fake iced tea
 

Am I the only one who can't stand the iced tea being served in some restaurants now that comes out of the soda fountain instaed of being fresh brewed? It does not taste right. If I want iced tea, I want it brewed.

I kinda like brisk but nothing beats the fresh brewed sweet tea

Resteraunts down here make it fresh even chain places like

Sonny's,My own mcdonalds I worked at, Local places, etc...

Gotta love the south.. I love sweet tea. but it depends on where its from and who made it

QuikTrip brews sweet and unsweet tea, but the sweet tea is raspberry of something fruity, not just sugared tea and I about gagged the first time I tried it. Most fast food places locally have the non-brewed tea now but they go to great pains to make it look like it comes out of a normal tea brewer...it's not dispensed out of the soda fountain like the other flavors.

one day I was bored and made sun tea while at work... man were those customers happy... I only did it once or twice..

I feel the same way about lemonade.

I appreciate the effort on the part of Chik Fil A to make "real" lemonade complete with pulp as opposed to fountain lemonade, which is all everyone else serves...

I like the lemonade stands at the fairs and stuff.. Half a lemon, some sugar, ice, and water.. thats all you need. Toss the lemon in the cup as well

I heard somewhere that sun tea may be dangerous to drink because the water never gets hot enough to kill any bacteria that may be present, although I've had my share of it and it beats brewed tea or instant tea.

Restaurants can get Lemonade from Minutemaid in frozen concentrate 1/2 gallon cartons. It has pulp, and a good bite to it too. No comparison to the powdered stuff some places serve.
Iced tea can vary from restaurant to restaurant too. They generally all have the same brewer, but can buy different size packages of tea. Those who don't pinch the penny until Lincoln screams, will buy the larger packages (usually Orange Pekoe). About a gallon of it is actually brewed, and this concentrated tea is then watered down with tap water by the machine itself. This makes the tea more palateble, and also cools the hot tea down a bit, so you don't melt all of your ice right away. Brew time is usually around 12 mins. for 3 gallons, if I recall correctly.

BIB (Bag in Box) "tea" just seems revolting to me, but vendors like it because there is nothing to clean except for the fountain head (hopefully they do this).

Fountain tea tastes "off" to me, and I get what I can only describe as a greasy aftertaste. YUCK!!!
I don't necessarily mind canned Lipton, but it's a sweetened concoction that not really tea in any meaningful sense.

I can attest to this. Whenever I go out to a restaurant (if I'm not ordering a beer), I get unsweetened iced tea. High-Fructose Corn Syrup has been known to cause Type II diabetes due to the body's inability to process it as a sugar, and quite frankly I don't want to drink the stuff. Aside from the fact that it tastes too... well, syrupy.

Anyway, a lot of restaurants have been dispensing Nestea "fresh brewed" out of the giant kettle-fountain. It isn't exactly bad.. but it's not quite as good as fresh brewed. Luckily my local diner still makes theirs fresh, which is good since I don't like to put any sugar in it anyway. A proper cup of fresh brewed iced tea has a certain natural sweetness to it, in my opinion.

i love iced tea! i literally drink about 3 gallons a weak, most of the time, i just boil 2 tea kettles of water and put it ina 1 gallon jug, i then add about 8-11 tea bags. Keep it in the fridge and just drink with ice and add lemon to taste! i never add sugar i think that the lemon makes it perfect!

I am one of the few that likes it unsweetened and strong. Looks like used motor oil. :eek: I can't stand the "prefab" stuff that some of the fast food places are serving now. That's one of the reasons I drink tea, to avoid the sugar. Also, half the time when I order unsweet tea, I get sweetened instead. I always check it before leaving the drive-through window.

I think most restaurants want you to believe they brew it. In reality, they buy tea flavor concentrate in a liquid form. I believe 6 ounces of the stuff makes a few gallons of "brewed ice tea". Tastes just like it too.

Iced tea can = kidney stones
 

FWIW, I like iced tea alot but have stopped drinking it...used to drink gallons. One of the top urologists at the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania and another independent urologist both told me it is one of the major causes of kidney stones.

If you have had kidney stones you know why I heeded their advice to stop drinking iced tea!

Oaxalic acid causes kidney stones too. Where do you find that? Why in Popeye's favorite green leafy vegetable - Spinach! (maybe it's a kidney stone that is making him squint).

As with most things, moderation is usually the key. Drinking plain old water still hasn't gone out of style. Caffeine withdrawal from coffee or tea, however, is not stylish at all, and usually gives me a headache.