A "too sweet" ice tea mystery at my house....Solved!

[1srelluc]

The wife makes it a gallon at a time and we like 1/4 cup of sugar per gallon to knock the edge off....She uses the Lipton 1 gallon bags.

For the past couple of weeks we have been plagued by "too sweet" ice tea.

I thought that maybe it was the sugar but all was well on that front. Then I looked at the Lipton tea bag box.

WTF....It said Sweet Tea! I read the ingredients and it was artificially sweetened in the tea bag!

I did note some aftertaste but I guess the 1/4 cup of sugar added knocked the aftertaste down a bit.

Thing was the boxes looked almost alike.

I had no idea that they sweetened tea in the bag, it never even occurred to me.

Regular:

Sweet Tea bags:

 

[MisterBeale]

Is it sweetened with sugar or that weird gunk like aspartame and sucralose? I don't mind stevia as an artificial sweetener, but those others have this weird plasticy after taste that lingers. A lot of insta-whip pressurized whip creams use the artificial stuff, yuck.

 

[The Duke]

Is it sweetened with sugar or that weird gunk like aspartame and sucralose? I don't mind stevia as an artificial sweetener, but those others have this weird plasticy after taste that lingers. A lot of insta-whip pressurized whip creams use the artificial stuff, yuck.

Sucralose hurts the back of my brain.
Stevia is supposed to be OK.

 

[SweetSue92]

The wife makes it a gallon at a time and we like 1/4 cup of sugar per gallon to knock the edge off....She uses the Lipton 1 gallon bags.

For the past couple of weeks we have been plagued by "too sweet" ice tea.

I thought that maybe it was the sugar but all was well on that front. Then I looked at the Lipton tea bag box.

WTF....It said Sweet Tea! I read the ingredients and it was artificially sweetened in the tea bag!

I did note some aftertaste but I guess the 1/4 cup of sugar added knocked the aftertaste down a bit.

Thing was the boxes looked almost alike.

I had no idea that they sweetened tea in the bag, it never even occurred to me.

Regular:

Sweet Tea bags:

Let me tell you as a Michigander? My first taste of sweet tea, Southern style, about sent me into a diabetic coma and I don't even have diabetes. Ha! That stuff is SWEET like syrup. I get the appeal, I really do, but rather than sweet tea I'll take an Arnold Palmer anytime.

 

[1srelluc]

Let me tell you as a Michigander? My first taste of sweet tea, Southern style, about sent me into a diabetic coma and I don't even have diabetes. Ha! That stuff is SWEET like syrup. I get the appeal, I really do, but rather than sweet tea I'll take an Arnold Palmer anytime.

I never grew-up with "sweet tea", in fact I don't remember ever having tea at all when I was a kid. It was either milk or water.

It's claimed that it started in Virginia but I don't think "Southern sweet tea" was even a thing till you got down towards NC.

The oldest known printed recipe for sweet tea appeared in Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1878) by Marion Cabell Tyree, calling for green tea and sugar. During World War II, green tea supplies were cut off, and black tea from British India became the standard. - Wikipedia.

Until recently, say the last decade or two around here you were served unsweetened tea and you put sugar in it to taste.....I suspect McDonalds got a lot of people hooked on it.

 

[MisterBeale]

Let me tell you as a Michigander? My first taste of sweet tea, Southern style, about sent me into a diabetic coma and I don't even have diabetes. Ha! That stuff is SWEET like syrup. I get the appeal, I really do, but rather than sweet tea I'll take an Arnold Palmer anytime.

Agreed. I just had an Arnold Palmer yesterday. Sweet Tea?

 

[MisterBeale]

Stevia is supposed to be OK.

That's probably because it is natural, sorta like sugar.

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[norwegen]

Big white letters that say ICED TEA or big red letters that say SWEET TEA.

Yea, it's sneaky the way Lipton tries to fool us.

 

[lg325]

Black Pekoe Tea Lipton 1 cup sugar per gallon. Putting the tea bags in small pot of water bring to boil then let sit for 10 minutes than add to gallon of water. Stir to mix sugar in well.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

Let me tell you as a Michigander? My first taste of sweet tea, Southern style, about sent me into a diabetic coma and I don't even have diabetes. Ha! That stuff is SWEET like syrup. I get the appeal, I really do, but rather than sweet tea I'll take an Arnold Palmer anytime.

.

I grew up in the Midwest and my grandma's home always had tea. Hot. In pretty china cups.

I went to Mississippi for a short time. My first meal in a restaurant, I ordered tea, thinking of hot tea in a cup, and I got a big glass of sweet tea. Same response. I learned to drink it but always got the side-eye when I ordered it the way we drink iced tea in South Dakota, unsweetened, with our own desired amount of sugar stirred in.

.

 

[1srelluc]

.

I grew up in the Midwest and my grandma's home always had tea. Hot. In pretty china cups.

I went to Mississippi for a short time. My first meal in a restaurant, I ordered tea, thinking of hot tea in a cup, and I got a big glass of sweet tea. Same response. I learned to drink it but always got the side-eye when I ordered it the way we drink iced tea in South Dakota, unsweetened, with our own desired amount of sugar stirred in.

.

There was a progression here on ice tea....It went from unsweetened, to sweet or unsweetened, to only sweet.

 

[Muhammed]

The wife makes it a gallon at a time and we like 1/4 cup of sugar per gallon to knock the edge off....She uses the Lipton 1 gallon bags.

For the past couple of weeks we have been plagued by "too sweet" ice tea.

I thought that maybe it was the sugar but all was well on that front. Then I looked at the Lipton tea bag box.

WTF....It said Sweet Tea! I read the ingredients and it was artificially sweetened in the tea bag!

I did note some aftertaste but I guess the 1/4 cup of sugar added knocked the aftertaste down a bit.

Thing was the boxes looked almost alike.

I had no idea that they sweetened tea in the bag, it never even occurred to me.

Regular:

Sweet Tea bags:

I've done the same thing. I never even knew they even made pre-sweetened tea bags until I bought a box.

I knew the first sip because I never put sugar in my tea. I just put lime and lemon in it.

I put two of those gallon size tea bags in a half gallon mason jar and fill it with hot water to make what is basically a quadruple strength tea concentrate.

I pour about 4 ounces of the tea concentrate into a 32 oz. mason jar. Squeeze the juice from 1 lime and a twist of lemon in there. Then fill it up with carbonated water and plenty of ice.

That's some refreshing stuff. The lime gives it a nice kick.