Brand Spankin' New

[stevebody]

In Virginia and the Carolinas, the proper glass of iced tea will start with that exact recipe: 2c. sugar to the galon of tea, which starts with eight tea bags steeped until you could stand a spoon up in it. Then the glass is filled TO THE TOP with ice (very important) since the tea will melt the ice quickly, even after it's cooled. We always served ours with a sprig of mint and lemon standing by but not in the glass. Occasionally, a tiny bit of bourbon would find its way into the glass, although nobody ever seemed to know how it happened.

In Seattle, the recipe, evidently, involves maybe three tea bags per gallon, a quick steep, and real fears of an ice and sugar shortage, apparently, since the average ration is about three cubes and NO sugar. The wiaters always say that there's sugar on the table, so that you can choose to sweeten or not. Oh, well...they don't know any better and they are pretty nice kids.

P.S.: No matter what anybody tells you (and I'm considered a traitor back home for saying this) Virginia wines, with few exceptions, are NOT ready for prime time. They definitely will be one day, from what I'm tasting, but they're just too new at it yet. Buyer beware...