Whenever I order Iced Tea, I first asked if it's sweetened or not. If it's sweetened, I don't order it. I only like mine unsweetened. Are you saying that you call sweetened iced tea Sweet Tea? I have never heard of that (I live in the northeast). So I guess if you wanted to order Sweet Tea here, you'd ask for sweetened iced tea.

In Texas we have Iced Tea,sweetened or unsweetened.Some places have it both ways,some don't.If they have both the waitress will ask if you want sweet or unsweetened.Up until a couple of years ago restaurants around here only had unsweetened.Iced tea is iced tea to me,whether it be sweetened or unsweetened.I grew up with it made with tea bags and sweetened by the pitcher and always made it that way for my family.I make it now unsweetened because DH and I don't do sugar anymore.

These days, I usually order mine unsweetened. I prefer sweet, but I'm trying to cut calories.

I live in the South & I just order either sweet or unsweet tea with no mention of iced or not, since iced is the standard way to drink it with a meal. I've never been in a restuarant where you specifically had to ask for your tea iced, whether sweet or not. I have been to restaurants that don't offer a choice - all their tea is unsweetened.

I noticed last night when we stopped at McDonald's in Illinois in the wee hours of the morning (slow traveling as we were encountering bumper to bumper traffic at 11 p.m.) they had two jugs sitting on the soda counter, one said sweet tea and one said unsweetened tea.

I'm a northerner and drink mine unsweetened.

Having been raised and still living in the South, "tea" has always been iced and sweet. Rarely did you see hot tea except at some fancy doings. Most people drank coffee, not tea, for their hot drink.

Then all this stuff about what is good for you and what isn't comes along and sugar is taken out of a lot of things.

If you order ice, or, iced tea, here you will be asked if you want it sweetened or unsweetened.

Of course, a TRUE SOUTHERNER knows it is sweetened.

Yes, I know there are reasons why some people have to reduce sugar intake.

Sue

Sweet tea is NOT available here, except at McDonald's.

Ice tea is available sweetened or unsweetened. The sweetened is nowhere near as sweet as Sweet Tea.

It drove DH and me crazy vacationing in Charleston SC a while back... we LOVE ice tea, and the only tea available was sweet tea. And it was so sweet it turned our stomachs.

I like my tea plain, with ice. No sweetner and no lemon either, thanks.
Leslie

Plain.

We always had sweetened iced tea at home. Then I married another crazy southerner who drank unsweetened iced tea. So I compromised and learned to drink my iced tea unsweetened. I prefer it that way now. (Except in the winter, when I drink hot tea with sugar.)

The rest of my relatives want their tea sweet,so some of them use an artificial sweetener, some use sugar. But most all use ice! And some mix their sweet iced tea with lemonade. That's good, too.

Here in the Midwest we call it iced tea and it is unsweetened.Most places ask if we would like a lemon slice.
I did in the past but changed after I read KT thread on how unclean lemon slices might be.
Lois

The only time I drink hot tea is when I'm not feeling well, except for an occasional cup of hot Earl Grey tea on cold evenings.

When I drink iced tea, which is often, I can drink it either sweetened or plain. I like the "Tropical Tea" flavor that is served in some restaurants, and I don't need to sweeten it.

I don't like sickeningly sweet tea. I prefer to put one to two packets of Splenda in my iced tea.

True southern sweet tea is, I believe, sweetened with a lot of sugar while the tea is still hot (made, of course, with tea bags and hot water, and allowed to cool), which allows the sugar to fully dissolve. If you put sugar into cold tea it will take f-o-r-e-v-e-r for the sugar to dissolve. Splenda dissolves quickly in iced tea.

Oh, I was born in Atlanta, so I am a Southerner. :-)

I grew up drinking sweet tea, but now I like it without sugar.

I still like hot tea with sugar.

Sweet Tea here, i grew up in Maine, so am used to hot tea as well. If sweet tea is not available I don't take it. No matter what you say sugar does not dissolve in cold tea, so NO it is not the same to take a glass of tea and stir in some sugar.

Growing up, iced tea was only in the summer, and then it was the powdered stuff.

I just order tea when we eat out down here to get iced tea. Most places will ask if I want it sweet or unsweet. I get the unsweet and add Splenda or Equal to it.
I recently bought some Community brand diet tea to take to my mother on her birthday. That's the first bottle of already made tea I've ever bought. It is sweetened with Splenda and already has a lemon flavor too. I like it and bought three more gallons of it.

Back in 1997 or 1998 I had an internet friend from Baton Rouge come to a ball game in Memphis. She and her dh ate dinner with us and spent the night. I asked for a few ideas of what to make for supper. She mentioned that she liked tea. When she got here I fixed her a big glass of iced tea and she looked at it kind of funny, then asked me if she could have some hot tea in a cup. She doesn't drink iced tea. I was shocked!!! I never knew anyone who drank hot tea. LOL!!!

Here in the Midwest we call it iced tea and it is unsweetened. What Pump Toad said, although it seems there are more restaurants now that offer a choice between sweet and unsweetened tea.

Southern girl here says that sweet tea means sweetened iced tea. I've had some tea that is EXTREMELY sweet and have had to water it down, but I still can't take unsweet tea...blech.

Milo's is one of my favorites of sweet tea. :) However, it's better at the restaurant than in the jug, in my opinion!

~Cindy Jo

I will drink sweet tea if I am somewhere where it is the only choice for tea. I don't think you get much of the tea flavor when it is sweetened or with lemon, for that matter. So, I prefer my tea to be unsweetened and un-lemoned please.

I'm a northerner (Ohioan) transplated to the south (Georgia) and have always called it "Iced tea". It is served straight, and you add your own sugar (and/or lemon) if you choose. Now I am a coffee drinker through and through, but if I want Iced Tea, I want it straight and strong. I have to be very, very sick to want hot tea. Give me regular coffee, none of this flavored or thick stuff.

Plain. No sweetener, no lemon, no flavoring. Lots of ice. With a straw. Even at home I like a straw with iced tea and I don't use straws with anything else.

Around here Raspberry iced tea (tea flavored Koolaid) is popular. I have been served it by accident and have involuntarily spit it right back into the glass. GAG GAG GAG Nasty stuff.

I grew up in Ohio, where it was "iced tea" and came unsweet. We always had a pitcher at home b/c it was my dad's drink of choice, still is. Made with hot water, tea bags, and no sugar, then poured over a glass full to the top of ice.

Then I moved to the south. ;o/ And when I ordered "iced tea" I got something that tasted like syrup over ice to my midwest taste buds. Cannot stand it. Of all the southern things I have acclimated to, sweet tea is NOT one of them! LOL. I also won't drink it bottled, canned or out of a fountain, only fresh brewed (today, not yesterday). I think most people around me say "sweet tea," but also take "iced tea" to mean the same thing.

So now I'm in the habit of ordering "iced tea, UNsweet." I've learned that's the best way to place my order to be sure I get it right. Most places around here serve both, but there are some places that only serve sweet. If I go to a brunch, luncheon, pot luck kind of thing, there is usually only sweet provided, so I've learned to bring my own.

This is one thing I am fussy about, and it drives DH nuts. A meal out anywhere is unsatisfactory to me if it doesn't come with fresh, unsweet tea. I am sort of addicted, so I get grouchy if I am served tea that I cannot drink (sweet, old, or badly made). I make and drink quarts of it every single day. There is unsweet tea in my veins. When I have friends over, I make a pitcher of both, though. I know my southern friends expect sweet tea.

I'm a New Yorker all my life, that's about as Yankee as you can get. In 1977, I spent a week in Texas, as far south as I've ever been. In NY, if you order "tea" with a meal, they bring you hot tea with a teabag. When I was in Texas, and you ordered "tea" they bring a glass of iced tea. I think you had to add your own sugar if you like it sweet. By the way, McDonald's sells a drink they call "Mickey D's Sweet Tea", which is a huge container of cold iced tea , very strong, very sweet, with a lemon wedge on top.

Sweet tea is not available here, except at McDonald's.
I've gotten it there a few times and enjoyed it very much.I enjoy Arizona Ice Tea.

I grew up in south Texas, and "tea" was tea by the pitcher with a scoop of sugar & lots of ice in it. Now everyplace has both sweet and unsweetened; I ask for unsweetened and put an artificial sweetener in it. I like the flavored teas also.

I had never had Sweet Tea until last year when I went to Kentucky. When I would order iced tea they would answer "all we have is sweet tea". Actually sweet tea wasn't bad but I prefer my tea unsweetened and with lemon. I don't care about the germs on the lemon. In CA when you order tea, you are usually asked if you want it hot or iced. Hot tea is so nice on a cold day.

Sweet tea for me.

SO is from Georgia and craves sweet tea. Anyone have a good recipe for real sweet tea?
I only drink hot tea on occasion mostly when I'm sick with sugar and milk......I hate iced tea blech!
I sure would like to surprise Bill with down home sweet tea though.
TIA
Plant

We live in Colorado, also lived in California before that, was born in Ohio. I never tasted tea so sweet as traveling in the south. Our son was stationed in South Carolina with the Air Force some years ago, we drove down to see him. Every place we stopped brought iced tea so sweet it was too sugary, and I like sweet tea. Finally we just asked for unsweetened tea and added Splenda. That's the way I fix it at home. I add a little milk or cream to my iced tea too, people stare at me and say they've never seen it done that way, I guess I made it up as a kid, it tasted better to me. I use the large Luzianne tea bags, they are supposed to be good for iced tea.

When my friend Nancy opened her diner in NH there was no iced tea on the menu and some of her customers were asking for it in the summer. I found a big glass pickle jar and filled it full of cold water and added tea bags and set it out in the sun. Every one loved it. I think she still makes it that way. Alot of the restaurants here in FL use a machine to brew tea and chill it for sweet or unsweet always served with a lemon wedge. They also have raspberry tea from the soda machine. I've been making the Crystal lite White tea with raspberry. No caffine.

Plant Lady I've added a link for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sweet Tea Recipe

I grew up in Indiana on SWEET TEA...we called it Iced Tea...year round...even if the snow was at the roof...we drank iced tea...

Here in Georgia everyone serves sweet tea and lots of places also make a vat of unsweetened tea...I drink it when I'm out...but at home I make mine with Sweet N Low...I drink so much of it I don't like the taste sugar leaves in my mouth...AND I make DeCAF...i'm hyper enough and whenever I have tea at a resturant it's a sure sign I'm gonna have trouble sleeping that night...but I do love Iced Tea!!

Its always been iced tea - sweet or unsweet here.

Thank you Msmarion!
P2

I call it iced tea. Stephanie_in_ga sounds just like me when it comes to tea. I call myself a "tea snob". I want it fresh brewed today. No bottled or instant stuff for me and no sweetener, sugar or lemon thank you. I want plenty of ice too. Sometimes I'll ask for extra ice in a glass so I know I'll have plenty. I grew up on sweetened instant tea but got a taste of fresh brewed once when I was a teen and I never wanted instant again.

Pre sweetened tea seems to be a Southern thing.

I NEVER heard of it before I moved to Virginia from Pennsylvania.

I drink my cold tea with NO sugar at all.

In my part of Texas, you never get asked if you wnat sweet tea. If you order iced tea, it comes unsweetened and sugar is on the table.
I prefer my tea unsweetened.

Here it is hard to get a cup of 'hot tea'. Even if you specify 'hot' , you get iced sweet tea. Even at breakfast. that bothers me, At breakfast I'd like hot tea, at lunch and dinner I'd drink sweet tea. Here it is SWEET too. At home it was just iced tea.

Susan, most restaurants in Virginia have both sweet and unsweetened iced tea, so I guess we are the dividing line on the East Coast. North of here is almost always unsweetened, and I know NC is almost a purely sweet-tea state.

Personally, I prefer unsweetened with lemon. And I don't add sweetner of any kind, which means it has to be really fresh.

As an aside, I have a friend who travelled to Ohio recently. She stopped at a fast food drive through and asked for a "sweet tea". They gave her "Hi-C". When my sister brought this mistake to the clerk's attention, she apologized, but said she had never heard it called "sweet tea" before.

Here in Missouri they always ask if I want sweetened or un sweetened. I am diabetic so I get the "plain" and use equal,,,but sweet iced tea is SOOOO refreshing!!!!