What's the deal with sweet tea?

[njDizFan]

there seems to be this strange phenomenon that has occured. All of a sudden there is something called sweet tea. I'm fron NJ and the first time I ever heard this term was a few months ago. Now everywhere I go they are advertising that they have sweet tea?!

Apparently this is a southern term for tea with sugar in it. In the Northeast that is simply called iced tea. Why are we now changing the name of something that has alwys existed as simply iced tea. Ice tea without sugar was always called unsweetened, it was just assumed that iced tea had sugar.

Now I know anybody below the Mason/Dixon line is going to laugh at me, but I don't know what has happened to spark this change. When I was a kid in the 70's we had that powered stuff(which had sugar), then the advent of the canned Nestea in the 80's and of course the huge rise of Snapple, Arizona, and the Turkey Hill style plastic jugs in the supermarket. All these of course have sugar, if you want unsweetened tea, brew it up and add some ice cubes??

Just a rant....can I get some feedback from both sides of the "sweet tea" camps?...thanks

 

[happymom52003]

The sweet tea that you are referring to is different than just adding sugar to iced tea. The tea is sweetened while it is brewing, which gives it a completley different flavor than iced tea that had sugar added after brewing. It has been around in the south since the 1800's, and has always been referred to as "sweet tea". I grew up on it....it is amazing!

Here is more info for you:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_tea

 

[rbrower]

I've always heard it referred to as Sweat Tea. Iced Tea can be sweet or nonsweet, as well as regular tea. Sweat Tea just has the sugar brewed in while it is still hot.

 

[k.hunter30]

The sweet tea that you are referring to is different than just adding sugar to iced tea. The tea is sweetened while it is brewing, which gives it a completley different flavor than iced tea that had sugar added after brewing. It has been around in the south since the 1800's, and has always been referred to as "sweet tea". I grew up on it....it is amazing!

Here is more info for you:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_tea

True. Would also like to add, however, that in the South it's simply called "tea." In the South, if you wanted what I as a native northerner would consider tea, you'd have to say "hot tea." A regular iced tea down here, you'd have to specifically request "non-sweetened iced tea." If you just said "tea," you would automatically get sweet tea.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Anytime I've had tea outside the south, be it Massachusetts or California, it's been unsweetened. Seems like that's just the default setting for the rest of the country.

(This probably isn't such a bad thing, as the buckle on the Bible Belt threatens to fly off from the strain of the gut behind it.)

Around here, if you ask for just "tea," you're gonna get sweet tea.

 

[TurboCaroline]

Hmm here if you ask for tea the server will say sweet or unsweet...I guess different areas of the south have variations also..:shrug:

 

[tigsmom]

Sweet tea is very Southern. You make a super saturated simple syrup and then use that to make your iced tea instead of plain water. It can be a very rude awakening to a Northerner who drinks iced tea that has been sweetened with sugar or not sweetened at all (which is how I drink my iced tea---plain with lemon). I have never had a problem getting plain iced tea just ask for unsweetened and add your own sugar, artificial sweetener or drink as is.

And no, it's not just the term for iced tea with sugar, it's something all together different.

There are many places that sell iced tea either sweetened (NOT sweet tea) or unsweetened in the south as well as other parts of the country, you just have to be specific when you order. Here in NY if you just ask for tea you will get a cup of hot tea, if you want iced tea you have to say that.

McDonald's and a few other chains have been experimenting with bringing it to their northern and western outlets, but I can can attest to the fact it isn't as popular as they had hoped, our local outlet doesn't even advertise it anymore and nobody ever asks for it.

 

[k.hunter30]

Sweet tea is very Southern. You make a super saturated simple syrup and then use that to make your iced tea instead of plain water. It can be a very rude awakening to a Northerner who drinks iced tea that has been sweetened with sugar or not sweetened at all (which is how I drink my iced tea---plain with lemon). I have never had a problem getting plain iced tea just ask for unsweetened and add your own sugar, artificial sweetener or drink as is.

And no, it's not just the term for iced tea with sugar, it's something all together different.

There are many places that sell iced tea either sweetened (NOT sweet tea) or unsweetened in the south as well as other parts of the country, you just have to be specific when you order. Here in NY if you just ask for tea you will get a cup of hot tea, if you want iced tea you have to say that.

McDonald's and a few other chains have been experimenting with bringing it to their northern and western outlets, but I can can attest to the fact it isn't as popular as they had hoped, our local outlet doesn't even advertise it anymore and nobody ever asks for it.

I remember when I went to school in Indianapolis (2003-ish) that McAlister's Deli promoted sweet tea. It was pretty big there for a while, but seemed to fizzle...

 

[rbrower]

Chick-Fil-A is currently trying to promote sweat tea in California, I've heard. I'm not sure how well it is going over though. :shrug:

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Tea, like the language is something you colonials know how to murder.

 

[macsmom]

With so many people being diet-minded nowadays, I am surprised that McDonald's promotes sweet tea (extra large just $1!). It is even up on their outside billboard in my town. At least their tea is fresh brewed. The few McAllisters I have been into have promoted their fresh tea, but not sweetned. I guess they let you decide. Sweetner here with a slice of lemon.

danna

 

[harveyt0206]

Sweet tea = yummy. Love the stuff.

 

[DormaNesbit]

We are a family of sunteaaholoics here. We do sweeten ours! We loved the sweet tea (cold) that we had a Liberty Tree Tavern in 2005 but when we were there in 2006 they did not carry it anymore!

 

[pinkrose]

Sweet tea....it's the house wine of the South. :slurp:

 

[WDWmazprty]

I've always had 'sweet' tea no matter where I was. If for some reason it wasn't sweet, I'd just add sugar.

 

[tigsmom]

I've always had 'sweet' tea no matter where I was. If for some reason it wasn't sweet, I'd just add sugar.

But that makes it "sweetened" as you are adding the sugar AFTER it's been brewed. Real sweet tea is made with a sugar syrup not plain water like regular tea (hot or cold).

I almost died the first time I tasted it (was served by mistake) as I use no sugar or sweetener at all :hurl::hurl: :lol:

 

[WDWmazprty]

But that makes it "sweetened" as you are adding the sugar AFTER it's been brewed. Real sweet tea is made with a sugar syrup not plain water like regular tea (hot or cold).

I almost died the first time I tasted it (was served by mistake) as I use no sugar or sweetener at all :hurl::hurl: :lol:

Right. If it wasn't the sweeted tea, I would add sugar to get it as close as possible. :slurp:

 

[maggiegrace1]

Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[krankenstein]

It has and always will be my beverage of choice. :slurp:

 

[Disneybird]

Sweet tea....it's the house wine of the South. :slurp:

Yum!!! Yep, here in the south we have grown up on sweet tea and coke.

If I go to a restaurant and ask if they serve sweet tea and get told that there is sugar, sweet n low, etc., to sweeten it, I then order something else. It just isn't the same if I have to sweeten it myself at the table. Then I will order coke, and if they tell me they have pepsi instead, then I just order water. :lol: