Steeped In Tradition – Life Through Her Lens

Courtesy of my very talented sister Heather, I am sharing this lovely photo. Sometimes I just don’t know how she captures crispness and vibrancy of life so well! I’m happy to enjoy her ability to speak so fluently and with such beauty through her photography.

She took this photo from the fields of our very own Charleston Tea Plantation which happens to be America’s only tea garden. If you buy American Classic Tea you’re drinking our tea! And that makes us Charlestonians swell with pride!

Next closest Tea Plantation? 7,320 miles to China!

 

Charleston Tea Plantation, Wadmalaws Island, SC – Photo by Heather DelPalacio

Southern House Wine:

3 cups water

4-6 family sized American Classic Tea bags

1 cup sugar or to taste (I always do about 2 cups give or take because I like it pretty sweet)

Note: You add ice cubes to cool it down so don’t worry too much if your tea solution is a little strong.

And here is how you put it together.

You add your sugar to 3 cups of water and bring it to a boil and dissolve the sugar. Remove your pot from the stove top heat once it boils! Next you’ll want to add tea bags of course but wait until your water isn’t boiling anymore or you’ll burn your tea leaves. Let steep 20-30 minutes and then remove the tea bags. Remember it’s going to be a little darker than what you want because you’re going to water it down a bit!

Now in a large gallon container, pour in the tea syrup (Think simple syrup ok? It should be real sweet and a little thick!) and add cold water and stir until well mixed.

A Few Tips:

Now this is going to make about a gallon of tea so save your gallon milk jug and clean it out before you make the tea so you have something to put it in.

You can serve your southern house wine over ice immediately but make sure you store what’s left in the fridge. Speaking from experience tea is going to have a flat burnt taste when it starts going bad (just so you know). I recommend adding lemon to individual cups instead of to the entire gallon. That stuff will go bad well before the tea will!

So go make some tea and enjoy your Monday!

Southern Proverb: Sweet tea is always sweeter when you share it with the ones you love! (I might have made that up but it’s true!)