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Grandma’s Tea

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If you know me at all you no doubt realize that I’m crazy about tea. My grandmother is responsible for this. She gave me my first sips of sweet tea in my bottle at about six months of age thereby curing me of an intestinal illness that had my mother frantic with worry.

 Grandma's Iced Tea

Obviously I don’t remember that first taste in my baby bottle but I do have early memories of drinking Grandma’s iced tea. This will probably sound really strange unless you grew up in my family but all of Grandma’s grandchildren drank what we referred to as “tea milk”. In an effort to get us to drink our milk, Grandma mixed it with her super sweet iced tea. As toddlers it was mostly milk but the proportions changed as we got older so that we were eventually just adding a splash of milk to our tea. Well, at least those of us with lactose “issues”.

Yeah, I know. But think about it. It’s not considered weird to add milk to hot tea – that’s the British way – so it really shouldn’t be such a stretch to add it to iced. The key is that the iced tea needs to be very sweet and properly prepared. Don’t even think about putting it in instant tea. (You don’t drink that nasty stuff anyway, do you?)

Amongst my fondest childhood memories were early mornings after spending the night at my grandparents’ house. Our backyards adjoined so this was something I got to do pretty often, usually with my cousin who lived next door. Sue and I were best friends and loved to have sleep-overs. When we got up, Grandma would fix us cups of hot tea served in Melmac cups (and saucers). Sometimes we sipped our tea at the table but if it was a chilly morning we would sit on the floor in front of the wall furnace.

I don’t know where the saying came from but as Grandma handed us our cups of tea she would tell us to “soak awhile”. I’ve never heard this from anyone else but we understood it to mean that we were to sit quietly and sip our tea, taking our time to fully awaken. To this day, that’s my preferred morning routine.

Grandma’s Sweet Tea
 
  1. Fill a small saucepan with fresh, cold tap water. Grandma had a tea-stained aluminum saucepan which was her dedicated tea pan. The lid had been missing as far back as I can remember so she used a small plate on top when steeping the tea.
  2. Bring to a full boil, remove from heat and add approximately 1/4 cup loose leaf tea. Grandma used nothing but Lipton’s.
  3. Cover pan and allow to steep about 5 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, fill 2 quart glass pitcher about 1/3 full of cold water and add sugar. Grandma used a LOT. Probably a cup and a half. Stir.
  5. After tea has finished steeping, strain into pitcher, stir and fill the rest of way with cold water.
  6. Pour over ice and serve as is, with lemon, or if you’re one of her grandkids, milk.

I still use this basic method although I use far less sugar these days and I usually use 6 teabags rather than loose leaf. However, I have to admit that loose leaf is better. I also use organic tea (affiliate link) rather than Lipton’s.

Grandma’s Hot Tea
  1. Fill tea kettle with tap water and bring to a full boil.
  2. Pour over tea bag in cup.
  3. Add sugar to taste. (1-3 teaspoons generally, depending on taste and size of cup)
  4. Steep about three minutes and remove tea bag.
  5. Pour in a little milk.
  6. Soak awhile and enjoy!

 

Grandma's Iced Tea

 

This is the tea I use:

Choice Organic Tea

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Sweet Tea and Saltines ~ Childhood Memories From a Simpler Time

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The summers of my childhood were a gentle time of long, sunny days spent playing with my cousins and brothers. My cousin and best friend in the whole wide world lived next door. Nearly every summer morning Sue and I would load up our doll strollers and push them along the hard-packed desert sand path to our grandparents’ house. The backyards of the three houses adjoined and formed our world. We never had to ask – we knew we were always welcome at Grandma’s house.

Sweet Tea and Saltines

 

Someday I’ll tell you all about playing house in Grandma’s den, something which Sue and I spent countless hours doing. But today I want to share our stories of the front yard. My grandparents’ front yard was carpeted in thick, soft, well-watered grass. My grandpa often called me “Barefoot Sally” and I loved the feel of the cool lawn on my feet.

In the early years the yard was enclosed by a white wood fence which, if I remember correctly, was later replaced by chain link. Grandma loved roses and had them growing around the perimeter, just inside the fence. There were two huge elm trees which provided cool shade and something for the boys to climb. I wasn’t even remotely a tomboy so tree-climbing wasn’t generally on my agenda, although I do recall sitting in one of the trees reading a book one time.

There was a mother duck and her babies under one of the trees, something like this:

They weren’t plastic, though. I think they were made of cement. I just spent an inordinate amount of time online trying to find some but to no avail. I suppose that means I won’t be adding a set to my own front yard anytime soon.

But back to my story. Grandma also had several aluminum, webbed lawn chairs and folding lounge chairs like the one pictured at the top of this post. Everyone seemed to have some of these back in the 60s and early 70s. They were sturdy, lightweight and easy to repair if the webbing needed to be replaced. (I’m resisting the urge to order the one I have pictured – it’s on eBay right now.) They also made fantastic kid forts.

With a couple of Grandma’s thin, soft, old blankets and several lawn chairs, we’d build forts on the lawn then play inside our Downy-scented creation. I don’t recall everything we pretended but I do know we often played that we were shipwrecked on an island and had to build a shelter.

While playing house with our dolls was something Sue and I did by ourselves, our games on the lawn always included the boys. I’m not sure whose idea it was but I can remember playing “communion” in the front yard at least once. Grandma always had a pitcher of sweet tea made (I have no idea how many she must have made a day with so many thirsty grandchildren running in and out of the house) and she always had saltine crackers. I doubt we told her our plans when we took tea and crackers outside and I don’t recall who performed the sacrament. But I do remember solemnly partaking of sweet tea and saltines with my brothers and cousins in a childish enactment of religious remembrance.

Even though those carefree summer days of childhood are long past I am still occasionally flooded with memories of that rare and precious time. On a breezy summer day when the humidity is uncharacteristically low…when the sun is bright and the sky is a certain shade of blue…when the leaves rustle in just that particular way…in those fleeting moments I am, once again, a child in my grandparents’ front yard sharing sweet tea and saltines in perfect communion.