In much of the American South, ordering tea means iced tea, and iced tea means sweet tea unless you say otherwise. One of the earliest printed recipes for sweetened iced tea appeared in an 1879 Virginia community cookbook, and it was made with green tea. Black tea took over in the twentieth century, and with refrigeration and cheap sugar, sweet tea became the drink of porches, barbecues and Sunday lunches from Texas to the Carolinas, poured from a pitcher that never seems to empty.

The method matters more than people expect. The sugar must go in while the tea is hot, so it dissolves completely, and the tea should be strong, because ice will soften it. A tiny pinch of baking soda, an old Southern trick, smooths away bitterness and keeps the tea clear. On a hot afternoon in Austin or Miami, very few things are more welcome.

The tea

Ingredients

• 4 cups (950 ml) water
• 8 black tea bags
• 1 pinch (about 1/8 teaspoon) baking soda
• 3/4 to 1 cup (150 to 200 g) sugar
• 4 cups (950 ml) cold water
• ice cubes
• 1 lemon
• 1 handful fresh mint sprigs

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