Coming from Canada when you order iced tea, you expect a sweet lemony beverage like Brisk or Nestea. I ordered iced tea in an American restaurant an got actual cold tea…not sweet,not lemony, just bitter cold black tea.
Coming from Canada when you order iced tea, you expect a sweet lemony beverage like Brisk or Nestea. I ordered iced tea in an American restaurant an got actual cold tea…not sweet,not lemony, just bitter cold black tea.
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Yeah I like it
Yes, it’s very good, assuming the tea is good
I prefer it so much that I specify every time that I want it unsweetened. I forgot to do that once at a bar and I couldn’t drink it because it was just so sweet
In the south you are much more likely to get sweet tea. Depends on the region for the rest of the country though
Did you get unsweetened tea?
Sweetened iced tea is also very common in the US.
You buy milk in bags, don’t judge our tea.
I don’t think that’s even really an American thing in particular… pretty sure Japan drinks a fair bit of unsweetened iced tea (though it’s not just black, it may be oolong or green).
Iced tea is generally not sweetened in the US. That’s sweet tea
Some yes, but that’s also why there’s generally a little try of sweeteners on the table and many order it with lemon.
More drink sweetened or flavored tea than straight, it just isn’t pre-made like brisk. You get the bits and mix to taste like with diner coffee.
Well, I guess I knew there were some people who liked that chemical-tasting artificial crud that tastes and smells like Lemon Pledge or they would have stopped selling it, but I didn’t realize it was a whole country. Blech.
I love ice tea. There is sweet tea, mostly from the South. The North usually provides a lemon wedge and sugar packets so you can customize your own, but I prefer ice tea plain.
You have to order sweet tea.
Iced tea is just cold black tea. I trained myself to like it so i would drink less sugar. But what you were looking for is referred to as sweet tea
But if you order sweet tea in some northern states, they won’t know what you mean and will bring you hot tea with sweetener. Go below to Mason-Dixon line for some diabetes-inducing sweet tea
I miss unsweetened ice tea !!
If you are south of the border, you can ask for sweet ice tea.
If you asked for iced tea and didn’t dump your favorite sugar measurement the moment it arrived, that’s on you. We believe in self-determination for tea sweetness. Not much else lately, but for iced tea? Yes.
Unsweetened tea is mostly a northern thing. Sweet tea and lemony sweet tea are more of a southern thing.
my dad orders the unsweet tea and adds SO MUCH SUGAR. he’s weird though. i think most americans like sweet tea. where were you when you ordered your disappointing tea? maybe it wasn’t a sweet tea kind of area. sweet tea lives in mcd’s, the south, and the midwest
Love me some very dark iced tea.
I like a squeeze of lemon in mine, but otherwise, yeah, it’s good.
Decent ice tea is brewed like regular tea and put on ice instead of being from a mix.
Unsweetened ice tea= black tea, nothing else
Regular ice tea=iced tea with sugar
Sweet tea= ice tea with ungodly amounts of sugar
Arnold Palmer= iced tea and lemonade. While the original has one part lemonade to three parts lemonade, various versions of Arnold Palmers from a mix exist with varying parts (including Nestea)
I drink iced tea pretty much everyday. Generally in the North if you order iced tea they will assume you want it unsweet. In the south, sweet tea is the default. If you want it sweet and you’re ordering in the North, just order it that way. Beyond that there will typically be packets of sugar and sweeteners at the table. You can use those to adjust it to whatever taste you want.
Sweet Tea is a more of a southern US thing. If your north of Kentucky, you gotta ask for it sweet.
My grandfather used to like it. I never could understand the appeal myself.
Sweet tea is an abomination, but Ice tea is wonderful and refreshing.
Typically there are packets of sugar and fake sugar that you can add to your preference.
Florida has broken my iced tea drinking spirit with (un)sweet tea, and even trying to cheat and order an Arnold Palmer doesn’t work, the tea itself is just so bad. I grew up in New York and never had sweet tea until I moved down south.
“Sweet Tea” is sweetened iced tea. “Iced Tea” can be either. It’s more likely to be sweet if you order it in the South and unsweetened if you order it in a Northern, MidWest or Western state.
I like cold unsweet tea. Most people, at least in the south, drink it with sugar. Some people like lemon.
I just like straight ice tea, no lemon, no sugar.
My FIL drinks unsweetened iced tea like its going out of style. When we go to restaurants he will comment on how good or bad it is, which is weird to me since it all tastes like dirt water IMO
Yes we wash down our pouteen with it
You ordered “iced tea” and were surprised it was cold? Usually, you ask for sweetener, lemon, or milk to add to your “cold” iced tea.
I only drink sweet tea. That’s iced tea with sugar. You, my poor friend, had unsweet tea.
To be honest I thought it was the other way around. America sweetens things unnecessarily and iced tea in most of the world is just that – tea, but cold.
Yeah, that’s how it’s supposed to be. I’m told that Native Americans used to make something like that with a different plant before tea was introduced.
Well, there’s syrupy sweet tea or regular unsweetened tea and you can add lemon to either. I hate sweet tea because it is sickeningly sweet, but love good brewed iced tea with lemon. It just depends on your taste.
You have to order ‘sweet tea’ if you want the pre-sweetened stuff. Some places don’t have it and you have to add sugar packets at the table yourself. Usually it’s served with a lemon wedge at the type of places that give you a real cup and not a disposable ones.
Unsweetened all day everyday. Just regular tea. Delicious!
yeah sweet tea is more of a southern thing here. but you can get it at McDs
Unsweetened iced tea is the norm unless you’re from the South. Extremely refreshing, especially on a hot day.
Ever since moving to Canada it’s been insanely difficult to find unsweetened iced tea at restaurants. If I want sugar, I’ll add it myself.
As an American who has visited your lovely country many times, I have to continuously remind myself NOT to order iced tea at a restaurant because it will not be fresh brewed. Actually, once when I was particularly parched and craving an iced tea, I just ordered hot tea and a glass of ice. Literally the same thing, but perhaps not always available. Typically, when American restaurants serve fresh brewed iced tea it comes with lemon wedges and an assortment of sweeteners, so you can make it as lemony and/or sweet as you like. And you can use natural sugar or artificial sweeteners (though natural sugar won’t really dissolve in cold tea).
It’s pretty popular yeah. It’s good if you want a calorie free drink. Plus they expect you to use the sugar packets at the table to flavor it to taste like you do with coffee. And you can almost always ask for fresh lemon if you want that.
Try sweet tea if you ever see it on a menu. It is a whole different experience. It’s not just sweetened ice tea. It’s like a step below syrup.
It’s all that I ever drink, not a myth!
Yes iced tea comes without the diabetes surprisingly in the United States
I drink real tea…
Sweet Tea is type 2 diabetes in a glass and I personally find it disgusting as all hell, but ice cold tea with a twist of lemon is fucking amazing on a hot Texas summer day.
Iced tea in the US is just that, tea over ice. You doctor it up with sugar or lemon on your own.
We also have sweet tea, or sweetee in the South. That’s where you put sugar into iced tea until the sugar won’t dissolve anymore, then you add another cup of sugar.
Yes.
However, what you will get will vary depending on where you order it. In the South, you will get very, very sweet ice tea by default, even if you only ask for just tea. Lemon you would have to specifically ask for.
In the North, you have to ask specifically for ice tea, and it will often be unsweetened.
Yep, I like just plain old tea, iced. Pretty common around where I live in rural Minnesota. Although most restaurants in my area have both kinds and will ask which one you want.
You want “sweet tea”
Yeah but more specifically in the south.
However, you need to order it with sugar. Thats how everyone does it (for the most part)
In the south it is like their water
They should ask if you want sweet tea or not.
Goes either way. Sweetened or unsweetened. Sweet is the way, but I guess they gotta do something for the “slower” folks who know nothing about how to drink iced tea
I live in the south and I didn’t realize that people in the USA gave you cold black tea in other places, which is ridiculous because the sugar isn’t going to mix if it isn’t warm. Usually here, you have to clarify that you want unsweetened tea.
It depends on which part of America you’re in. Usually they sweeten it in southern or Midwestern style restaurants. It was only on the East Coast that I experienced them not sweetening the tea before putting ice in it. There’s something wrong with those people.
I looove iced tea and I treat myself to a 30 oz at Starbucks or Coffee Bean every week.
I generally avoid it at fast food places, though. It’s nowhere near as good.
I drink nothing but homemade peach iced tea.
Per gallon, I put 4 black teabags in the coffee bay of a 5-cup drip coffee maker, let it brew, add 6 ounces of peach flavored Italian soda syrup (I use sugar free syrup since sugar syrup tends to ferment if not used ASAP) to my gallon pitcher, pour in the brewed tea on top of the syrup and add cold water to fill up the pitcher.
I have two pitchers in my fridge that I cycle through so that I always have tea to drink.
I don’t like my iced tea lemony or sweet. I genuinely just want it cold.
I love sweet iced tea.
It’s unsweetened so you can add however much you want. Why would I want someone to assume how sweet I want my tea? You can’t take the sweet out if it’s sweeter than you prefer
Around us it’s sweet tea by default, but most places have both.
I live in the deep south, on the Gulf Coast. In August there are very few things more refreshing…
I love iced tea, hate sweet tea though.
I do not, but a lot of people do.
Yes, I love unsweetened iced tea. It’s got a little more flavor than water, but has extra caffeine and still no calories. I also have my favorite flavors, like a mango or ginger peach. But it does have to be freshly brewed. Some beverage companies make something they call “iced tea” that gets dispensed right next to the Coke and Pepsi dispensers, but that stuff is nasty and I refuse to drink it.
When I was a kid, I loved to dump tons of sugar in it–so much that it wouldn’t all dissolve and I’ve get a spoonful of sugar sludge at the end. In the southern US, they prefer it this way and if you order an iced tea there, you’ll get it sweetened.
This is the answer OP. Just order sweet tea. It usually ranges from tasting like McDonald’s sweet tea to Brisk. Some places will give you the sugariest sweet tea you’ve ever had, some will give you a lemon wedge and a pack of Splenda.
Many people love it, but I personally hate iced tea, it’s bland to me. I love the powdery stuff you add to make it tea though because that stuff is super sweet
Restaurants in the US will serve iced tea with sugar and sweetener packets so you can make it as sweet / not sweet as you want. Usually, they’ll give you a lemon wedge with it too.
The older I get, the more I like unsweetened black iced tea. I’m 38. I’m also a big drinker of bitter beer. Also I haven’t drank sweet and soda in 10 years… Also my favorite drink is water. Maybe these are some variables.
Yep it’s delicious. You can put sugar in it if you’re weak
The jig is up
Order it in the south, otherwise you will be disappointed. If you want sweet tea, order it that way.
It can be called sweet tea sometimes.
Yes. Iced tea in the states is usually just actually iced tea. In Canada it’s usually premixed and has sweetener already added. I’m not a fan of either so it’s not an issue for me.
If my time at CFA showed me anything, it’s that people REALLY like Iced Tea.
Huuuuhhhh????? Ive always assumed ice tea was an American thing we have it all over the UK in bottles (fuck lipton and your sugar free shit tastes like complete ass)
Try the southeastern american sweet style summer tea next time I think that will be more up your alley
I mean, were you in some mid diner in the northern USA? The South is know for its iced tea, but it is sweetened to great extent.
You never know what a restaurant will do to have something on hand, but usually if they have soda fountain iced tea, it leans more sweet than not. Personally I find brand names like Arizona iced tea too sweet. But also restaurants usually have lots of sugar on hand for you to add.
I am a regular tea drinker, and when I make ice tea, I don’t tend to sweeten it a ton. But I will also pick fruity teas that are already a good flavor for it, and/or also add lemon and mint.
Sweet tea is disgusting. You’re better off with a coke.
No, we don’t. I’m convinced that most people who drink it are using as a substitute to kick a soda or coffee habit.
I drink iced tea all day, every day. Black and bitter, just like me.
Ugh, hate sweet tea. Give me plain iced tea.
Ordered iced tea once down south and got some weird sweet lemony drink. NOT what I expected or ordered.
I drink about half a gallon a day.
Love love love iced tea.
A group of us go for a Sunday run, the midpoint of which is a coffeeshop.
In that context only, I love crushing a huge iced black tea.
I drink it hot in every other setting. But damn, mid-run, it hits right. I’m not an iced coffee guy.
I love plain iced tea, especially on a hot day. No sugar, just lemon, but I’m fine with it plain. Sweet tea is not my thing.
Ugh, lemons? I will order an Arnold Palmer if I want that.
I like my Iced Tea unsweetened or maybe half sweet(Texas Sweet not Georgia Syrup).
It is great and refreshing. I now do hot tea after going to the UK but not with it is 100F+ outside
Gotta get further down south, also have good dental insurance lol
If I order tea from somewhere and they give me brisk I’m swinging
I used to drink sugar in my iced tea but I’m really trying to lose weight. But if people come over I make sure I tell them it’s unsweetened
Pure tea is easier to drink cold, although sweetened tea is always better imo
i probably spend like 70-100 dollars a month on Iced teas depending on where I get it from and ive been in texas virtually my whole life
In a restaurant, it is usually unsweetened, and you add what you want
Except for sweet tea that’s really sweet. I buy a jug of what’s called an Arnold Palmer style that is tea and lemonade.
Love a nice cold glass of sweet iced tea
This is sooo regional. In California = unsweetened or they will ask, and/or provide sugar. In the South = sweetened. I learned that the hard way by order iced tea in Georgia and expecting it to be unsweetened. 🤪
Absolutely they do. If you’re in the southeast and south of the Mason-Dixon line it’s sweet. Like real sweet. Above that it’s unsweetened. Go west and you will still find sweet tea, but not like it is in the southeast. It’s all iced.
Canadian checking in – you get the PC lemon thriller and when you pass out on the couch for 3 hours and wake up and take a sip it’s spiritual. Then you can go to bed
I really like unsweetened tea. I’m from the the South but keep it secret so they don’t deport me to a square state.
I drink iced tea all the time it’s delicious!
Yes, I lived unsweetened iced tea. I really hate sweet/lemon iced tea, but unsweetened is my go-to drink aside from water.
You have to specify that you want “sweet tea.”
I drink unsweetened iced tea all day. I make own at home because mine is also decaf which is impossible to find at restaurants.
I like unsweetened iced tea, because it allows us to select which sugar or sugar substitute we want to use.
Yeah, tons of people drink unsweetened iced tea. I put a couple equals in mine, but it’s nowhere near as sweet as Southern-style sweet tea.
Yes! In the South, it’s all sweet. In the northeast, it’s unsweetened, normally, but you are allowed to ask for sweetener/lemons. But normally, in the northeast, we just drink unsweetened iced tea. A delicious summer treat!
It’s one of the only things I drink when I go to the US. I find most drinks down there to be overly sweet, so I still to water and unsweetened tea. Tastes just fine to me and I’m Canadian.
That’s northern iced tea. I personally love the stuff. Precisely because it isn’t sweet.
Southern sweet tea is what you want.
It’s a matter of religion. I can’t stand sweet tea, and sweet tea fans think I’m criminally insane for not wanting sugar in my tea. We will never agree on this.
Brisk and Nestea iced teas taste like chemicals. Tea that’s been freshly brewed, iced, and sweetened with sugar is superior in every way. If you wouldn’t drink Brisk or Nestea hot, why would you drink it cold? Tea is tea, hot or cold, but that bottled stuff is nasty
Oh, yes. Unsweetened and no lemon.
Iced tea raspberry Arizona is the drink of the gods my friend
I prefer unsweetened and unflavored iced tea. So, yes.
Yes, I live in GA, and if you order “tea” or “iced tea,” you’re getting cold tea with sugar. If you want it any other way, you have to specify.
I’m guessing you had it somewhere up in the northern US states. Try it in the south and it’s super sweet. The Northern states don’t tend to sweeten it.
America frequently has both versions so you have to specify if you want sweetened or unsweetened iced tea
I like iced tea, order it often, usually with just a little lemon. At home I buy diet iced tea as I usually don’t have lemons.
Ask for an Arnold Palmer.
I just made 2 gallons of unsweetened ice tea. So, yes.
If you want sweet tea, you need to ask for sweet tea. No tea is naturally sweet.
Brisk and neatea is not tea. Iced tea is from brewed tea historically.
You have to ask for Sugar or Sweetener packs. It’s one way restaurants save money.
Iced tea is a large category of any tea that is served cold. Black, green, herbal, unsweetened, lightly sweetened, very sweet, with or without lemon. In some regions there is a default variation, so if you order “iced tea” in a restaurant you get that, in other regions they will ask which kind you want. Nestea and Lipton both make multiple tea products including one that is served along side soda and other soft drinks that contains lemon and syrup, so it is sweet but not as sweet as Southern Sweet Tea. That is a kind of iced tea but not the only kind.
Lol unsweetened tea is “pre-tea.” You add what you need to make it right. Being from North Carolina, this is what we give to those who got the diabetes so they can put fake sugar in it and be sad they don’t get real tea. 😭😔
Note: I got the diabetes, and I stopped drinking tea entirely until I got my A1C sorted because I refuse to drink the fake sugar. Now, I only have it on occasion, pound of sugar per sip and all lol.
Think they call it sweet tea
American from the South here. I get it. I also hate unsweetened tea.
How I survived as a kid was to just learn a list of the types of establishments that offered sweet tea and which ones would always bring you straight tea and some lame sugar packets. Let’s be real. That sugar will not dissolve in that cold tea, now, and the whole drink order is pointless.
If you don’t know what to expect, ask the server if the tea comes already sweetened or if you can get a lemon slice/shot of lemon juice. Make sure you get a clear answer. They may tell you you can sweeten it to taste with the table sugar. If so, say no thanks, and get juice/water/soda.
If they have already sweetened tea, it’s usually safe to order and tastes great since it’s been brewed in-house.
Unsweetened iced tea is also a very popular thing in Asia, and I’m completely in love with it. Try the floral versions, both jasmine and osmanthus teas are really good.
I love an unsweetened iced tea
I prefer the iced tea in the US!
Love it! Drink it year round even in winter. As much of a winter San Diego gets.
they call it “sweet tea” down there. exact same as iced idea is here
That’s those Yankees in the North that don’t put sugar in their iced tea. Come down South and try some of our sweet tea. It’s diabetes in a glass.
I grew up on sweet tea with lemon, but had to cut the sugar out. Now I love plain iced tea and make a pitcher every day. I still enjoy sweet tea while eating in restaurants because some places have horrible iced tea.
Okay, so you add a sweetener and lemon, it’s not rocket science. My Canadian friends are mostly intelligent , you must be an exception.
I love some cold black tea. Or green. With honey is nice too, but the bottled stuff is too sweet.
Just wait till you visit the south and ask for iced tea. You’ll get brown sugar water.
Yes
We joke that we are going to bury our mom in a Lipton tea jar, that’s how much she loves her iced tea.
Southern Americans prefer “sweet tea”, which to me personally, and from NYC, is rot gut. But I drink it. LOL. BUT Brisk and Nestea are so much more rot gut than any brewed hot or iced tea. Read the ingredients, eh? btw ❤️ to Canada from the US.
Canadian Ice tea sucks. Why does it always have to have lemon in it?
Gotta order it sweetened or unsweetened. If you try to sweeten yourself it never dissolves into the drink like if you added when it was hot, before it became chilled.
Iced Green tea is better unsweetened and black tea as sweetened personally. Southern states will super sweeten their tea. Pretty sure you can’t add too much sugar for most people in the south.
I love iced tea, but I prefer it unsweetened with lemon. (I am a Yankee, spawned in New England.) The standard black unsweetened tea that’s common in restaurants is my preferred beverage when I go out. At home, I’ll experiment with other kinds of iced tea (Rooibos is great unsweetened, and so is green tea.) So, yes! Some of us Americans do indeed like iced tea, and not just sweet tea.
As someone who would choose literally anything besides water every single time but is also rather worried about their sugar intake – unsweetened iced tea rules.
I don’t like sweet tea. Surviving cancer treatment reset my taste buds.
Unsweetened, thoroughly chilled tea for me. Herbal, black, white, whatever. Just not green. Tastes like soap.
In fact, unsweetened beverages are preferred across the board. Cranberry juice is too sweet. Unsweetened pomegranate juice is a welcome alternative.
You have to ask for sweet tea
Unsweetened ice tea is available just about everywhere in the US and is what you will get if you order ice tea, except the following:
They have the lemon or raspberry sweetened tea beverage in soda machines in the North East US
Sweet tea is cold black tea with lots and lots of sugar, primarily in the Southeast
I think I only ever drank iced tea to be doing something like my dad. I didn’t hate it. The tea we had was just some granules you mix in a glass of water. Nestea? Not sweet.
After I moved out of my parents home, I have never purchased this product for my own house.
Love it. Prefer green iced to black iced though.
where are you going in the usa that you don’thave to fight tooth and claw to get your iced tea unsweetened
I prefer to add my own sweetener. For one thing, I’m diabetic so drinking iced tea full of sugar is a bad idea. Even so, most sweet tea is too sweet for my taste, so I prefer to start with unsweetened tea and add just the amount I want.
Ahh, the great Tea Divide! You need to come down south where we heat the tea only so it can absorb more sugar! (Personally, though, I prefer my tea bitter as the arctic wind.)
Unsweetened iced green tea is amazing. I drink it almost every day.
I love iced tea. Light sugar and lemon is great. But sweet tea is an abomination to my palate.
You were looking for sweet tea.
You gotta order sweet iced tea, not iced tea. That’s where you messed up!
To be fair there’s usually sugar on the table and they give you a lemon if you ask. The problem is you’re not going far enough South. Northern states we like just the bitter tea but go down south and they make their tea starting with simple syrup and it tastes like diabetes.
Way more popular in the south, especially sweetened, aka sweet tea.
I love a good unsweetened ice tea.
Yes, I prefer it unsweetened most of the time. Restaurants will serve it unsweetned because some people drink it that way. Imagine giving a big ol’ glass of sweet tea to a diabetic. It’s on you to put your own sugar in it.
Iced Tea is literally just that–brewed tea that is cold/iced.
If i order ice tea and someone gives me brisk I probably wouldn’t go back there unless they warned me first. So yes we definitely do lol.
Sweet vs unsweetened is regional though what the default is. I tend to drink unsweetened cause the sweet tea in the south has so much sugar it can be pretty nauseating if you drink more than half a glass.
It gets hot down here
I feel like sweet tea has substantially changed from when I was a kid (40ish years ago).
Back then, you would set out a glass jug and make sun tea, it was sweetened with sugar, honey, maybe some mint and lemon. It was never syrupy like McDonald’s sweet tea. But it was refreshing.
I love iced tea
I hate sugar in my tea
No. But some are hooked on it. It’s the sugar not the tea.
I live in Washington state, where mostly iced tea is what I think you’re expecting. But in a lot of states I’ve found you need to specify “sweet tea.”
Iced tea is delicious but you’ve gotta ask if it’s unsweetened. I personally don’t like unsweetened black tea, but I love unsweetened green tea and herbal tea. If they only have unsweetened black tea I’ll ask if they have lemonade and then get an “Arnold Palmer” (tea and lemonade) which then adds just enough sweetness to the unsweetened tea without being too sweet like brisk or any of the fountain versions of iced tea.
If you like super sweet tea, head south where there’s mostly sugar water with a hint of tea in it.