Why no sweat tea north of the Mason Dixon Line

I know this is a blanket statement, but I have friends from the north, Damn Yankees, Also know a lot of people who have traveled around the US. They all come back and say the same thing. No sweet tea. Now I am no big time sweet tea drinker so it wouldn’t bother me that much. But being an ATSer I think I can see the conspiracy in it. You northerners dislike us southerners so much you abolish our favorite drink.

Now this is not to be taken seriously. This is a joke but one thing I have contemplated often.

[edit on 11-2-2009 by Ant4AU]

Uhhhhhhhhhh, I think you fergot another drink that those Yankees made illegal. Call it moonshine, 'shine, Mountain Dew, White Lightning, Liquid Fire, what have ya. I think you get my drift don't ya Ant? As for why you don't find sweet tea north of the Mason-Dixon Line. I think it may have something to do with "health concerns" more than anything. Then again, they try to get us to loose weight.

reply to post by gimmefootball400


Could it be that the yanks are really Communists. I mean no sweat tea and no white lightning doesn’t sound to American to me What's next apple pie. CHeck your state laws but small amounts of white lightning are legal to make if you register your still.

[edit on 11-2-2009 by Ant4AU]

I think it is because it is cold and we don't get much exercise and the last thing we need is a drink with a sugar content of 50%.

reply to post by nixie_nox


Could be, i believe that is the best answer I have ever been given. And thank you for not taking the statements seriosly.

I never really understood what exactly sweet tea is. Which is to say I love iced tea and love it plenty sweet with a bit of lemon, so is there something special about sweet tea? Just more sugar, I assume, so how much sugar? My only contact with "sweet tea" was the stuff from McD's which when spilled on my counter within 20 minutes turned to a goo so thick I had to scrape it up with a putty knife.

Now, as for shine, I can say that it is alive an well here in parts of the north too. In fact a friend's father makes quite a brew from, of all things, frozen french fries. Very smooth and surprisingly quite good.

We aren't all "cityfied" up here

[edit on 11-2-2009 by TravelerintheDark]

reply to post by TravelerintheDark


It is called tator water for a reason. For some reason that potatoes make good shine. The difference is you don't have to add the sweet yourself. Thanks for playing along.

reply to post by TravelerintheDark


Southern sweet tea is flexible. You gotta have just the right amount of tea and sugar. If it is even a little off, it can be too bitter or too syrupy.

I boil water in a small saucepot, then put in 5 regular tea bags. Take the pot off the heat and let the tea steep for around half an hour. Add 1 to 1 1/2 cups of sugar to a pitcher, pour the hot tea over, and add water until the pitcher is full and stir to mix. I don't ice it; I put it in the fridge until it gets cold then serve it over ice. Tastes better to me that way.

For me, if more than 5 tea bags are used, I use 2 cups of sugar per pitcher. Cuts the bitterness without adding too much sweet.

reply to post by Ant4AU


I was trying not to insult you by mentioning that mcdonalds has sweet tea.
:w:

I like sun tea the best, but all in all I am much more a coffee drinker.

Actually I live in Maryland. The poor state that is too North for the south and too South for the North.
There are some southern things that I have not experienced before like scrapple and grooms cakes. But sweet tea hasn't quite made it.

I think you just need to have long hot summers. Here, we love snowballs.

reply to post by nixie_nox


That's why I said it is a blanket statement. I knew that some places served it. It just isn't widespread like down here. YOu can't go nowhere without it being available.


And here most of us hate snowballs. or atleast me. Most of the south do not know how to drive in the snow so it is crazy when it happens down here.

[edit on 11-2-2009 by Ant4AU]

reply to post by nixie_nox


Scrapple....yuck!!

Grooms cake....always reminds me of the "bleedin' armadillo groom's cake" from Steel Magnolias. "Hack into that thing, looks like it's bleedin' to death".

reply to post by Ant4AU


LOL Ant that was too cute.

I should specify snow cones as oppossed to snowballs.

And they like them with custard here. Yuck.

reply to post by nixie_nox


Diddo on the snow cones, but custard, hold on full body tremble. I don't think I will think of snow cones the same again.

reply to post by skeptic1


If scrapple is made right and can be good. Like fruitcake, it can be done really badly or really well.

I love steel magnolias. Only movie that makes me bawl like a baby every time.

I think the traditions of grooms cakes is that it is supposed to represent the groom. But ours was a plain chocolate cake, because we had some celiac disesase sufferers so I made it a gluten free cake.
Or else it would of been a soccer ball.

That's why I put "sweet tea" from McD's in quotes. It's more like brown syrup than anything like iced tea. Vile stuff that could probably make a fine hair remover.

Thanks for the education, folks! Seems what I make isn't far off from the southern favorite. I'm in Maryland too, and in the mountains (Yeehaw for hillbillies!), so just barely north of the Mason Dixon line. That might explain it

reply to post by Ant4AU


I can't wrap my mind around it either. Though I have just started venturing into the marshmellow, and with the right flavors, it is actually kinda good.

Like my husband gets marshmellow on an orange snowball and it tastes like a creamcicle.

And they have egg custard flavored snow cones. yuck.

reply to post by TravelerintheDark


That is another thing I heard. That when you do find sweet tea up north it is not the same as the south. Well Nixie Traveler I name you Honorary Southerners. So as you have a geoghraphical location and not to far north or to far south.

Woohoo! Now I can drive into West Virginia with my head held high

I had forgotten about egg custard snow cones. Haven't had one with marshmallow since I moved out of Baltimore as a kid.