Authentic Southern Sweet Tea and the Arnold (Winnie) Palmer Drink

 It's been called the house wine of the south and in fact it is drank more often around our little corner of the Cul de Sac here in Kansas than any wine.  Sweet Tea, different than sweetened tea, memorable and just better,

It does take a little time, as you seep the tea bags for a couple hours in gently simmering water.  It also takes a little extra effort as you need to make a simple syrup to add the sweet to sweet tea... but again... Worth it.

Here's how to do it...

2 gallons Water
5 big FAMILY SIZE Luzianne tea bags
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
4 Cups Water
4 Cups Sugar

I have a BIG three gallon pot that I make my tea in.  Fill with water and bring to a low simmer
Add the tea bags and simmer for 2-5 hours
Add 1/2 tsp of Baking Powder.  this will take out the bitterness of the tea and make the drink MUCH smoother
After the simmering is finished, in a smaller pot, bring 4 cups of water to a gentle boil
Add 4 cups of sugar and stir constantly for about 3 minutes.  The water and sugar will turn from cloudy to clear as the sugar is absorbed into the liquid
Add the simple sugar to the tea, cool, add ice and...

Serve COLD and ENJOY!

You are about to learn more than you ever wanted to know about the Arnold Palmer Drink.

The basic Arnold Palmer is simplicity in itself...

Make some Tea
Make some Lemonade
Add ice cubes to a glass
Pour the glass 3/4 full with Tea
Top off the glass with Lemonade

Sweeten as you like.

But wait, there's more... How about an Arnold Palmer Cocktail

If you add a shot of Rum, you have a Dirty Palmer
If you add a shot of Vodka, you have a Dirty Arnie
If you add a shot of Cointreau, you have a Dirty Florida Golfer
This last one I made up... I was out of Vodka and the bottle of Cointreau was calling to my inner inspiration... And I like the name!
But wait, there's more... Sweet Tea makes a different drink...

But around our little corner of the world, we make a BIG batch of authentic Southern Sweet tea, complete with simple syrup and a pinch of baking powder

OK, stay with me,I also made real fresh lemonade...

Juice of 6 lemons (1 Cup)
3 Cups Water
1 cup of the Simple Sugar
Mix well
Add slices from 1 lemon
Allow to rest for 2 hours while the oils from the lemon rind infuse into the L-ade

And now, finally here's what I did...

I filled a glass with ice
filled 3/4ers of the glass with Sweet tea
Filled the rest of the way up with Lemonade
Mixed and enjoyed!

BUT... 

This in fact is not an Arnold Palmer drink. When made with Southern Sweet tea in place of Northern Sweetened tea it is called a Winnie Palmer (named for Arnie's wife)

That's about enough...   Enjoy, come on by and have a seat and visit for a spell...