Well, you make it to suit what YOU think tastes good... When I was growing up, my momma (who is from Indiana) kept making her tea sweeter and sweeter every year until now it is just as good as any Southern sweet tea.

When I make tea, I usually use three tea bags and 2 cups of sugar.

And I agree with everyone who won't eat at a restaurant because they don't serve sweet tea... but don't y'all also sometimes choose where to eat on who has the best tea? I will often go for Chick-fil-a or Bojangles just because their sweet tea is the best!

HOW can people drink iced tea UNSWEETENED :eek: ?


Edited to say: I'm sure that everyone has an opinion, but I think Luzianne is the only tea that makes GOOD sweet tea.

Yes! My roommate and I went out tonight and that actually happened. She was really wanting a good sweet tea with her dinner, so we went to one of the home cooking restaurants around here.

My personal recommendation for tea...

I use 2 Tetley family size tea bags and between a cup and a half to two cups of sugar. I haven't made any in a while because I usually can't drink it all before it goes "sour" in the fridge, which is about 2 days, as lifesaver stated previously.

It's either sweet tea or unsweetened for me - none of that horrible "ice tea with sugar added afterwards" stuff! blech.

I also use super-fine sugar - for some reason, it dissolves faster.

honeychile

i still have to add like three equals to my sweet tea

The legislator said that he went to a Cracker Barrel rest. that didn't serve sweet tea...that's never happened to any one I've gone to...unless they started within the last month.

On a related note, I stay away from PepsiCo owned companies and/or where I know I can't get a coke with my burger, etc. unless I'm really despearate or realllllly want a Taco Bell item, which isn't too often.

Sweetening the tea before you brew it is unnatural. So, too, if you do it afterward. Tea should not be sweetened. It should be made by the following:

Put four-seven tea bags in a large glass jar.

Cover jar so no bugs or anything get in it.

Leave jar in sun all day long.

Put jar in refrigarator untill chilled.

Serve over ice.

And oula, you have sun tea.

There's a bbq joint where I'm from that's called "Big Bob Gibson's" Their sweet tea is notorious. I take my cues from them...moderately dark but verrrrry sweet. And they use Red Diamond tea. I tried Bojangles for the first time this weekend when I was in NC at a conference and I gotta say: it's pretty good. I'm not a fan of Milo's (for you Alabama folks) because it's too weak for my tastes. And McAlister's is not sweet enuf. I'm picky but once I find a good one, I stick w/ it. But....having said that...when I'm in the North, I will drink unsweet, sans any sort of sweetening agent. Just give me a lemon and I'm fine.

OKAY_ to make SWEET TEA-

Take either 3 of the family size tea bags, or 6 of the regular size tea bags and brew them with hot water (we actualy use our coffee maker, but they do tea makers now). IN a GALLON pitcher pour 1 1/2 cups of sugar. As the tea brews empty the hot brewed tea water to the pitcher, leaving the bags and refilling with water until you have filled the pitcher up.
The hot liquid dissolves the sugar, but every good woman knows you must use a wooden spoon and stir to make sure that it gets thoroughly distributed.

This, my friends from up north, is sweet tea!

I'm the same way! I hate Pepsi, and I'll drive out of my way to visit a fast food place that offers Coke.

As for a Cracker Barrel not serving sweet tea -- WHAT??? Cracker Barrel is suppose to be a "country-style" restaurant. What the heck is country about unsweetened tea? It's like trying to serve cream of wheat down here instead of grits. :)

chick-fil-a = best sweet tea.

The Sonny's Barbeque in our town used to make GREAT sweet tea. The ownership's changed, but it's still the best in town, despote the fact that it isn't as good. I've also found that Chili's as a chain seems to have a pretty high quality of sweet tea.

I guess I'm too Midwestern too understand the "sweet tea" deal. I like my tea straight, no sugar, no lemon. I love it even BETTER when it's Sun Tea like in the good ole' days of Summer.

I miss sweet tea!
 

When I lived in VA Beach I loved the sweet tea at Hardee's. Big Huge 32oz tea for 99cents. Gotta love it. Hardee's has new ownership now (Carl's Jr) so I don't know if they still serve it. From what I heard there's no more peach shakes. :( And that's just WRONG! Those shakes were great. The straw would get so much peach stuck in it that I swear I was going to pop a vain from sucking so hard!

I remember when my dad and I drove 'cross country back to CA I went through major withdrawl from the tea. As soon as we crossed out of KY we could not get sweet tea any more. Even at Bob Evans! The waitresses would look at me like a freak and point to the sweet 'n low. I was putting 4-5 in each glass! :eek:

As far as commercial iced tea, I like the Lipton Sweetended No Lemon. I think that's as close to sweet tea as they'll ever get.

You can always tell the people that are not from the south because they will order tea in a restaurant, then gag when they get it because they don't realize it's sweet til they drink it.

My mom was born and raised up in Jersey, and she knows the value of a nice glass of sweet tea. She even used to make it the way Optimist Prime said, letting it seep in the sun all day. This was before she got her Mr. Coffee iced tea maker, which has worked out pretty well for the past few years. In my experience in FL, where most tea is unsweet, bar-b-q places such as Woody's and Sonny's have really good sweet tea. A place called Dustin's B-B-Q is the BEST I've ever had though!

So we "damn yankees" know and love sweet tea too!