# McDonald's sweet tea **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2019, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-sweet-tea/834900 "2019-06-01T23:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-sweet-tea/834900/21 "2019-06-05T11:35:16Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > I never have lived in the South, but during visits to my grandmother (who spent most of her life in NC and GA) I did develop a taste for sweet tea. > > Until fairly recently it was unavailable where I lived, except in self-consciously “Southern” restaurants (we didn;t have many). Then McDonald’s introduced it to their menu, and it made for a nice occasional treat. We have sweet tea at McDonald’s in Michigan now, too, and somehow it’s become the default when ordering iced tea. This is frustrating, because Michigan is not a sweet tea state, and having to remember to specify “unsweetened” sucks. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-sweet-tea/834900/22 "2019-06-05T12:39:45Z")
I’m glad sweet tea is an option. I think it’s healthier than soda. Especially when the sugar is cut by ordering half-n-half. Can’t do that with Soda and these days even diet Coke is blamed for diabetes. My soda consumption has been slashed by 70% since restaurants started offering sweet tea. ---
**Author:** ![slalexan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@slalexan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slalexan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-sweet-tea/834900/23 "2019-06-05T15:02:45Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > A place as busy a MickeyDs probably make Tea several times a day in the summer. That metal server needs cleaning frequently. I’m sure, just like the milkshake machine, it doesn’t happen often enough. IMHO. The McDonalds’ around us seem to have a system where they line the server, though the spout, with a single use bag. That seems to keep the tea servers clean. However, they do NOT do the same for the ice or the pop. One time, my pop was served to me in the drive thru with the fountain nozzle in it. I think we should all probably stop going to McDonald’s. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-sweet-tea/834900/24 "2019-06-05T15:23:56Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Ridiculously sweet is the whole point of sweet tea (can’t stand it myself). A quick google shows recipes with 1-2 cups of sugar per gallon of water. Yeah , “sweet tea” isn’t like the stuff you get from Pure Leaf or Lipton in the bottle with lemon and sugar "Sweet tea " is much, much sweeter than those ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-sweet-tea/834900/25 "2019-06-05T15:51:44Z")
As a displaced Southerner, I urge you to abandon McDonald’s and trot over to Chick-fil-A. Much better tea. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-sweet-tea/834900/26 "2019-06-05T21:34:32Z")
It might also be too old. I can usually tell if tea has been sitting for a while. That’s why unsweet tea is a crapshoot, in the type of restaurant where you pour it yourself - since it’s not as popular as sweet tea, the container doesn’t empty as quickly. I used to be a connoisseur of “the house wine of the South”. But I’ve switched to half-and-half, because sweet tea, as I understand, is just as bad for you as sodas. Sorry, **aceplace57**. ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-sweet-tea/834900/27 "2019-06-07T14:32:42Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Yes, sweet tea is generally served with a ton and a half of ice. I rememebr one place in New England that put up a sign next to the dispenser: “Sweet tea is supposed to be drunk with at least half a cup of ice.” Guess their clientele had no experience with the idea of sweet tea, poured it in without ice, and then complained. And rightly so. Sweet tea is not the nicest stuff in the world when it isn’t cold. > > **burpo** –Another pleasant possibility. Perhaps I will give up McDonalds. Or fast food. Or restaurants in general. > Or maybe eating and drinking altogether. > better safe than sorry… even at Southern-themed restaurants, for some reason sweet tea needs more ice to taste cold ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-sweet-tea/834900/28 "2019-06-08T01:29:35Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > It might also be too old. I can usually tell if tea has been sitting for a while. That’s why unsweet tea is a crapshoot, in the type of restaurant where you pour it yourself - since it’s not as popular as sweet tea, the container doesn’t empty as quickly. > > I used to be a connoisseur of “the house wine of the South”. But I’ve switched to half-and-half, because sweet tea, as I understand, is just as bad for you as sodas. Sorry, **aceplace57**. I’m a Texan, so I drink my tea unsweetened\*, and old tea is my guess for what’s plaguing the OP. If it’s not made relatively fresh (today, at least), it’s not going to be great. I might keep a pitcher of tea at home for a day and a half, but after that we need some new tea. A fast food restaurant isn’t necessarily going to go through their 5 gallons in a day, and if they don’t have a schedule to replace the tea on (or they miss it for whatever reason), it’s going to be pretty bad. \*You can drink so much when it’s hot here, you’d intake 2500 calories a day if it were sweet tea. I don’t know why, but Mexican restaurants have _the best_ iced tea here. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-sweet-tea/834900/29 "2019-06-08T01:38:06Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > As a displaced Southerner, I urge you to abandon McDonald’s and trot over to Chick-fil-A. Much better tea. CfA has displaced McD’s in my book. Check [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMkOyknMXJg) out for a chuckle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonalds-sweet-tea/834900.md?page=1)