Miguel sent me a Christmas present greater than frankincense or myrrh.

He sent me 144 family size Luzianne tea bags.

This is the best tea for southern sweet tea.

It’s tea from New Orleans, Louisiana, so you know it’s good southern tea.

But just as important as the tea us how you make sweet tea.

There is a science to making it perfect.

Table sugar is sucrose, whic is a disaccharide.  That means it’s s a sugar composed of two smaller sugar monomers, glucose and fructose.

Glucose and fructose are sweeter on the tongue than sucrose.  They are also liquid at cooler temperatures and have more solubility in water.

The secret of great southern tea is to bring your water to a boil and add your sugar.  Let the sugar water boil for about 30 seconds.

That causes a chemical reaction that breaks the sucrose into its glucose and fructose constituents.

You will know when it happens because your sugar water will instantly turn clear (the table sugar in water will be cloudy).

Some of you might recognize this as the process for making simple syrup.  That’s exactly what you are doing, making tea in dilute simple syrup.

My ratio is about 1-1/3 to 1-1/2 cups of sugar per gallon, but you can adjust to your own taste.

I boil all the water and steep the tea in it, I don’t do it where you boil half and steep I’m half then cut it with cold water.

I like my tea strong, so I boil all the water, add the sugar, and steep with four family size tea bags, and let it cool to room temperature.  It takes a few hours but it comes our perfect.

Pro tip: you can also do this when making lemonade. It makes be best lemonade.