Talk:Sweet tea

message: Why is the bit about too much sugar rude?  There are many people who brew their tea and then flood it with sugar which therefore completely ruins the tea!  I think that if someone could expand on this and smooth out the rough edges it could be a worthwhile contribution. Also, isn't it rude to just take something out that you don't like without discussing it first?  Maybe you could make it more informative and less rude? 
Jaberwocky6669 05:59, Jan 29, 2005 (UTC)
:I mean that is fine with me. I apologize if I offended you, it just didn't seem like it was a needed in the article. If you want to rewrite/put it back in, that will be aok with me. I gotta a little trigger happy with my edit button. Again I apologize. --MaxPower 19:24, 2005 Jan 29 (UTC)
:While the sentence may have been rude, I don't want to contribute sub-standard information.  I am a relatively new contributor here, I have only been correcting grammar and stuff but never before contributed anything.  I actually got the idea from something, I think that it was H.G. Wells (or somebody, I forgot) who made a critique about people who use too much sugar.  I am ok with it though, I don't have to put it back.  =) !!!!
::Actually, that could be a pretty good quote if you could find the source. Then you could add it to Wikiquote even. It just seemed like it was some random dude's opinion, which wouldn't be very encyclopedic. Another problem, if it *was* HG Wells, it probably wouldn't be a good quote to use since he was English and not Southern (American). I imagine they like their tea differently than Southerners. But if it was a quote by some like say, Robert E. Lee or Mark Twain, that would be excellent. Let me know what you find out! --MaxPower 14:04, 2005 Jan 31 (UTC)
:::I tried to put in a compromise - indicating that the sweetness of the beverage can be a contentious issue - and added a common quip in the South. Ellsworth
:::I re-inserted the common quip. Anyone object? "Ridiculous" seems a bit strong of a descriptor. But I will try to find a source. Ellsworth 21:18, 19 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Looks like the quip is not going to make it as part of the article. For the record, the quip goes "Would you like a teabag with that glass of Karo syrup?" Ellsworth 20:42, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Rude

message: Can someone verify that the majority of sweet tea consumed in the pre-war era was in fact green tea? While I personally find this tasty, it surprises me and there are no refrences given. --Zantastik 20:09, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The user who posted the remarks about green tea emailed me -- here is her email: "A quick google will turn up the 1879 cookbook. Here's the page that references iced tea.  This is also another good source . I thank her for her information --Zantastik 01:39, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Green Tea 

message: How common is lemon in sweet tea?  Tea#United States only mentions lemon in hot tea.  It seems to be quite common in the (apparently compromise?) commercially bottled sweet teas available in California, and I remember seeing something about it in a documentary on Americans living in England.  If lemon is uncommon, there may be an error in the lemonade article.--Joel 03:27, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Lemon is a ubiquitous garnish in sweet tea (at least in my 31 years experience in Florida, as well as Georgia, the Carolinas, and other South-East States). In most establishments (even some fast food restaurants) a wedge of lemon is served attached to the rim of the glass, or simply dropped into the cup. Usually, lemon juice is not added to fresh sweet tea; the consumer will squeeze the juice from the lemon itself, or drop the slice into the tea and allow the flavor to slowly infuse the beverage. Sometimes, the lemon is truly just garnish, as it can be served sliced as a thin disk instead of a wedge, unsuitable for squeezing and too small to add much flavor just floating around. Adding lemon is not particularly exclusive to sweet tea, per se, but in fresh iced tea in general, sweet or unsweet. In bottled or canned iced tea, however, it can be difficult to find a brand that does not contain lemon flavoring; even unflavored, unsweetened iced tea often contains the sour additive citric acid (as a preservative, no doubt, but it still noticeably affects flavor). I believe the lemonade article is incorrect, and will think about planning to begin to consider correcting it. I have never in my life of living in the South heard of anyone using tea instead of water in anything close to the same proportions as the US version of lemonade, though it may indeed be popular in some areas. It is a fairly widespread practice to mix lemonade and sweet tea half-and-half. Usually this is not a menu item, but it is commonly ordered by some Southerners. Most experienced wait staff will know exactly what is meant. There is even a variant of Arizona Iced Tea [] sold down here that claims to be half-and-half, endorsed by (and named after) Arnold Palmer []. The Tea in the United States article subsection may need to be adjusted as well, as in the South, a slice of lemon in iced tea is more common than no lemon, and hot tea is rarely served with lemon. I may cut and paste the sentence in the article in question so it applies to tea in general in the US, regardless of temperature. Does anyone think this lemon discussion should be part of the sweet tea article, slimmed down a little? (I have a hard time not being verbose.)--DurtyWilly 03:55, 17 June 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lemon 

message: Being from the South I grew up drinking sweet tea. Actually we had to water it down when I was a kid
because it was made too sweet. Anyway as all southerner's learn sweet tea is limited to the south. Actually from
my travel the "sweet tea line" is probably on the northern border of Tennessee. East is Georgia. West I'm not too sure
but I assume the Mississippi is a starting point. Cracker Barrel does take the sweet tea a little further north than mast restaurants. I actually found some in northern Virgina.
To my original point. To those places in the South that do not serve sweet tea (a crime I believe) and to the rest of
the world. When someone asks for sweet tea and you do not have it and they get unsweet tea, you have to assume they are going to sweeten the tea. There is an art to this and getting it "just right". So PLEASE remember not to come back and give a refill until the glass is empty. Refilling a half full glass of sweet tea with unsweet tea ruins the mixture. jager 18:32, 26 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Improper Sweet Tea and Sweet Tea line. 

message: I would question the objectivity of the statements on the taste of sweeteners. I would suggest that this passage be removed or amended.
*Agreed - this isn't a place for people to state their opinions.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.42.168.216 (talk) 19:54, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sweeteners & objectivity 

message: There is also a Chinese Sweet Tea - an herbal tea which is made from the leaves of Chinese Blackberry (Rubus suavissimus). These leaves contain a natural sweetener, called Rubusoside, which is 200 times as sweet as cane sugar. The tea has long been used to alleviate kidney symptoms, and a recent Japanese study also indicates that it has anti-inflammatory effects and helps against allergies.
Except this is not tea. And has nothing to do with southern sweet tea. And I don't know what chinese people call it but they almost certainly don't use the words "sweet tea" since they're speaking chinese. Why not start a new article about this kidney medicine, rather than jamming it in here? 70.231.227.159 03:14, 9 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I've added a  tag to this section & after I do some more research I'll be back.. 24.124.29.130 08:57, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Chinese Sweet Tea 

message: I'm not an expert on this subject, but my impression is that there's a distinct cultural/culinary phenomenon specific to the American South termed "sweet tea", and that this is distinct from the more general topic of sweetening iced tea with sugar. For example, in Germany and Canada iced tea is almost always served sweet, but that doesn't seem to be what this article is really about... or if it is, then the statement in the intro that sweet tea "enjoys most of its popularity in the Southern United States" isn't correct, because sweetened iced tea is also very popular in other countries. Maybe someone who knows more could clarify whether there's a distinction here. --Delirium 23:32, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  sweet tea versus sweetened iced tea 

message: This article contradicted American Tea Culture's description of how sweet tea is made. That article said it's brewed at double-strength, this article said half-strength. The former is correct (or at least more correct), both in my own experience and by logic: iced tea is substantially diluted by the melting ice, and in a tall glass of iced/sweet tea, half the volume is ice anyway. Making half strength tea to begin with would mean 1/4 strength tea for drinking. Seems unlikely.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.95.50.34 (talk) 07:12, 5 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Contradiction 

message: I removed the "inappropriate tone" tag and replaced it with a more specific one.  Perhaps the content can me condensed and incorporated elsewhere in the article; otherwise, I don't think it's appropriate. Ashleyscripter (talk) 20:26, 20 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Making" section 

message: "Because it is relatively cheap, some restaurants place a pitcher of sweet tea on the table for the entire dinner party to share and keep refilling it for free.[citation needed] Even when served in individual glasses, sweet tea refills are often provided free. While home cooks usually use tea bags to steep the tea, restaurants often make large quantities of sweet tea using large drip brew machines similar to those used for coffee.[citation needed] Restaurants that make their own sweet tea often make a very sweet tea prompting regular customers to ask for "half and half" (half sweet and half unsweetened)."
Most of this seems very much like one person who owns/works at a restaurant telling how they do it rather than a general rule of thumb. I've lived in the south my entire life and travelled to every state in the south, and I've yet to encounter a restaurant that freely brings an entire pitcher of tea to a table. Also, as far as free refills, that's standard policy at every restaurant in America (save for a few extremely upper class places) so I don't think it's worth mentioning. Also, the sweetness varies considerably from restaurant to restaurant, so I don't see how the person who wrote this part can seriously say that all, or at least a majority, of restaurants make tea so noxiously sweet that it has to be watered down. I've never heard of half and half being used to refer to this, and this whole section pretty much seems suspect. As for the tea machines, I've honestly never heard of them. A quick google search revealed that the machines do exist, but I seriously am unsure of whether the existence of these machines actually equates that they're standard in restaurants. If anything, I've found that concentrated tea mixed with water is more common than any sort of drip machine.
I'm going to remove pretty much all of this section of text for the aforementioned reasons. If someone wants it back, discuss it here.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gorovich (talk • contribs) 04:00, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  How to serve 

message: I'm 43 and grew up in Maryland drinking iced tea regularly. I never once heard the term "Sweet Tea" until a few years ago when it became a marketing gimmick of several food establishments and ice tea makers. I tend to think there is a distinction between the two. Perhaps based on stereotypes I have about southern cuisine, my gut tells me sweeten ice tea here is what it sounds like while "Sweet Tea" in the south is completely dominated by the sugar. By our standards, I'm lead to believe southerners greatly overdo the sugar in a lot of foods and drinks which to me ruins them. If I have tea, I want to taste tea–not sugar water. --Psf11 (talk) 22:41, 9 July 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: You CAN taste the the tea in sweet tea, but you can also taste the sugar. What is the point of adding sugar if you can't taste it? Tea without sweetness enhancement has a very noxious taste. "Overdo" is a matter of OPINION. In my opinion, northerners greatly underdo sugar, herbs, and spices. Jkhamlin (talk) 15:59, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

text: I'd say, if you complain about it in a wikipedia article devoted to the very thing, that kinda lends itself towards such thinking. HitodamaKyrie (talk) 09:39, 13 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sweet Tea vs sweetened Iced Tea 

message: I live in the south, and I have NEVER seen sweet tea served with spearmint ANYWHERE, even at McAlister's Deli, which is know for sweet tea being one of their premier products. Using a recipe that includes spearmint is a dubious reference for the statement "Sweet tea is often flavored by spearmint during the summer." In fact, the recipe's description is "A spearmint flavored iced tea for a change." "For a change" would imply that this is not often done.Jkhamlin (talk) 15:52, 16 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Spearmint?

message: While I don't dispute that there may be people out there who add mint to their sun tea, but the defining characteristic of sun tea is how it's brewed by putting the ingredients in a container (water, sugar, tea bags, flavoring if you wish) and setting that out in the sun to allow the sunlight to heat it and allow mixing/steeping.  If any added flavor would warrant mention, it seems it would be a lemon wedge -- mint just isn't remotely universal or common (all I can really offer to back that up is having lived in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia -- I only saw mint sweet tea served in a handful of specialty tea/coffee shops and once at a racetrack in Kentucky).  
Make of that what you will.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.142.178.27 (talk) 03:19, 5 June 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mint in sun tea, also no mention of lemon? 

message: Right now the article cites the oft mentioned origin story of the first printed recipe, 1879 in Virginia.  Then, it goes on about there not being any local sources of black tea.  However, Summerville South Carolina claims itself to be "the birthplace of sweet tea" (https://www.visitsummerville.com/sweet-tea-trail), and was home to the Pinehurst Tea Plantation before that recipe (established 1822 according to its SC historic marker https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/postandcourier.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/27/7274f0c4-cb84-5668-98d9-c6964c61a665/5e41bedab5931.image.jpg).  I believe, other than being the major local source of black tea, that their claim is related to a receipt for ingredients from 1890 (only 11 years after the VA printed recipe):
"a long list of items purchased for a reunion of old soldiers near Summerville in 1890.
Among the provisions of bread, beans, and beef were these specific commodities: 600 pounds of sugar and 880 gallons of iced tea." (https://www.postandcourier.com/news/town-birthed-sweet-tea/article_650bc28a-ddcc-5a8a-9aef-3047fdadc27b.html) Jndrline (talk) 18:00, 14 August 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Origin