Sweet tea - Definition

Sweet tea is a form of iced tea in which sugar or some other form of sweetener is added to the hot water either before or while brewing the tea. It is a staple beverage in the U.S. Southern states; most family-style restaurants in the region offer the customer a choice of sweet tea or unsweetend (sometimes referred to as "unsweet") iced tea. Unsweetened tea is considered to be regular tea throughout the rest of the United States.

In other parts of the United States, displaced Southerners and others who want to sweeten their iced tea may need to dissolve sugar in the already cold tea themselves, a difficult proposition.

See also: grits, Southern US cuisine, United States Regional Cuisine.