I have a drink-love-affair with this here sweet tea. You may think you know sweet tea, but you do not know Doug and Leigh's sweet tea.
Being a California girl myself, my "experience" with this went something like this: you order tea at the restaurant, you rip open six packets or so of sugar, you dump them in, stir, and then decide it still tastes too bitter. And then you ask yourself, "Why on earth did I order tea?!"
And then I met Doug and Leigh. They so graciously sponsored my every-other-week six hours back into American reality while I lived on Ebeye and they lived on the US Army base, three miles over. Not only did they have fresh water showers (that were warm), a washer and dryer (that worked), and good home cooking (that included fresh vegetables and fruit), but they had their Alabama charm -- and part of that was sweet tea.
I don't think I have ordered a glass of icky California tea since.
So now, if I get the chance to go to that part of the country for whatever reason, I call them up and say, "Please, pretty please, have lots of tea waiting for me!" And they always do...
Here's how they do it, in Leigh's own words:
Here's how I make it. I use two family sized Luzianne tea bags and steep them in boiling water for 30 minutes to a whole day...it really doesn't matter. I put 1 and 1/2 cups sugar in a gallon container and pour in the steeped water, then add to make a gallon.
Simple, and really REALLY sweet.
Just the way I like it.
(Notice I made the brand large? Well, that's because that is the secret, so I am told. Liptons = no good (for this recipe). Luzianne = EXCELLENT.)
