At a Waffle House, I recently had a debate with an employee, and it’s something that has been bothering me for a long time now.
Why is it that “sweet tea” is not the same thing as adding sugar to tea? I know it’s not some mystical heating of sugar or anything that makes the difference, and I know that you can dissolve more sugar in the tea when it’s hot. Why does it not recrystallize out when it cools, though? Has all of my chemistry knowledge betrayed me?
Is ‘sweet tea’ actually iced tea which is sweetened with sugar while it’s being made?
I’ve never heard of it before.
You are correct.
It’s a Southern term.
I’m not a physicist/chemist, but …
chaoticdonkey, as you seem to suspect, sweet tea (brewed hot, then iced) contains more sugar than it “should”. This is a “supersaturated” solution, and means the solute (sugar) could easily precipitate. I believe if the tea were to stand for a while (a day or more?), the sugar would re-crystallize (assuming not much ice; the extra water would allow more sugar to dissolve/stay dissolved). I’d expect that to happen more quickly with any kind of rough surface (e.g. tea bag string) or foreign particle in the glass.
Incidentally, this is how you (can) make rock candy: Supersaturate water with sugar, then let a string or stick stand in it for a few days.
While most “sweet tea” available in restaurants around here is too sweet for my tastes, I don’t think it’s supersaturated. That would make for very sweet, syrupy tea.
The main difference in my experience is that if you get unsweeted ice tea, then try to dissolve crystal sugar into it, the sugar just doesn’t want to dissolve very well, and you end up with a big pile of undissolved sugar on the bottom of the glass unless you sit there and stir if for five minutes.
:smack: “unsweetened”
Definitely a southern thing. It seems like they have some weird, big brand there called “Rose” or something instead of good, reliable “Lipton.” In any case, after having been stationed in Georgia, I’d taken a temporary liking to that sweet tea stuff (can’t bear it now ::shudder::).
Adding sugar to iced tea doesn’t work. The sugar crystals just don’t dissolve into the iced tea. They sink right to the bottom.
If you put the sugar in while it’s hot, though, it dissolves effortlessly and stays in suspension.
I’m convinced that it’s not a matter of supersaturation, though. Were it, then as soon as you shocked the supersaturated cold tea, the sugar would fall right out of suspension. I think it’s quite simply the effort required to dissolve the sugar in the first place. I mean, aside from comfort, why do you wash your hands with warm to hot water? It just plain works better as a solvent.
Okay, this troubles me now – why does warm water work better as a solvent? It’s not a matter of melting the sugar; its melting point is significantly higher than boiling water’s. Does warm anything work better as a solvent (given that any particular anything is a solvent to begin with, that is)?
Because warm water has more energy which would result in the weak intermolecular forces holding the sucrose molocules together being able to resist less than with colder water.
(brain on standby today as I’m trying to leave the office!)
Try as I might, I’ve never been able to duplicate perfect restaurant-style Southern sweet tea at home. But go to Sonny’s All-You-Can-Eat Barbecue, and there’s nothing like washing your meal down with sweet tea.
Aha! So I’m right, and the uneducated Waffle House lackey is wrong! That’s all that I needed to hear. 
Sweet tea is our litmus test down here. If you don’t know what it is, how it is made, or don’t order it at a restaurant, then we (native southerners) regard suspicously – Sherman left a very bad taste in our mouths. Then we move onto the advanced exam; grits.
-rainy
BTW the ratio is about 3/4 cup of sugar to a 1/2 gallon of tea (when made and the water is still warm) if you like it on the really sweet side. Oh, and though freshly made tea (I’m southern, we don’t have to specifiy ‘sweet’ when talking tea because it ain’t a beverage without the sugar) is good, it is the best after it sits in the fridge overnight.
I have never made non-instant grits. I’m sorry. I’m not a true Southerner. :o
It doesn’t recrystalize because water can hold a lot of sugar. A lot. But it dissolves very slowly in cold water. You could make sweet tea by starting with ice-cold unsweetened tea and adding the appropriate amount of sugar. It would dissolve eventually. But you’d tire yourself out trying to stir it in.
Mental Note:
chaoticdonkey is a heritic. Burn at stake ASAP! 
My own secret heresy: I am a true born, bred and baptized in grits southerner. I don’t like sweet tea. Please don’t tell on me!
Lipton? Them’s hangin’ words.
It’s gotta be Luzianne or nothing.
I’m sorry, swampy, but I’m not the household grits purchaser. I make what I have (although it’s usually oatmeal, because I like it better.) I hope this doesn’t exclude me from the very selective snerk swampbear harem.
How does something so sweet quench one’s thirst? At least in my personal experience, anything sweeter than watered-down Gatorade just makes me desperately want water or something. (This is, of course, assuming you want to drink it as a drink, with a meal or whatnot; not simply for the sake of a drink).
And this Yankee thinks that grits are possibly the worst substance to masquarade as food. Ever.
I worked in California for a few months last year and on the way home (Houston) I stopped at a restaraunt in San Antonio I ordered “tea” and she asked me “sweet or unsweet”, it was good to be home!.
Unclviny
Note: Add NinjaChick to the “To Be Burned” list.
Sweet tea is wonderful on a hot summer day, and grits go with everything! I loves me some grits. I keep a container in the cupboard at all times. My wife thinks they’re gross, but what does she know…she’s from Boston.
If rainy’s mix is right, then it’s nowhere even close to being a supersaturated solution. If you boil water, add all the sugar you can dissolve, then raise it to the new boiling point and repeat, you can get massive amounts of sugar dissolved in the water. It’s absolutely undrinkable at that point.
In the process of experimenting with this in a microwave oven, I discovered that the boiling point of supersaturated sugar water is higher than the melting point of a styrofoam cup. Yech!
Personally, I prefer my tea unsweetened…