll have sweet tea"), I'd like to think that I'm not necessarily a newbie when it comes to sweet tea. After all, I can make sweet tea that rivals even the long-time tea makers and drinkers of the South's abilities, and I can hide the fact that I'm actually a [damn] yankee with my sweet tea skillz.
Over the years, I've learned that making the perfect sweet tea isn't merely boiling some water, throwing some tea bags in it, add water, sugar, and stir. I've learned that making GOOD sweet tea is an equivocal art form similar to a light French pastry. Making sweet tea is a combination of skill and chemistry, equally balanced to produce a sweet, amber nectar, served best cold, with ice, in a glass...er...glass.
I've run across some pretty good "commercial" sweet teas (commercial meaning sweet tea not made in someone's home). Publix has some great sweet tea, and even McDonald's has picked up making some good tea. Chik-Fil-A has always had good sweet tea, and almost every BBQ joint in the South has great tea. One of my main pet peeves when it comes to tea...sweet or not...is tea that has gone bad.
Let me tell you how tea goes bad. I worked in The Restaurant for two seasons while in college. The first season, tea was made the normal commercial way. Pop a tea bag thing in the top, add water, add sugar to metal, press "ON," and stir, being careful not to line your bare hand under the stream of piping hot tea. When the tea is done being brewed, it is still piping hot. You add ice to a glass and serve. You can't exactly pour tea into pitchers of ice and serve, or it will get watered down. In a couple of hours, the tea cools down, slightly. Also in those couple of hours, bacteria starts to form. Why tea has this ability to cultivate bacteria, I don't know - I'd have to get all scientific and find out. Over the next several hours, if new tea isn't made, the tea sits in the same metal container, growing bacteria. Within about 7 hours or so, the tea then turns and gets a bitter, "dead" taste to it. It's awful.
Mrs. Winner's gallons of sweet tea is notorious for this. Publix tea will last at least 2 days refrigerated. Mrs. Winner's tea lasts maybe 2 hours refrigerated. I went and picked up Mrs. Winner's last night. I figured if any night was a good night for comfort food, it was last night. I pour a glass of Mrs. Winner's tea when I get home (appx. 6pm). It has no taste - just sugar water, so I'm already disappointed. By 8pm that night (2 hours), the tea had started turning bad, getting that bitter, dead taste to it. This isn't the first time this has happened. It happens every time I get Mrs. Winner's tea. Why do I get it then? It's included with the meal. At first I thought it was a sweet tea thing, but, turns out, it's an unsweet tea thing, too. I tried unsweet tea, and it was almost dead upon pouring.
Overall life spans:
Publix : 2 + days
Mrs. Winners: 2 hours
BBQ place: Never purchased in gallons
Homemade: 7 days
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