Sweet tea

{{short description|Style of iced tea}}

{{other uses|Sweet Tea (disambiguation)}}

Image:Iced Tea from flickr.jpg

Sweet tea, also known as sweet iced tea, is a popular style of iced tea commonly consumed in the United States{{citation |last=Glock |first=Allison |title=Sweet Tea: A Love Story |date=2008-07-01 |url=http://gardenandgun.com/article/sweet-tea |publisher=Garden & Gun}}{{citation |last=Tomlinson |first=Tommy |title=Sweet Tea |url=http://www.ourstate.com/southern-roots-sweet-tea |journal=Our State North Carolina|date=August 2010 }} (especially the South) and Indonesia.

{{Cite web

|title=Indonesians grow sweet on sugarless tea

|url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-trends/Indonesians-grow-sweet-on-sugarless-tea

|website=Nikkei Asian Review |language=en-GB |access-date=2019-08-31

}}

{{Cite web

|title=Enjoy these cheap eats on your mudik through Java

|url=https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2019/05/26/enjoy-these-cheap-eats-on-your-mudik-through-java.html

|website=The Jakarta Post |language=en |access-date=2019-08-31

}}

Sweet tea is most commonly made by adding sugar or simple syrup to black tea while the tea is either brewing or still hot, although artificial sweeteners are also frequently used. Sweet tea is almost always served ice cold. It may sometimes be flavored, most commonly with lemon but also with peach, raspberry, or mint.{{citation |last=Kinsman |first=Kat |title=Southern Sweet Tea |date=2007-06-28 |url=http://www.slashfood.com/2007/06/28/southern-sweet-tea/ |journal=SlashFood |publisher=AOL}} The drink is sometimes tempered with baking soda to reduce its acidity. Although sweet tea may be brewed with a lower sugar and calorie content than most fruit juices and sodas, it is not unusual to find sweet tea with a sugar level as high as 22 degrees Brix, or {{value|22|u=g}} per {{value|100|u=g}} of liquid, a level twice that of Coca-Cola.

{{citation

|title=I Wish I Lived in a Land of Lipton … What makes Southern sweet tea so special?

|url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2007/08/what-makes-southern-sweet-tea-so-special.html

|first=Jeffrey |last=Klineman |date=2007-08-08 |journal=Slate |publisher=The Slate Group

}}

{{cite web

|title=Nutritional information for McDonald's large (32oz) sweet tea

|url=http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/mcdonalds/sweet-tea-large/

|publisher=Live Strong |access-date=6 October 2011

}}

{{cite web

|title=Nutritional information for McDonald's large (32oz) Coca-Cola

|url=http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/mcdonalds/coke-large-32-ounce/

|publisher=Live Strong |access-date=6 October 2011

}}

{{cite web |title=Nutritional information for McDonald's large (21oz) orange juice |url=http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/mcdonalds/large-orange-juice/

|publisher=Live Strong |access-date=6 October 2011

}}

Sweet tea is regarded as an important regional staple in the cuisine of the Southern United States and Indonesia.{{Cite news |url=http://gpbnews.org/post/sweet-tea-history-nectar-south |title=Sweet Tea: A History Of The 'Nectar Of The South' |last=Powers |first=Sean |access-date=2018-07-07 |language=en}} The availability of sweet tea in restaurants and other establishments is popularly used as an indicator to gauge whether an area can be considered part of the South.

{{Cite news

|title=The Sweet Tea Line: The Real Border Between North and South

|url=https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/317-tea-as-a-northsouth-litmus-test

|last=Jacobs |first=Frank |work=Big Think |access-date=2018-07-07}}

{{Cite web

|title=The Science of Sweet Tea: The Science of the South

|url=http://www.scienceofthesouth.com/the-science-of-sweet-tea/

|website=www.scienceofthesouth.com |language=en-US |access-date=2018-07-07}}

{{Cite news

|title=The Sweet Tea Line

|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/sweet-tea-line/

|date=2016-04-01 |work=Texas Monthly |language=en-US |access-date=2018-07-07}}