Drink Sweet Tea in the South

“My sweet tea addiction came into full bloom not in Georgia, where I lived for many years and enjoyed many a first-rate glass of sweet tea, but in Knoxville, Tennessee, at a modest family-run tearoom called the Chintzy Rose. [...] The tea at the Chintzy Rose transcends the beverage category. It is more of a meal. A song. A poem. Notes of orange and lemon intertwine with the sharpness of the tea, all of it buoyed by a mysterious sweetness unlike your basic simple syrup. They serve it with an orange wedge in chunky crystal glasses, but it hardly matters. They could serve it out of their shoes and people would still line up to drink. It is the Proust of sweet tea. Complicated, elusive, not for the weak of heart.”

“When I lived in Knoxville, I drank Chintzy Rose tea every day. I had my own table in the back, right by the kitchen, and my first glass of tea was generally waiting there for me before my jeans hit the seat. I could never, no matter how many times I swore to myself beforehand that today would be the day, drink just one glass. My resolve melted with the sugar.”