Sweet tea is truly the drink of the gods.

[raccoon]

Sweet tea is tea that was sweetened right when it was made. Adding sugar or a substitute to it later, when your glass is sitting in front of you, isn't the same thing. It is like instant coffee is to brewed coffee.

It's what I miss most when I travel outside the South. It's delicious as well as refreshing.
With lemon, it's even better.

Non-Southerners, give it a try! You have nothing to lose but your chains.

[sasquatch]

1. *BLECH* Damn Southerners, blaspheming tea with sweetner

You people can't do anything right.
x(

[supernova]

2. It's why we are so sweet and charming

:*

[Bake]

15. Screw sweetener! We use SUGAR, baybeeeeeee!

And lots and lots of it!!

Bake

[sasquatch]

33. I don't give a shit what you use, its still crap

Tea should only have tea oil residue in it.

[carlyhippy]

3. yyeeaaahhh, house wine of the south!

best brewed in the sun with some sugar added beforehand, so it's all nice and blended, good stuff!!! I am drinking some right now as I type, for breakfast, better than coffee!

[driver8]

4. Sweet tea is the shiznit!! I love me some sweet tea!

I usually drink iced tea without sugar -- to me, it is a very refreshing drink.

But, sweet tea is absolutely amazing and I will order it anytime it is available!!!

[yellowdogintexas]

6. grew up on the stuff. Brewed very very strong, sweetened while hot, then

diluted a bit. Lots of lemon.

The way my Granny made it. Her Iced Tea could stand up and walk.

(Her coffee had to be cut with a pair of scissors to stop the pouring, but I digress)

Best to pour that hot, sweet tea concentrate right over the ice in the pitcher but you risk breaking the pitcher if it is not pottery, Tupperware, or well tempered glass.

Now I don't make it as sweet as Granny did, I only put about maybe 8 sugar cubes in my (3 cup sized) teapot of double strong tea while it is brewing. Then I pull out the teabags and stir it up, decant into a 1 1/2 quart pitcher and adjust the strength. Wonderful stuff. Excellent beverage when one has a fever, especially in the hot weather.

Granny only used loose tea, and she strained it from the brewing container into the pitcher. I use PG tips the best tea bags ever.

Iced tea is great stuff and when I eat out I drink it w/o sugar unless I am in a restaurant known for good sweet tea and I get them to do it half and half for me. Something I have come to truly enjoy since living in Texas is lime in the iced tea. Very refreshing, often found in Mexican restaurants.

Our local Indian restaurant makes the best iced tea, strong, but not too strong, extremely clear and wonderful flavor. But then you would expect good tea in an Indian restaurant.

Fast food sweet tea is NOT the same. Most of those places make it from a tea syrup concentrate and if the mix isn't right or it is stored one day too long, it is horrible.

[driver8]

9. I did not know that there was such a thing as "fast food sweet tea."

Where do they sell that? Maybe it's a Texas thing...

I like the half and half idea. As much as I love sweet tea, sometimes it is a bit "too sweet"!

The lime in the iced tea also sounds great. I am definitely going to try that.

My father grew up in Texas, but I don't ever remember my grandmother making sweet tea. I'm sure she must have, but I don't remember drinking it. (Maybe it's because she let us drink Dr. Pepper and my parents wouldn't!!).

[yellowdogintexas]

11. McD, Chicken Express, Popeye's, Wendy's, Krystal, Burger King,

Captain D's, Grandy's, (these two are by far the best, with Chicken Express very close)are the ones that spring immediately to mind. Captain D's was the first one to do it, and the sister restaurant chain Shoney's also featured it in the dining room. This was in Tennessee, where Danner Foods, the parent company is located.

We have a local chain called Taco Casa that sells it by the gallon; I think Rosa's Cafe also sells it.

In our house, we didn't have iced tea daily until the weather got hot, probably because my mom was from Kansas. Granny on the other hand at least made it on Sunday even in winter.

[Bake]

17. McAllister's Deli has the BEST sweet tea!!!

It's so good we have it brought in by the jug for lunch.

Bake

[carlyhippy]

25. if you have a Grandy's nearby, that is the best sweet tea

from a fast food place.

[yellowdogintexas]

29. agreed, or Captain D'.s nt

[MsTryska]

26. Are the Luzianne Brewer pots a tip-off

to concentrate or is that real brewed tea?


i haven't had a fast-food softdrink in years.

I love sweet tea too. I make my own version for work with green tea and ginsenge sweetend after it's boiled and cut with ice. but that's cuz I need the energy, soem caffeine, and ECGC to keep me alert. Mine's barely sweet as well. I can't drink sweetened stuff like i used too.

[lildreamer316]

37. Yep.Dead giveaway. And Lipton is the only way to go...if you're using family-sized tea bags. n/t

[yellowdogintexas]

38. if it is being brewed in the shop it is not pre mixed concentrate.

The premixed concentrate will come in jugs or something and have the syrup already in it. If they don't water it down correctly it is too sweet; if they keep the last batch of the evening over until the next day it can go sour. Plain tea is less likely to go sour.

You can always ask them how they make their tea. I have used Luzianne and it makes good tea, nice and clear. I particularly like the Family Size Brew.

When you go ro the beverage bar and it tells you fresh brewed tea over the containers, then the equipment is sort of like the coffee brewers, they are just using tea in the container, and they are designed for tea. You can usually tell if there is an actual brewer over the container.

[DebJ]

28. betcha fast food sweet tea is full of corn syrup, too.

[lildreamer316]

36. What pisses me off is when they make it in the coffemaker. I can taste it.

Absolutely SUCKS.

[kwassa]

5. gag me with a sugar spoon

Sugar is an abomination in any tea.

Most Southern cuisine is pretty frightening stuff. I always feel like I could get a stroke from just getting too close to is.

[BarenakedLady]

7. That reminds me

I was going to brew some tea to make iced tea. I've never attempted it before.

[yellowdogintexas]

14. OK you want it strong. Use more tea to get there rather than oversteeping

the tea. If you oversteep it your tea will get bitter.

So if you use 1 teabag per 2 cups of tea, you want 3 teabags for 2 cups of tea base for iced tea.

Steep it about 5 minutes or so, remove and squeeze the teabags then add the sugar then if you are using it. Then you can add back in cold water to suit your taste. You don't want your finished product to be too pale, esp if it is still a bit warm when you pour it over ice because it will water down some more.

You will mostly likely have to experiment to get it to your own personal taste, but enjoy it.

[BarenakedLady]

40. Thanks so much

I bought some green tea bags yesterday to experiment with. :)

[Midlodemocrat]

8. Blech. Unsweet is the way to go.

[Arkansas Granny]

27. I prefer mine unsweetened also, and I'm from the South!

The people I work with make fun of me because I use sugar and cream (actually sweetener and creamer these days) in my coffee, but I drink iced tea unsweetened.

[sasquatch]

34. The only reason why cream exist on this planet is so we can put it in coffee

[sasquatch]

31. You tell'em Midlo

:hi:

[BOSSHOG]

10. I like 2/3rds unsweetened tea mixed with 1/3rd lemonade

Very nice, I have it all summer long.

[yellowdogintexas]

12. ohh that is very good. I had a friend who made it that way

and it was quite tasty.

Another fun thing is to dilute your sweetened, strong tea with Cranberry juice. It turns a pretty color and tastes wonderful

[raccoon]

19. Sounds good. I'll try that. nt

[Midlodemocrat]

16. 1/2 tea and 1/2 lemonade is called an Arnold Palmer in Baltimore.

[BOSSHOG]

30. I like the taste of Lemon

in Tea but squeezed lemon or lemon juice is just a little too tangy for me. The lemonade is a nice balance.

[Kali]

13. I do a couple of gallons a day (3 of us drink it instead of water)

I use 3 family sized tea bags per gallon in the summer, 4 in winter. Put it out in the sun for a half day and then bring in, add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sugar in a pitcher (so the jars will be ready next day!)

Keep glasses in the freezer and whenever you leave just stick your glass with its inevitable inch or two of tea back in so you can return to a nice tea "ice cube" for your next glassful!

also good with fresh mint, lemon, lime, or a cinnamon ball dissolved in the glass

[raccoon]

21. I use 3 family sized teabags/gal. too. WHy do you use 4 in the winter? nt

[Kali]

22. not strong enough?

I don't know - seems to take longer to brew good flavor in the winter, but I definatley do it year round. Some days it is "cloud tea" but it's my water for sure.

[azmouse]

18. Sweet drinks are not refreshing.

All that sugar would just make me thirstier. It's why I don't drink soda either.

Unsweetened iced tea or water, thanks.

[raccoon]

20. Maybe you have to be born in a certain latitude to find it refreshing. nt

[Kali]

23. I agree about sodas when you are thirsty

but 1/2 cup sugar in a gallon of tea is barely there and then having it over a glassful of ice is pretty dang refreshing!

[hobbit709]

24. Plain tea with a twist of lemon

Can't have the sugar anyhow but even before I was a diabetic I didn't care for really sweet tea.

[clyrc]

32. It took me years of living in the South to learn to like it

but now I do. I was the final freak hold out in my family, but I finally came around. Where I live now, everyone drinks hot tea and I've learned to like that, too.

[lildreamer316]

35. Just made a large pitcher; it's cooling in the fridge. Lemon wedge waiting.

Mmmmmmmmm.
All my friends try to make tea, then call me up .."It tastes better when you make it! What am I doing wrong?" Problem is; I have no idea what I do differently.

[Danger Mouse]

39. I guess the gods favor sickeningly sweet swill.

[SeaLyons]

41. Oh yes, sweet tea....nothing better...n/t

[Orsino]

42. The more laid-back gods, perhaps.

The ones who like to sit in the shade on a hot day.

[TZ]

43. I recently tried it...

And I liked it..and my thread about it started a small lounge tea war actually....:D

[tallahasseedem]

44. Blasphemy...

UN-sweet tea is the best. Especially from Sonny's Barbeque here in the South.

[jobycom]

45. It is, in the sense they created it as revenge against humans.

Blech!! Sweetened or unsweetened, tea is nasty, but sweetened... It's diabetic sweat.

[ceile]

46. This southerner couldn't disagree more!

Yuck! Makes my teeth hurt.
I prefer a bag of herbal tea thrown in w/ my Lipton's decaf.