Paleo Southern Sweet Tea

I spent a large chunk of my childhood and teenage years in Central Texas. One of the mainstays of every hostess's house and restaurant was Southern Sweet Tea. If a restaurant didn't make good sweet tea, it would go promptly out of business.

One of the tenants of the Paleo diet is not to ingest any processed sugar. I would not recommend preparing this sweet tea more than once a week, because on the Paleo diet it is important to minimize the use of even natural sugars.

However, this is a far more healthy alternative beverage to any other sweetened beverage that contains caffeine. If it is a choice between a natural soda like Reed's Ginger Beer or this sweet tea recipe, it is far better to make and drink the sweet tea. The above statement also applies to my Paleo Honey Green Tea recipe.

One of the good uses for this recipe and my Paleo Honey Green Tea recipe is for raising blood sugars in a diabetic having a low blood sugar. I use these two recipes primarily for this use, as I am a Type 1 diabetic.

I use a Nilgiri Chamraj Estate TGFOP Indian black tea for the black tea base. I usually buy the 32 oz. quantity because it is the cheapest price and that is a two year supply for me. I buy Organic Grade B Maple Syrup of varying brands, usually the store brand at a natural grocer. I use the Bodum Brazil 34 oz. French Press and a electric tea kettle to bring the water to the boil. I use a deluxe one made by Breville that is very expensive, but they have perfectly good inexpensive ones at Costco or Walmart.

Ingredients

2 Tbs or 15 grams of loose-leaf black tea

32 oz. filtered water

1/3 cup Organic Grade B Maple Syrup

Implements

34 oz. French Press

1/3 cup stainless steel measuring cup

1/2 gallon pitcher from Bed Bath and Beyond

medium size stainless steel soup pot

digital kitchen timer that uses minutes and seconds

working ice maker

Instructions

Bring the 32 oz. of filtered water to the boil in the electric kettle. While that is happening, measure the tea leaves and put them into the French Press. When the water reaches the boil, remove it from the heating element and set aside to cool for exactly 1 minute. That should bring it to the correct temperature to brew black tea, which is 195 degrees. Pour the water over the tea leaves in the French Press and add the lid. Brew the tea for exactly 3 minutes. While the tea is brewing, fill the entire glass pitcher with ice from the ice maker. When the timer goes off at 3 minutes, depress the plunger on the French press slowly and pour the tea into the soup pot. Add 1/3 cup maple syrup and stir until melted. pour sweetened tea from the soup pot into the pitcher full of ice. Stir vigorously with large serving spoon to encourage the ice to melt fast and bring the tea to the correct cold temperature. Put the lid on the glass pitcher and store in the refrigerator.

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