Satisfying my craving for sweet tea.

[norgeway]

I look at sugar and fat this way..

I don't and never have taken drugs,I have never been drunk,ive never smoked, and I have never been arrested, heck ive never had a speeding ticket,,,I will be d@#$%^ if im not going to have one bad habit..and that habit is food!!! sugary fattening food!!LOL

 

[dustin92]

I can drink tea hot or cold, but if it's hot it has to be sweetened. Cold, not so much, either way is good. The only iced tea I will drink from a restaurant is McDonald's Sweet Tea- So good! I've had bitter nasty iced tea from restaurants more times than I care to count so have given up on ordering it. We make iced tea in the summer, we have a Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Pot, and love it. My mom used to make sun tea but I always thought it was gross. Think we even got rid of the sun tea jar. Hmmm, now I'm sitting here thinking a McDonalds sweet tea sounds good... but sadly, NOT happening. I'm extremely sensitive to caffeine and can't drink any after about two in the afternoon or I will be up ALL night. Guaranteed.

 

[mrb627]

Restaurant Sweet Tea

Often times, RST can have a soapy taste to me. Don't know what they're doing back in the kitchen, but soapy tasting tea is plain gross.

Anyone else ever experienced a soapy aftertaste?

Malcolm

 

[countryford]

<blockquote>
Anyone else ever experienced a soapy aftertaste?

</blockquote>
There are a couple places here, that their tea tastes like there is soap in it. Burger King, Quick Trip, and Port of Subs do. Port of Subs only one of their locations taste like that. The other two(that I've been to) don't. For Burger King and Quick Trip all of their locations I've tried, taste that way.

 

[perc-o-prince]

soapy aftertaste

I don't drink coffee, and am spoiled by having Tetley's British round bags as my daily (hot) tea. When we go for breakfast and I have tea, more often than not, I mention to Rich about it tasting like dishwater compared to home.

Chuck

 

[circlew]

I wouldn't put it past McDonald's to use High Fructose Corn Syrup in their tea, since it would be somewhat cheaper than cane sugar.

The best restaurant sweet tea is McAlister's Deli; they use real sugar in theirs!

I drink it year round, regardless of the temp outside. When I make it at home (a couple times a week), I usually use 3 family size tea bags, and steep them in about a qt. of water. After I remove the bags, I add about 1.5 cups of C&H Baker's Sugar (cane), and let it set for about 20 mins. before diluting to make 1 gal.

As for obesity in the south, I don't see any more of it there than around here. Most of it is caused by lack of exercise, or eating & drinking way too much.

 

[michaelman2]

Norgeway and Circle. Right on! Few things are more refreshing than iced tea that has been sweetened during the mix of the brew. I may have mentioned that each year I have about twenty college students visit our area and they do service projects and other great things in the community. The students have for the past ten years been from Boston College or Marquette University. Their first day is is a requisite to have a Southern meal. A true Southern meal consisting of fried chicken ( the right way), fried / cream style corn, green beans ( the Southern way), mashed potatoes and peach cobbler..... And Sweet Tea. Everyone of these young people immediately are curious about this. Concoction entitled "sweet tea". They are actually here with us now and I cannot keep enough sweet tea in the refrigerator for them. They are hooked! Like Norge said, not ever been keen on drugs or even booze for that matter. But sugar...... Hi my name is Mike and I am a sugar addict! Is it "good for you" ? Undoubtedly not good for anyone, but my gawwwwd it is truly missed when I am without it

 

[DADoES]

 
I haven't been in a McDonald's in years.  Do they brew tea in-house, or sell post-mix bag-in-box à la carbonated fountain soft drinks?  We have several varieties of tea (post-mix and bottled, Gold Peak and Fuze, via Coca-Cola) at the theater, it's very sweet, except the one that's unsweetened.

 

[askolover]

Further south...

When we go to New Orleans I can never find sweet tea at any restaurant.  They tell me we are "too far south".  I tell them, "I get it in Florida all the time!"  Too far south my foot, they grow sugar down in Louisiana...Dixie Crystals is right there on the Mississippi River!

 

[mrb627]

Restaurant Tea

Is also a RIP OFF based on what it costs to brew.
$2,25 for a regular glass of tea is ridiculous

Malcolm

 

[countryford]

<blockquote>
I haven't been in a McDonald's in years. Do they brew tea in-house, or sell post-mix bag-in-box à la carbonated fountain soft drinks? We have several varieties of tea (post-mix and bottled, Gold Peak and Fuze, via Coca-Cola) at the theater, it's very sweet, except the one that's unsweetened.

</blockquote>
It is brewed. They have the seperate containers of the tea. No carbonated tea for them.

 

[countryguy]

$2.25 for iced tea...is that any worse than $5-6 for a bottle of beer at a bar?

 

[jamman_98]

Sweet Tea

One of the 5 basic food groups in the South including, Lard, Hush Puppies, BBQ and fried chicken.  

 

btw for our friends in the North, BBQ in the South is a noun and in the North BBQ is a verb.

 

 

Joe

jamman_98

 

[DADoES]

 
<blockquote>It is brewed. They have the seperate containers of the tea. No carbonated tea for them.</blockquote> Well, to clarify, the fountain tea is a syrup concoction mixed with water in the fountain spout at the point of dispensing but of course the water is not carbonated like Coca-Cola, Sprite, Pibb Xtra, Dr Pepper, etc.

 

[perc-o-prince]

mixed with water in the fountain spout

All the McD's I've seen have the two teas (one sweet and the other unsweetened) next to the fountain machine in free-standing gravity feed containers one on top of the other. It's pre-mixed and you just open the tap to release it... kind of like the water at a water cooler. I believe it arrives at the location ready-to-serve with no syrups or dilution needed. Low-res internet pic below.

Some have it behind the counter, but it's still in the free-standing containers with no fountain involved. If I have to get it from them, it's 2 lemons, half and half sweet/unsweet, and light ice.

And, at $1 for something like a quart, it's a bargain!

Chuck

 

[countryford]

I wasn't sure how McDonalds made their tea. I just knew it was it's own seperate container that wasn't hooked up to the soda fountain, as some places are.

 

[circlew]

Another thing I have discovered, is that restaurant tea stored/dispensed using stainless steel containers usually tastes a lot better than that which is in plastic. McAlister's uses SS. The City Barbecue used to keep theirs in SS, but switched to plastic dispensers which aireate the tea, just like places use for lemonade. The tea quality went downhill because of that. Plastic is porous and more difficult to keep clean.

 

[mrb627]

City BBQ

As I recall, is pretty yummy!

Wish they would expand further South!

Malcolm

 

[cornutt]

Restaurant tea is often "soapy" / "oily" tasting, or just plain bitter, because they leave it out at room temperature all afternoon, and they're using dispensing urns that haven't been cleaned since about 1958.

I don't like mine as sweet as some people. In a 3-quart container, I use a 1/8 cup scoop a little less than full, which I'm guessing is about 3 tablespoons (I should check, huh). I use a Mr. Coffee machine. I just got a new one this week -- brewed my first batch with it yesterday. The one I had was over 15 years old and it was on its last legs; the one-way valve was sticking, the switch was dodgy, and the outlet valve on the brew basket broke a couple of months ago. And it was so old it was impossible to get clean; I was on my 4th or 5th pair of replacement pitchers and was about due for new ones. Those polycarbonate pitchers look nice when they're new, but ice cubes scratch them and after a while they just don't come clean anymore. The new machine uses pitchers made from a different plastic (translucent, more flexible), which I hope will be easier to keep clean.

 

[joelippard]

I don't keep Tea around the house but I used to all the time.  I may have all of you beat for sugar content.  I've been known to make it 3 cups to the gallon.  Most of the time two though which is what Grandma did and Mom still does.

Do I love sugar?  H@ll yeah!

 

I'm right there with ya'll  I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs.  But you better believe I'm going to eat what I want when I darn well want it!