Unsweet tea

molested_cow

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I've live in the states for 8 years and there's one thing I still don't understand.

"Un"sweet tea.

For those outside of the US, here, there's sweet iced Tea and "unsweet" iced tea. Sweet iced tea doesn't sound abnormal. You just add sugar to iced tea!

However, can you actually "un-sweet" iced tea? Isn't tea not sweet to begin with? Why is the original being called the "de-unoriginal"?

Is this another of those southern things that I am not supposed to understand?
 
We wait for you foreign types to ask questions like this so that we know you are in fact, not from around here. :mrgreen:

Plus, most people here if you just say iced tea will automatically assume it's sweetened. Restaurants are the only places I go that even entertain the thought of tea with no sweetener.
 
Frankly I've never heard of "un"-sweet tea. Must be a southern states expression. There's sweet-tea which is a sweetened (duh) tea with mint leaves.
 
it is a very southern thing, In the south the tea is sweeted as the norm. In other parts of the states it usually is un-sweetned. So, south of the mason-dixi line Northern"s ask for unsweet tea or they will be served the sweet stuff, and i mean it is really sweet.
 
I don't personally know of anywhere around here that serves tea referred to as 'unsweet'. If it just says iced tea, it's not going to be sweet. Bottled tea is another story. Most of that stuff seems to be sickeningly sweet almost, so it will usually actually say 'unsweetened'.
 
If it just says iced tea, it's not going to be sweet.
It's the complete opposite up here. Anytime you order or buy 'iced tea', it's the sweet stuff....it's basically pop/soda that is tea flavored. I found it very off-putting the first few times I ordered it in the US and got cold, un-sweetended tea. Yuk.
 
Well, to me it's not about whether iced tea should be sweet or not sweet. It's the idea that a non-sweet tea is called "un-sweet" tea, like as if they actually extracted the sugar out of sweet tea.

My preference is always half-n-half.
 
Well, to me it's not about whether iced tea should be sweet or not sweet. It's the idea that a non-sweet tea is called "un-sweet" tea, like as if they actually extracted the sugar out of sweet tea.
Well, they would have to do it that way (extract the sugar), since it's not officially iced tea until it has sugar in it. :lmao:

My preference is always half-n-half.
In iced tea? Never tried that ... though I always put it in my hot tea, so it might not be bad... It doesn't sound very good though... :lol:

Why does temperature seem to affect how things taste?

Cold beer - yum. Hot beer - not so much.
 
However, can you actually "un-sweet" iced tea?

You can't. People are too lazy to add the ened on the end os sweet. So you can have unsweetened tea here in the south, as sweetened is the norm. I too prefer half N half....... and the proper iced tea is served with a slice of lemon.
 
Every have smokey tea, such as Lapsang Souchong?

Or green tea with toasted rice and popcorn?

I will throw out there that it is proper to have milk for your tea rather than half-n-half or cream. There is too much fat in that latter two, and it masks subtle flavor components.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymxbKa_r7e0

 
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The prefix "un" when used in conjunction with an adjective means "not" such as unemployed or unfair. When used with a verb it means to reverse such as undo or unfasten.

So "unsweetened tea" = "not sweetened"

In my neck of the woods, there's both sweetened tea and unsweetened tea. People generally ask for a "sweet tea"
 
I have always called it unsweet tea.... I don't know, I'm from south Georgia.... it's just the way it is down here....
 

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