To all the southern boys......

hondabbq

What is the difference between iced tea and sweet tea?

I have read a few web pages and I get conflicting stories. I need this right from the horses mouth.

Jeremiah

Roughly the difference between bud light and real beer. 

Dyal_SC

In the south, iced tea is the same as sweet tea unless you ask for unsweetened.    

Toxarch

The difference is sugar. Iced tea has no sugar. Sweet tea is best when the sugar is added when the tea is brewing or just after so the sugar is dissolved properly. 

henapple

I'm from Tennessee. Iced tea is something you won't hear from old southerners. As a matter of fact you won't hear unsweetened tea. Southern sweet tea is judged by how long a spoon can stand up in the glass.  
As corny as it sounds, I grew up as a kid drinking sweet tea, shucking corn, snapping beans or shelling peas on the back porch during the summer. Looking back it wasn't all that bad. 

Dobie

Iced tea can be sweetened or unsweetened. Im in the deep south and unsweetened tea is just dirty water. The pure cane sugar must be added to the tea when first brewed and warm enough to dissolve it then chilled or served over ice. Anythng else just ain't proper. 

Carolina Q

Sure, I heard of grits. I just never actually SEEN a grit before.

caliking

Iced tea is tea with a little sugar in it. Sweet tea is sugar with a little tea in it. 

Dobie

Carolina Q said:

Sure, I heard of grits. I just never actually SEEN a grit before.

Ever seen a cream of wheat? 

DaveRichardson

I'm native Atlanta. Sweet tea courses thru my veins to the point that mosquitoes get a sugar high when they get me. 

There re is no other tea in the south other than sweet tea. Anything else is carpet bagging Yankee filth. 

All kidding aside, grits are not in my wheelhouse. We had them regularly, but something that looked like wet concrete didn't appeal to me. Anyway, grit is for sandpaper!!

Carolina Q

Dobie said:

Carolina Q said:

Sure, I heard of grits. I just never actually SEEN a grit before.

Ever seen a cream of wheat? 

Umm, it was a joke. A line from My Cousin Vinny.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWC0sKCS5oA

But since you mentioned it, cream of wheat is one of the few "food" items I can think of that's worse than grits.

NPHuskerFL

Dobie said:

Carolina Q said:

Sure, I heard of grits. I just never actually SEEN a grit before.

Ever seen a cream of wheat? 

Chris, they are totally different from each other. I still like homemade Cream of Wheat or Porridge.  Coming from Nebraska the very first time I had grits here I threw sugar on them. The server about came unglued. Fast forward...now being here over half my life I love grits just about anyway they are dished up. But, don't try to give me instant grits  
I still like unsweetened or Southern Sweet Tea. But, I agree unless you specify unsweetened you are getting sweet.  We visited Nebraska a while back and asked for sweet Tea and the server politely said we have sugar at the table if you like  

SGH

henapple said:

Iced tea is something you won't hear from old southerners. As a matter of fact you won't hear unsweetened tea. Southern sweet tea is judged by how long a spoon can stand up in the glass.  

This^^^^^^. I was in my 20's before I even heard some nibbler ask for unsweetened tea. I thought it was a joke at first. Hell I didn't even know it existed at the time. 

Dobie

Oh I know where the movie reference came from and know the difference in cream of wheat and grits. I also know there aint no self repectin' southerner eatin grits with sugar or drinkin tea without it. 

northGAcock

I'm having some of these with my sweet tea!

NPHuskerFL

@Dobie Don't bust my chops buddy.  

Dobie

NPHuskerFL said:

@Dobie Don't bust my chops buddy.  

You're forgiven, you weren't born here 

nolaegghead

one has ice and the other sugar.  Hell, I don't know.  I'm not originally from the south.

henapple

Makes me want to do a rebel yell.... Oops, that's illegal. 

northGAcock

henapple said:

Makes me want to do a rebel yell.... Oops, that's illegal. 

Tell me about it. I have confederate jasmin growing on my fence. I have no idea what to call it now.

Botch

Grew up with some sugar in my tea, I'm not from the south unless "South" Dakota counts.
I got badly dehydrated at boot camp in Sacramento CA, was told to drink more, and started doing 6 glasses of Coke with every meal.  Got sicker'n a dog, started drinking water, and ever since I've shunned refined sugar, just sprinkle a very light amount on fish for browning during a saute.  

NPHuskerFL

News crew right by my house. I hope they weren't hassling this vendor. He's been selling flags here LONG BEFORE the media blew the issue out of proportion. I'm DVRing the news just to see what the black gentleman being interviewed had to say. Who knows maybe he was buying a flag. @henapple Full On Rebel Yell!

https://youtu.be/VdphvuyaV_I

https://youtu.be/7mGAesLYlF8

JohnnyTarheel

Down here it is understood that tea is sweet unless you ask for it differently.... End of story

Dobie

@NPHuskerFL I knew I could count on you for that Billy Idol video 

NPHuskerFL

Still have the vinyl somewhere in the house @Dobie  

henapple

I'm offended...... Everyone else is. 

bgebrent

There's more than sweet tea???

NPHuskerFL

I agree Tony @henapple Lots of big feelings these days. 

https://youtu.be/cxhwM06lLUs

Firemanyz

On a side note not to high jack the thread but a few years back we took an RV trip to Jacksonville to watch Maryland in the gator bowl. We made it to Savannah for last call and had a great night. When we got moving the next day we went to a bob Evans or Cracker Barrel (can't remember which one it was) for breakfast I tried to order scrapple. I was way hung over and needed something good to straighten me up. Waitress looked at me and said "I'm not sure what you are talking about but we don't have that".  I looked at her and said stop fu##ing with me I just want some scrapple. Then one of my friends looked at me and said they don't know about scrapple here. So I had to apologize and order bacon. I then told that below NC scrapple is an unknown thing to them. Man they just don't know what they are missing. 

Carolina Q

But this really has nothing to do with sweet tea.

They still make this stuff? Serious question, I haven't been it in nearly 50 years.

bo31210

Dyal_SC said:

In the south, iced tea is the same as sweet tea unless you ask for unsweetened.    

And when you ask for it unsweetened we ask when are you going home back north (or to Florida).