What is Sweet Tea?

If you live in the South, you might want to skip this post and carry on with your day.  To those who are still with me - sweet tea is what we Southerners bleed when we cut a finger (not to discount our famous barbecue sauces - another subject for another day).  For the purposes of clarification, sweet tea is NOT Snapple in a bottle.  Neither is it some kind of instant powder you stir up with a spoon.  Sweet tea is composed of tea bags, the more the merrier, the stronger the better in my book, slowly steeped in scalding water, to which a couple of dump-truck-loads of sugar is added while the mixture is still steaming hot.  That is your base.  Add more water to dilute to your taste, chill thoroughly, and serve in a big glass filled with ice.  We consume millions of gallons of the stuff, 24-7-365.  It knows no season.  Without it, we would be pale lifeless specimens of humanity, a disgrace to America probably.  So if you have ever wondered about us, thinking "what IS it with those crazy people down there?", the answer is sugar.  We're all hopped up on it.  Here below the Mason-Dixon line, we love our sweet tea.