What's the difference between Iced Tea and Sweet Tea?

[experiment626mom]

Iced tea = sugar buzz

Sweet tea = diabetes in a cup

You've tasted my MIL's tea!!!

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Alright...
so we've debated the merits of sweet tea vs unsweet. And what 'tea' actually entails (or doesn't, depending on your point of view).

So where on earth does SUN TEA come into all of this? *puts on flame retardent suit and grabs a fire extinguisher*

I'm from Texas and we are just too darn lazy to boil the water ourselves. Why do that when the summer sun will do it for ya? We usually get a great big jug (you can buy special jugs for this at the grocery store if ya want), stick in 4-5 (depending on how ya like it)tea bags and let it sit outside for a good portion of the day to 'brew'. Put it out in the morning BEFORE work and voila! When you get home..TEA! Unsweetend of course, but you can add whatever you like to it to make it how ya like it. I like sugar and (on special occassions)peach syrup with a half a peach stuck RIGHT DOWN in the glass.

They call that 'Bellini iced tea' at the Olive Garden and charge you like 4 bucks for it but man is it GOOD!

TOV

 

[MrsPete]

Simple: You can walk on a Southerner's sweet tea. It has that much sugar.

 

[Talking Hands]

LOL, I had to get in on this. This is another Southern way to make it...
get pot of water, add teabags and sugar (I use 7 bags to a cup of sugar...my neighbor brings her pitcher over for me to make hers LOL), bring to boil/brew, pour ice cubes in your pitcher, add some water, THEN pour you tea into the pitcher (add more water as needed until pitcher is full). Being raised in the South then forced to come up here it makes me shudder when they try to pass off this nasty instant lemon flavored gross stuff as sweet tea! WTH? Since when would lemons make something sweet?! I have learned quickly NEVER to ask for sweet tea up here, cause they have no idea what they are doing.


BTW UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES USE SPLENDA...SUGAR ONLY!!

Some of us have to use Splenda and cannot use real sugar for medical reasons. It is a valid substitute in such circumstances. Other option is totally unsweetened tea. And lemonin tea. I agree WTH.

 

[Papa Deuce]

Iced tea = sugar buzz

Sweet tea = diabetes in a cup

My FIL and I don't get along at all. But he once made me almost pee myself at a restaurant when his response to the waitress as to what he would like to drink was:

"I'll have a glass of that diabetes you serve... hold the sugar".

 

[Talking Hands]

To make real Southern sweet tea you must boil water and use tea bags. Add the sugar while hot/warm so it will disolve. Let it cool before serving over ice -- trust me on this one folks! If you don't like sugar in the tea, it still should involve boiling water and a tea bag! True Southerners (and yes, my mother now hangs her head in shame) don't do instant!

Well this person in Florida doesn't do instant. Don't do sweet tea either anymore but only because I have diabetes. INSTANT TEA< YUCK!

 

[georgina]

I'm from Texas and we are just too darn lazy to boil the water ourselves. Why do that when the summer sun will do it for ya? We usually get a great big jug (you can buy special jugs for this at the grocery store if ya want), stick in 4-5 (depending on how ya like it)tea bags and let it sit outside for a good portion of the day to 'brew'. Put it out in the morning BEFORE work and voila! When you get home..TEA! Unsweetend of course, but you can add whatever you like to it to make it how ya like it. I like sugar and (on special occassions)peach syrup with a half a peach stuck RIGHT DOWN in the glass.

They call that 'Bellini iced tea' at the Olive Garden and charge you like 4 bucks for it but man is it GOOD!

TOV

Lipton makes cold brew tea bags that I use for my (completely UNsweetened) iced tea. My Irish mother can't comprehend using cold water for tea. No instant tea here either!

 

[mom2boys]

NO, NO, NO!!! My southern soul is cringing!!

Iced Tea - any tea, sweetened, presweetened(as in instant) or non-sweetened, poured over ice.

Sweet Tea - BREWED TEA that has the SUGAR added right after brewing where it can melt, but before adding the rest of the water. It is then lovingly poured over ice cubes. It is not sweetened AFTER the water is added, it is not sweetened AFTER the tea is poured on ice and it DOES NOT have anything but SUGAR to sweeten it!

And you can't compare it to anything that has sugar or sweetener added after it's chilled.

 

[MickeysMommy]

My FIL and I don't get along at all. But he once made me almost pee myself at a restaurant when his response to the waitress as to what he would like to drink was:

"I'll have a glass of that diabetes you serve... hold the sugar".

 

[AuntieM03]

I grew up in southern california but because of my grandma love sweet tea. Sometimes I thought we made syrup not tea, but I loved it! Trying to lose weight I have switched to Splenda, but I still drink it as sweet as the human body can take.

 

[JVL1018]

Just back from WDW. Asked for "Sweetened Iced Tea" at the Liberty Tree Tavern and thought I was going to die when I tasted it!!!! What is that Sweet Tea stuff?! I swear to all that is good and holy that my spoon could stand upright in the glass all on its own! Thankfully, I got to change my drink order!! You can keep that sweet tea. Yuck!!!

BTW -- how do you Southerners make Long Island Iced Teas (the stuff w/vodka in it)? You sure can't use that sweet tea ... and plain tea isn't the right stuff to use, either!!! Maybe you just don't drink those?!

My aunt, who lives in Ocala, asks her family to mail her Lipton's sweetened iced tea mix b/c she can't stand the sweet tea either.

There is no tea in Long Island Iced Teas. The only non alcoholic beverage in there is Coke.
BTW I make iced tea-it can be from a mix, or it can be brewed tea, poured over sugar, then more water added.
I got a recipe for sweet tea, and it is my original iced tea, but with more sugar. That's what I make now..but we still call it iced tea. Because that's what it is.

PS when you order tea up here you will get a cup of hot tea. You have to ice the tea to get it cold, so then you specifically ask for iced tea...tea that has been iced.
It never made sense to me to have to call tea, hot tea..it's tea, just plain tea.

 

[piglet too]

So, am I making Sweet Tea then?

I use my "coffee maker" (which has never been used for coffee ) and Luzianne Ice Tea bags. For my first pot (10-12 cup I think) I use one large bag and then for the second pot I add another bag. I add the sugar to the pitcher and then poor each pot of tea into said pitcher after it is done and put it in the fridge. (or the freezer depending on how fast I want it) I think for a gallon of tea I am using 3/4 of a cup of sugar, although I just have a scoop and add two scoops, no real idea as to how much that is. I will use ice until it is cold enough for me, or if I am taking it outside to drink.

ETA ~ I place the tea bags in the pot itself, not where one would place the coffee grounds. I also let it sit for about 5-7 minutes after it is "done" before pouring it into the pitcher. Now I am going to make myself some tea

 

[MickeysMommy]

PS when you order tea up here you will get a cup of hot tea. You have to ice the tea to get it cold, so then you specifically ask for iced tea...tea that has been iced.
It never made sense to me to have to call tea, hot tea..it's tea, just plain tea.

Ditto.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I am one Texan who can't STAND sweet tea. When I ask for iced tea at any restaurant, it is served to me without any sugar added. Just like I like it!

DH, on the other hand, drinks a glass of sugar with a splash of tea

When we make it at home, it's plain and DH can add all the sugar he wants when it's finished.