Quest for Sweet Tea

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This mild rant isn’t tough enough to stand up in the Pit so please bear with an upset chick for just a few moments please.

This is about my “Quest for Sweet Tea.”

Lately, McDonald’s has been advertising sweet tea - $1 for an extra large container - on TV and on billboards all over the metro ATL area.

There’s a McD’s a few blocks away from me. The need for instant gratification is what pushed me out of bed at about midnight (making sweet tea takes a few more minutes than I wanted to invest). I got up, put on my long coat to cover my nightclothes, and grabbed my purse.

The drive-through was busier than I anticipated. I waited patiently in line and finally made it to the order board.

“Two sweet teas with lemon please.”
“I’m sorry ma’am, we’re out of sweet tea. Would you like an apple pie?”
(Mild annoyance at being offered something I didn’t want after being told that the beverage I did want was not available)
“No thank you. Good night.”

I deftly pulled out of the lane and decided to drive to the 24 hour McD’s inside the local Walmart. The parking lot was much busier than I anticipated. Because of my attire (long green coat - pink P.J bottoms and blue sneaks), I wanted to park as close to the front door as possible, run in, grab my delicious beverage and sail on home. Alas, this was not to be.

I finally parked about 20 cars back from the entrance and many, many late night shoppers were treated to the sight of Jali, sans makeup, earrings or style. I quietly made my way to the McD’s and took a place in line. The blindingly bright overhead lights felt like a spotlight on my obvious fashionless look. (I expect to find my photo in a magazine, black line covering my eyes, in the fashion ‘don’t’ column sometime in the near future.)

I stood in line, eyes straight ahead and inched forward. (Finally, my turn - my turn!)

“Two large sweet teas with lemon please.”
“I’m sorry ma’am, we’re out of sweet tea. Would you like to order something else?”
“Will you be making more?”
Cashier decides to yell to the back, “Are we making any more sweet tea?”
Response from back, “No!”

I marched to my car - I will have sweet tea and I will have it tonight!

SR85 in Riverdale Georgia is a fast food lover’s paradise. There might be 20 spots in a 4 or 5 block length of the road.

I pulled into the Taco Bell drive-through (I’ve had sweet tea there before) and again waited patiently in line. I placed my order for 3 sweet teas, added a chicken rice bowl, was given my total and asked to drive around.

At the window the manager stepped up to speak with me. “Ma’am, I’m sorry, we’re out of sweet tea. Would you like something else with your rice bowl?”
“Please cancel the rice bowl, what I really wanted was the tea.”

I pulled out of the line a tad faster than my normal habit and had to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting a police car. The officer didn’t seem to notice and continued on his merry way.(Thank god, thank god)

I calmed myself and continued on my less than merry way to the next open restaurant.

I repeated the drive through formula (despite my lack of success all night) and pulled up to the window.

“I’m sorry ma’am…”

(Jali screaming ,“aaaarggh” inside while outside maintaining weak smile.)

“…we don’t have lemon. Would you like a splash of lemonade in your sweet tea?”

Finally.

2

Um, what is “sweet tea”? Is it what most Canadians just call “iced tea”?

3

It depends on how much sugar is in Canadian iced tea. I just got back from South Carolina and every time I ordered iced tea with no sugar, I get looked at like I’m from some other planet.

4

Here is your salvation, jali.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AO4CJQ/qid=1144678263/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-9607823-9818313?_encoding=UTF8&s=kitchen&v=glance&n=284507

Merely name your first-born after me, & we’ll call it square. :cool:

5

I got the same reaction when I was in the South. The first time I ordered iced tea down there, I gagged. Horrible stuff. Make mine with no sugar, no lemon.

6

In addition to ordering the abomination, you also ordered it wrong. It’s “unsweet tea”. You’d have gotten less of a funny look.

7

Most iced tea in Canada is really sweet - the odd place does it the British way, which is non-sweetened.

(At least I assume it’s the British way as it happened the most often in Victoria, and with old British ladies). :slight_smile:

8

We always have sweet Tea available here in the North…

You see, one orders an iced tea and puts sugar in it.

We’re pretty practical like that.

9

It’s only iced tea if it has ice in it. Some people prefer it cold without ice. Around here (TN), it’s just tea. The other kind of tea that you drink hot in a cup (which I also love), is “Hot Tea”.

Tea, both hot and cold, is the only beverage for me. I currently have in my fridge, a gallon jug of regular sweet tea, a smaller jug of cold green tea, a 1qt. jug of peach flavored sweet tea. And in my cabinet I have 30 flavors of hot tea.

10

No, no, no. Iced tea that has sweetener added after brewing is a whole 'nother sack of cats to sweet tea that has been brewed with the sugar added from the beginning. It’s like the tea harmonizes with the sugar or something, and really gives it a different taste – fuller, almost. I have friends who have worked in restaurant kitchens in the South, and they’ve backed me up on the necessity to add the sugar during brewing, rather than after. And when you’re making it in large batches, the ratio is a pound of granulated sugar to one gallon of liquid.

Kind of like hummingbird food, but refreshing on a hot day.

11

The whole Southern Sweet Tea thing is somewhat of a myth. Many Southerners like it without, or will put sugar in it if they want it, no problem. If you get pre-sweetened tea, there’s a good chance it’s instant. I’ve lived in the South my whole life (I live in the Occupied South now), and IME about the only places that give you sweet tea without asking are dives.

12

Sorry you had such problems, jali. It is a little more expensive, but I recommend going to Chick-Fil-A (which is probably where you ended up). For my money, you can’t beat their sweet tea anywhere. Yummy.

Then again, you want Sweet Tea with <shudder> lemon in it. As far as I konw, Chick-Fil-A doesn’t have that. So I guess I’m not really much help after all when it comes to this dilemma.

13

Great, now I want sweet tea, and my problems are a lot bigger than finding a place that hasn’t run out.

Wonder if I can remember how I used to make it…

14

It’s not really that it harmonizes or anything, it’s just damn hard to get the sugar to dissolve in cold water. Generally my recipe is like this:

1.) Boil 1 qt. water
2.) Remove from heat, and add teabags (enough for 1 gallon), steep for 1-2 minutes
3.) Dissolve sugar in hot water
4.) Fill a gallon container with ice
5.) Pour the hot, super-concentrated sugar/tea syrup over ice
6.) Fill the rest of the container with cold water