topic Re: Sweet Tea in Kitchen

Sweet Tea

Carolina925 — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 13:54:33 GMT

It sounds strange to me when people refer to "sweet tea". I'm southern and never have I heard this term before recently. Yes, it's such a little thing but sounds wonky to me. I've noticed in the past couple of years that, when I ask for iced tea, I'm usually asked if I want "sweet tea". No, I don't want sweet tea; when they bring it out, it's always with a tea spoon and a container with all kinds of sweetener alongside. I must be the only person alive who doesn't take sugar in their tea...does that make me special?

Re: Sweet Tea

zitawins — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 14:08:48 GMT

It's because you are Southern! In the North, when we ask for iced tea, that's what we get. I have a friend from South Carolina and she says the same thing you do. She introduced all of us to her "sweet tea" and we were surprised. She also said that when she first moved up here, no one knew what she meant when she asked for creamy potatoes. WE call them mashed potatoes.

Re: Sweet Tea

kitty60 — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 14:11:11 GMT

Strange, I am not from the south but moved here 15 years ago. Natives in my area always refer to "sweet tea." In the north we had "iced tea" in the summer not to be seen until the next summer.

As to "sweet", the first time at our new church when I helped make the tea, I was shocked (like diabetic coma} when the church recipe called for boiling the tea bags and then adding 5# sugar and 5 gallons of water!

Re: Sweet Tea

BlueFinch — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 14:12:53 GMT

People like their tea many different ways, hot, or cold. We're always asked our preference, if we don't state it, since there are options.

I have enjoyed sweetened tea, and non. It just depends on the moment and maybe what I'm having it with. A treat by itself, maybe sweetened, with a meal, not.

Instead of a typical slice of lemon in my iced tea, I have always preferred a nice sweet orange slice. Many look at me like I'm crazy, but it's delish.

Re: Sweet Tea

lovesrecess — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 14:35:44 GMT

Sweet tea has become a “:thing” the past ten years or so. I grew up in the south and live there now...I and my friends never grew up with it or drink it now: seems to be what fast food places sell and in bottles other places. Has it once whe. I ordered tea and didn't know they sweetened it. So sweet, you could not taste the tea, just the sugar. . Proper tea is black, no sweetener, with lemon. You might as well drink soda...it prob has less sugar than what passes for sweet tea.

Re: Sweet Tea

Krimpette — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 14:27:16 GMT

I'll take my iced tea plain, no sugar, please. I've never even tried "sweet" tea and actually probably wouln't care for it. I also take my coffee black...nothing added.

Re: Sweet Tea

Sis Phillips — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 14:32:21 GMT

NO!

Re: Sweet Tea

walkingal — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 14:33:13 GMT

@Krimpette Dittos! I am exactly the same way about my iced tea and coffee.

Re: Sweet Tea

D Kay — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 14:39:22 GMT

I am from the south and am surprised at some of the comments from other southerners. I grew up with sweet tea as the norm. You get sweet tea in a restaurant unless you ask for unsweetened. I also have never heard of mashed potatoes referred to as creamy potatoes.

Re: Sweet Tea

tucsongal — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 14:40:37 GMT

I have a huge sweet tooth but can’t stand sweetened iced tea. I’ve learned to always ask because I don’t want that unwelcome surprise lol.

Re: Sweet Tea

Marp — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 16:03:33 GMT

1879 - The oldest sweet tea recipe (ice tea) in print comes from a community cookbook called Housekeeping in Old Virginia, by Marion Cabell Tyree, published in 1879:

If you want iced tea without sugar ask for unsweet tea. I'm in my 70s and sweet tea has always been the default served in restaurants.

Re: Sweet Tea

proudlyfromNJ — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 16:07:13 GMT

Around here the order would be iced tea. It obviously comes cold and never with sugar. If you want it sweet you add sugar after it is served.

Re: Sweet Tea

tiny 2 — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 16:21:56 GMT

@Carolina925 wrote:
It sounds strange to me when people refer to "sweet tea". I'm southern and never have I heard this term before recently. Yes, it's such a little thing but sounds wonky to me. I've noticed in the past couple of years that, when I ask for iced tea, I'm usually asked if I want "sweet tea". No, I don't want sweet tea; when they bring it out, it's always with a tea spoon and a container with all kinds of sweetener alongside. I must be the only person alive who doesn't take sugar in their tea...does that make me special?

@Carolina925

I grew up in the south also. We had fresh tea every evening year round. Enough was made to last through the next day. It was sweet. If you ordered iced tea in a restaurant then it was assumed you wanted it sweet. You had to specify if you wanted unsweetened tea and usually there would be a "look".

I never embraced sweetened iced tea. I always loved mine unsweetened. The 4 o'clock afternoon hot tea in cooler weather, I like with a thin round slice of lemon studded with a couple of whole cloves, a little bit of sugar and a decent china teacup every day. There were 3 constants at our table. Fresh tea, hot biscuits, hot cornbread.

Re: Sweet Tea

Puppy Lips — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 16:29:09 GMT

I ONLY drink unsweet tea. I don't need the extra calories and I like unsweet tea, hot or cold, just fine.

Re: Sweet Tea

froggy — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 18:02:17 GMT

I am from the south and as far as I am concerned sweet tea is iced tea. I di love my iced tea sweet but don't need the calories so every few days I make a gallon of iced tea sweetened with Splenda. If I order sweet tea in a restaurant I assume it will be sweetened with sugar.

Re: Sweet Tea

Carolina925 — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 20:30:41 GMT

@zitawins , I never heard the term "creamy potatoes"! As for tea, there were only two kinds when I was growing up: iced and hot, and in restaurants you always added your sugar, which is kind of inpossible to get iced tea sweet since the sugar doesn't like to melt. If we went to someone's house, we'd get sweetened tea, sometimes thick as syrup--yikes!

Re: Sweet Tea

CoffeeNut — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 18:33:34 GMT

Re: Sweet Tea

Sooner — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 20:50:46 GMT

I am from Oklahoma and we drink iced tea 365 days of the year, without sugar. Neither of us like sweet tea. So when we go to the South we quickly remember to ask for it unsweetened! Here if you order "tea" it's iced (full glass of ice) and unsweetened.

Hot tea or cold, sometimes we might add about 2 teaspoons of sugar to a strong assertive black tea--and that's 2 tsp. for the whole pitcher.

We drink a lot of hot tea as well, no sugar there either except for really strong breakfast tea and then about 1/2 tsp. and some milk.

Re: Sweet Tea

riley1 — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 22:02:03 GMT

No sugar for me, thanks. I drink hot tea or iced tea and never put sugar in it.

Re: Sweet Tea

chickenbutt — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 22:05:05 GMT

The notion of adding a bunch of sugar to tea never appealed to me.

One thing that made me chuckle was seeing a thread of somebody asking for a recipe for sweet tea. Uh, it's tea and sugar - or probably more likely sugar and tea.

One time, when I lived in Europe in the 70s, I recall being at a restaurant in some country and asking for an iced tea. I guess it wasn't a thing there, as they brought me a cup of hot tea and an ice cube. I was gracious, of course, but it was kind of funny at the time.