The taste is just plain dreadful. Not only is it bitter, the whole “sweet” part doesn’t even taste like the usual sweet you think of. Like lemonade, yes it is perfectly sweet. Soda beverages, THAT’S sweet. But TEA, awful. And it’s like no matter how many sweetener packets you put in it, it doesn’t at all help. It’s one of those drinks where you might give it another chance if it’s available thinking it might be better but it always lets you down.
Sweet tea is awful, but your reasoning is wrong. Proper sweet tea can give you second hand diabetes being at the same table as someone drinking it. There’s nothing remotely bitter about sweet tea.
try unsweet cold brew tea. that’s the bomb! And if your tea is bitter, as others have said, your water is too hot.
If the tea is bitter you’re using water that is either too hot or too hard, or both, or you’re using over oxidized tea leaves.
Sweet tea (at least in America) is generally made with black tea, which is made by oxidizing dried tea leaves. The level of oxidation is (in part) what determines the quality of the black tea. Some brands (like Lipton) use the lowest graded tea leaves they can get because it’s cheaper. Which leads to more bitterness and off flavors.
All that said, I generally agree with you that sweet tea is awful. Though I’d go a step (or several) further and say that adding either sugar or milk to tea should be a crime punishable by being drowned in the disgusting swill you made.
If you’re using “sweetener packets”, you’re not drinking sweet tea.
If you’re talking about northern restaurant iced tea, yeah, it’s awful. Have you ever tried to reheat hot black tea gone room temperature in the microwave? Refrigerate that horror show and you’ll have northern restaurant iced tea.
To make it worse, some people try to mix granulated sugar into this iced cold mess, where it doesn’t dissolve, but sinks to the bottom of the glass instead.
OP is right, this is garbage. But OP likely hasn’t had real sweet tea. It’s brewed such that the bitter, tannin taste isn’t there. The sugar is added when it’s still hot.
This. Real sweet tea is like if caramel and diabetes had a baby and tea was just the midwife. It’s not really tea in any sense except the academic, but when you want it you want it, and it’s definitely sweet.
That was part of my confusion until I read about the sugar packets. Sweet tea tastes mostly of sugar, garnished with tea.
Carmel and diabetes and a wet forest floor.
Carmel
Isn’t that where Clint Eastwood was mayor?
Curses!
Unpopular? Depends on where you’re saying this.
And my friend, by mentioning sweetener packets, you’re drinking the wrong sweet tea. Come on out to a BBQ restaurant in the American south where they brew it with actual sugar as part of the process. Ranges from a pleasant beverage to making your teeth hurt.
Unsweetened iced tea fan here. There’s a time and place for the sweet stuff, but it can be good. Generally speaking it errs on too sweet though.
Yeah, sweetener packets is not the way. The sugar needs to be dissolved in while the tea is still warm. It can’t become the right sweetness otherwise, sugar just falls out of solution
Water + sugar + bunches of Lipton + a sealed jar in the summer sun
fuck Lipton, go with a proper loose leaf black tea please, not some brown mystery powder
Lipton is just what I see on most commercial tea spigots
Sweetener packets?? Sweet tea needs the sugar added before it is iced, its grade school science.
no matter how many sweetener packets you put in it
Ok, legit question: does unpopular opinion allow straight up trolling?
Unsweetened iced tea FTW!
Use lemonade to sweeten! Arnold Palmer for the win!
Since I can’t do the sugar intake anymore I make a gallon of unsweet and drink half with artificial sweeteners then add a lemonade packet and refill the pitcher to full. This gives me a little variety.
If your sweet tea is bitter you doing something wrong son.
If it isn’t sweet to you, you’re making it wrong. As some of the other commenters have said, assuming you’re talking about Southern style sweet tea, the stuff uses so much sugar that it will not dissolve unless it’s added while the water is still hot, like 1 or 2 cups of sugar per gallon of tea was what my family used growing up, but some places will literally cram in double the sugar content of coca cola from what I’ve heard. Sweetener packets just ain’t gonna cut it.
That being said, while I grew up with and love the stuff (though try to drink it only occationally and make it with sucralose now, because it’s a truly ridiculous amount of sugar to consume as one’s main beverage), I think you’ll find your view less unpopular than you think, except among Americans (especially southerners). I remember being surprised to learn growing up from some foreign classmates that it’s considered something of an acquired taste, if you didn’t grow up with it, there’s a pretty decent chance you won’t like it, to my understanding.
so much sugar that it will not dissolve unless it’s added while the water is still hot, like 1 or 2 cups of sugar per gallon of tea
You can dissolve about 2 cups of sugar in into one cup of boiling water.
I suppose you’re talking about some American abomination and not like turkish tea or peppermint or rosehip tea with sugar added?
It is American, yes, but it’s not an abomination. You just brew tea (typically a black tea), add sugar, chill, and serve over ice. It makes a lot more sense than hot tea when you live in a warm climate.
Thanks! I guess we’d just call that ice tea then. We have all of that available as well, including the Asian variants, modern bubble tea or cold brew, iced coffee… But I don’t think they’re that big here. It’d be one of the countless options next to ice tea peach/lemon, juice mixed with sparkling water, lemonade or nice things closer to a non-alcoholic cocktail.
It was also a status symbol in the old South, as tea, sugar, and ice were all pretty expensive at the time.
I mean, pretty much any treat or luxury would be, yeah.
It is absolutely a disgusting abomination.
Different teas have different brewing temperatures below boiling, and if you’re brewing too hot it’s going to be bitter. Even better is a nice jug of sun tea!
Probably needs more sugar.
Bitter sounds like hard water is altering the pH and pulling more tannins. Cleaner water, like RO water, will pull the flavonoids and fewer bitter tannins.
Second, the water needs to rest for a bit after boiling. 80C/180F is a good temp to pull maximum flavor with minimal tannins. This will again reduce the bitterness of the tea.
An easy alternative approach to tea making that will remove most bitterness is to cold brew the tea in water overnight, separate leaves and tea, and then slow heat the tea. It will have virtually none of the bitterness while keeping the flavor.
Pour the nearly boiling tea over sugar and ice cubes - clean water and slow freezing makes clear ice that leaves no flavor or residue in the tea. The sugar will melt but may require some additional stirring until thoroughly melted. Use more sugar than you might think, like 200g for each liter of tea.
Real sweet tea is a treat, like drinking candied tea.
Gotta agree OP. Others latched onto the packet thing but…honestly it is an awful beverage. I grew up drinking it, steeping it, making it as sun tea. I know how it tastes when made correctly. It’s still not a good drink.
