Sweet tea on Magic?

[karibritt01]

Just wondering if they serve sweet tea on the Magic? Either at the drink station or in the restaurants. Need to decide if I should bring some with me from home!

 

[jhannah]

Can you not just sweeten it with sugar/Splenda?

 

[WDWLVR]

Just wondering if they serve sweet tea on the Magic? Either at the drink station or in the restaurants. Need to decide if I should bring some with me from home!

Sadly no they don't. We usually stop at Publix on the way to the ship and bring on a few bottles.

 

[cockermom]

Never having had anything but pre-sweetened (sugar or Equal/Splenda) iced tea, I'm curious. What exactly is sweet tea and why is it so special?

Barbara

 

[WDWLVR]

Never having had anything but pre-sweetened (sugar or Equal/Splenda) iced tea, I'm curious. What exactly is sweet tea and why is it so special?

Barbara

Wikipedia has a good explanation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_tea

Basically the sweetner is put in as the tea is brewed or right after while still hot so the sugar melts and makes a smooth drink.

 

[Thumper's Mom 06]

Never having had anything but pre-sweetened (sugar or Equal/Splenda) iced tea, I'm curious. What exactly is sweet tea and why is it so special?

Barbara

You are obviously not from the South! Sweet tea is tea that has had the sugar added immediately after brewing before it cools. This way the sugar completely dissolves. Adding the sugar (or equal/splenda/sweetnlow) later is not the same.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I had sweet tea for the first time when I visited South Carolina several years ago. It is very big in the south. Out here in Arizona it is almost unheard of. Fortunately, we have a couple of BBQ places that offer sweet tea so we can get our fix.

 

[AnnOminous]

Sweet tea, rather than tea sweetened at the table, is much better but DH made do with tea sweetened from packets. They have a good variety of sweeteners.

The drink station has unsweetened tea and there are plenty of packets there to add in.

 

[Dale-n-Chip]

Not to mention that sweetening it yourself means as soon as you get the mixture juuuuuuust right, that's when your server comes around and refills your glass, throwing off the mixture again! I know they mean well, but I have been known to cover the glass with my hand or snatch it up off the table to prevent the contamination, LOL.

And sweet tea should never be confused with tea you get out of a soda fountain. Sweet tea is BREWED, never made with a syrup like a soda fountain uses. You might like both, but they aren't the same!

mk

 

[tvguy]

Sweet tea is big in the south. One of those things like Limburger cheese , Spam , or Poi ....you either love it, or wonder why anyone would consume it.

 

[iwannabeminnie]

I am from the South and I have never been a sweet tea fan. My mother and both of my sisters drink sweet tea. My dad was in the Air Force and according to the way he tells it, he got into the habit of drinking his tea unsweetened due to the time restraints of mess. You took what you could get when you could get it. After drinking unsweetened tea for all those years he couldn't go back. I drank my tea unsweetened because my dad did, I guess so I could be like him. It is the same theory as those of you who have switched to diet soda. You can't stand a regular soda now because it is TOO sweet. So, not ALL Southerner's drink sweet tea. My dad and I don't.

 

[2Princes_&_1Princess]

I suppose if you are a real sweet tea devotee', you could probably concoct a glass or two using hot tea, sugar, and ice. Or just stop at Publix - they have great sweet tea.

 

[karibritt01]

You are obviously not from the South!

Tea sweetened at the table just isn't worth drinking, IMO! I will make some concentrate to bring on board, then mix it and keep it in the room fridge. That way we can have it some of the time, even if not at meals. My next question is... how big is the fridge? (Comparable to the ones in the mod resorts?)

By the way... really good southern sweet tea... put 4 family size Luzianne tea bags in a coffee maker full of water. Leave to steep on the heat for several hours. Mix in a gallon pitcher with 1 1/3 cups sugar until sugar dissolves. Fill with water and chill.

 

[electricmayhemlover]

Can you not just sweeten it with sugar/Splenda?

Must respond
I am still new to the board, but not so much to sweet tea. I was not born in the south, but was raised in the south. I finally realized when I was in my early thirties that it wasn't worth trying to get sweet tea on vacation. It was always too much of a gamble, if the places had it. Using sweetener, well, it doesn't melt right. My sister likes sweet tea, but only with a tiny bit of sugar. Yuck, not for me. I like it sweet, and I like Lipton. I tried Luzianne and didn't like it. I think it's because my mom used Lipton. I am planning to try Red Diamond, because their commercial said it was the best. I'm open minded enough to try one time....

 

[miatamel]

Here in Mississippi, we drink sweet tea for every meal, including breakfast!!

Our version: Lipton's, (my dad is adamant about that!) two family size tea bags, dropped in a pot of boiling water. Immediately turn off the pot and let the tea bags steep for several minutes. Put TWO cups of sugar (yikes!) in a gallon tea pitcher, add the tea and stir. yum!

On our first cruise on the Wonder in 11/05 I asked for "sweet tea" at our first meal. Our lovely waiter (older gentleman, from a Soviet bloc country, it seems like) said they didn't have sweet tea, so I just asked for "tea." Well, lordy, I was dumbfounded when he came out and opened up this suitcase looking thing full of these different kinds of tea bags! I know I looked and behaved like an old country hick but I had no idea what he was offering me or what I was supposed to do! I looked to my husband--who is German--for help and he told me the gentleman was trying to give me some flavored tea bags to steep for hot tea! Oh my goodness! Needless to say, I passed and just doctored up some "unsweet tea" the best I could!!

 

[cockermom]

You are obviously not from the South!

Nope. I was born and raised in western New York (state). DH and I lived in Kentucky for a few months after we were married, though I don't remember hearing about sweet tea at that time. But we're talking 35 years ago. And I sure haven't found it here in New England.

However, I am intrigued. Just can't imagine how adding the sugar while the tea is still hot would make it taste so different/better than sweetening after it's cooled. Guess I'll just have to make a batch and see!

 

[Mickey28]

Nope. I was born and raised in western New York (state). DH and I lived in Kentucky for a few months after we were married, though I don't remember hearing about sweet tea at that time. But we're talking 35 years ago. And I sure haven't found it here in New England.

However, I am intrigued. Just can't imagine how adding the sugar while the tea is still hot would make it taste so different/better than sweetening after it's cooled. Guess I'll just have to make a batch and see!

It's exactly what it sounds like. When you sweeten it at the table after it's cooled it tastes like the sweetening was an afterthought, but when you do it while you are making it the sweetness becomes a part of the tea. Like it was meant to be that way. I guess if you didn't grow up drinking it, it would seem wierd. However when you have good sweet tea with some good southern cooking, you just can't beat it. By the way my wife and I only use a little more than 1/2 cup of sugar per gallon.

 

[Octoberbride03]

NO sweet tea onboard, that's no fun at all. I haven't grown up in the south but i live here after marrying my Dh and Sweet tea in restaurants has helped me wean myself off of my Coke addiction. I grew up in PA but never did like sweetening the iced tea at the table, it really doesn't taste the same. And now i know the difference.

TY to whoever posted the recipe, I'll have to try that 1. Can't find an iced tea mix in the grocery stores that i like. I don't get to WAWA as often as i like and Swiss Farms doesn't exist here

 

[miatamel]

NO sweet tea onboard, that's no fun at all. I haven't grown up in the south but i live here after marrying my Dh and Sweet tea in restaurants has helped me wean myself off of my Coke addiction. I grew up in PA but never did like sweetening the iced tea at the table, it really doesn't taste the same. And now i know the difference.

TY to whoever posted the recipe, I'll have to try that 1. Can't find an iced tea mix in the grocery stores that i like. I don't get to WAWA as often as i like and Swiss Farms doesn't exist here

During an recent misguided health kick, I decided to forego the two cups of sugar per gallon and put just a bit of sugar and sweeten it instead with some peach or raspberry flavor. Well, that went over like a ton of bricks! My dad would have none of it and my three year old even rebelled--she to this day asks if I've made the "yukky" tea or not! I say all this to say that I have recently found a store bought tea that fools them (We go thru a gallon every couple of days and I get tired of making it some time). Milo's brand. NOT the unsweetened, NOT the sweetened with Splenda, but Milo's Sweet tea in the gallon jugs. I pour it up in my container and it fools my sweet-tea-connisseur-Daddy, so it's a thumbs up here in Mississippi! See if your grocery carries it if you don't want to/can't master the homemade variety.

 

[WDWLVR]

I've made sweet tea at home using my iced tea maker and splenda instead of sugar.

To best describe why sweet tea tastes better than tea sweetened at the table. For me it is two things. One it is a more consistant flavor throughout the whole glass. Second you don't get the gritty residue of sugar that doesn't dissolve 100%.