Southern Tea Company's Peach Sweet Tea Concentrate

Last weekend, a girlfriend and I were at our fourth large antique mall of the day in Monroe when I came across a new-to-me tea product in a booth full of gourmet food items: sweet tea concentrate. Hmm. I had to think about that, and when it was time to check out, of course I decided that I had to give this a try, and as always, I went with my go-to flavor, peach.

Both the cashier and I were a little taken aback to read that the 16-ounce jar ($7.50) makes just one gallon of tea, but I was curious enough to give it a try anyway. When I got home and prepared to make the tea, I was surprised to realize that I do not, in fact, possess a one-gallon pitcher. I have quite a few half-gallon pitchers, though, but alas for this journalism major, that involved doing math (how many quarts are in a gallon, how many pints are in a quart, etc.) Pretty quickly, I realized that my pitchers hold a half gallon, so I measured out half of the concentrate and added it to the pitcher then filled it with ice and water as instructed.

And the result was some fine peachy-tasting tea, I'm here to tell you! Was it worth $3.75 for that half-gallon pitcher full? Well, yes. Yes, it was. I'll pay $3.99 for a glass of flavored tea in a restaurant, so as a once-or-twice-a-year splurge (or gift for a fellow tea lover), I would happily buy this again (and wish I'd splurged and gotten the mango flavor too). With 30 grams of sugar per 12-ounce serving (and 120 calories), this definitely wouldn't be an everyday indulgence. Still, a fun discovery!