Where is the demarcation line between the states that serve sweet tea and those that don't? Someone has to know this. There's probably a map somewhere and I just wasn't around to get a copy. For those of you who are NOT from a sweet tea state, let me explain...In the South, iced tea means sweet tea. 'Sweet' as in: Oh My GOD, there is a LOT of sugar in this iced tea. It's not a difficult recipe--the tea is brewed and several cups of sugar are added to it. (Click here for a Sweet Tea recipe) Apparently, the more sugar, the better. Interestingly enough, when you go to a restaurant (even a fast-food restaurant) and you order iced tea, it automatically comes as sweet tea.
The only way to NOT get the sucrose surprise is to verbally harangue the wait-staff. My part of the conversation usually goes as follows: "I would like unsweetened ice tea, please. Yes, that's right, unsweetened. No, I am not a communist, I just want unsweetened iced tea. You're right, I'm not from around here..." Try to get a lemon slice in your tea and they look at you like bugs are crawling out of your mouth.
Why sweet tea? My theory is that it gets so darn hot / humid down here in the summer that the population would die without the sugar boost to keep them moving. Unfortunately, they've taken it to extremes and now sweet tea is the default and people drink it all day long. Even for breakfast! Even McDonald's serves sweet tea and has billboards that scream, "SWEET TEA ALL DAY--$1 FOR SUPER SIZE".
My guilty admission... I forgot to specify unsweetened yesterday when I picked up a salad at another local oddity, 'Chick-fil-A' fast-food restaurant. (More on The Chick, later!) Yes, my tea came sweetened. YES, I drank it--and enjoyed it. I could feel my teeth rotting out as I sipped the sickly-sweet nectar. I still drank it all. Aaaugh! Help me!
Perhaps people drink sweet tea because it is the liquid meth of the South? Addictive, cheap, and easy to get? I may be hooked... How about you?
4 comments:
I was brought up drinking sweet tea, made by my grandmother who hailed from Iowa & Missouri. You can add those states to the map.
As you know, here in sunny SoCal, tea comes unsweetened by default. I sweeten it. ArmyGuy also prefers sweet tea and he's originally from Illinois--one more for the map.
My current favorite is sweet iced GREEN tea. XCircMan, our Southern friend, seems quite fond of it.
Yes, the azaleas and dogwoods are in full bloom and it is AMAZING. I'll take a picture of my azaleas and blog it tonight. Never had azaleas before and I like them!
TIL is sort of right. I was brought up on sweet tea by my mother who was brought up on it by her mother, but, unless it has changed in the last five years, as I recall restaurants served unsweetened tea. I guess Illinois will have to be logged as a half-and-half state until further verification can be obtained.
Missouri appears to be a border state in the sweet tea wars. Here in southern Missouri most restaurants offer both sweet and unsweetened. Sweet tea is showing up in advertising a lot more of late with McAllister Delis offering gallon jugs.
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