Are you sweet or unsweet?
I only sweetened and add milk to black teas. On rare occasions I may sweeten another type of tea, such as a green or oolong. I can’t imagine adding milk to anything other than a black tea though, yuck.
On occasion I will sweeten a really strong black tea. I like local honey as a sweetner. Local honey is a great way to deal with allergies and tea is good for the body an soul making it a sweet win, win!
…unsweet iced and hot teas unless it’s masala chai with milk. Then I add just a little sugar.
I sweeten almost everything, at least a little bit. It just tastes better to me that way. This may have something to do with the fact that I like my tea strong — I don’t overbrew it, but I sometimes use more than the recommended amount per cup. I usually use one packet of stevia, and maybe a splenda or two if the tea is strong/astringent/bitter. I often add steamed milk to black tea to make a “tea latte.” (With tea that is not black or herbal, I prefer to use Truvia, since it is the only brand of stevia I’ve found that doesn’t make tea cloudy. I like my green and oolong teas clear).
Right now I am drinking TeaGschwendner Orange Blossom Oolong sweetened with one packet of Truvia. That was all it needed to bring out the flavor.
I can tolerate unsweetened tea better if it is iced.
I take mine unsweetened (unless a flavored syrup is used), but I LOVE tea lattes! I find it interesting as a sweet drinker you can tolerate iced tea unsweetened better than hot. Normally if a person drinks their tea sweetened, it’s iced. I personally LOVE unsweetened iced tea- infact if iced tea is the only tea on the menu when I go out to eat I will hardly ever order tea cuz it’s almost always sweetened. Subway is the rare place I’ve found that consistantly has unsweetened tea. Although when I order it I don’t really have an unsweetened tea- I normally add half lemonade for a much less sweetened Arnold Palmer- something I certainly would never order anywhere else due to the teeth rotting sweetness.
I sweeten everything, normally with stevia. I occasionally use flavored stevia in cheap, unflavored black teas (vanilla and english toffee are both very good). I also add almond milk to some blacks and mates, chais, as well as teas that are bitter.
Flavored stevia?! I love stevia, but also love flavored syrups… but not the fact that they have either sugar or artificial sweeteners… where do you get flavored stevia?
I use the Sweetleaf Liquid Flavored Stevia.
Of the flavors I’ve tried:
Chocolate: Okay, not much flavor, normally use in iced coffee
Vanilla Creme: Good, have only tried in tea
English Toffee: Excellent, used in tea, coffee, yogurt, oatmeal
Lemon Drop: Okay, used in fruit flavored teas, tisanes, chamomile
Just trying Stater Bros’ Sucralose sugar substitute in my black tea. Shame that, just like Splenda, it creates this foamy part atop my cup. While I have found these substitutes to be great on cereal and other items, sometimes it misses when I try and use it as the sweetener in my tea.
I never put sugar in my tea, or my coffee. I don’t know why, but in coffee it tends to give me a funny aftertaste and in tea… Why bother? I take milk in black teas usually, mostly because I’m too impatient to wait for them to cool, but I like it black every once in a while. Or when I’m out of milk, which, as a student, is pretty often.
90% of the time i go for unsweetened tea. occasionally, i’ll have a desert tea or chai and i will put a little brown crystal sugar in it. for chai tea, i also add rice milk. overall i try to limit sugar in my diet.
I think tea is meant to be consumed straight up. I prefer to taste of just the tea without the sweeteners or dairy addition. Although i did get a matcha last week at a coffee shop that was sweetened. And it blew my mind. Aside from that i love it simple. And i’m confident it’s better for the body that way.
I’m with you on “better for the body”, but “meant” can be a relative concept. To me how a tea is “meant” to be drank means how it’s served in that particular tea’s culture- everything from pu erh, to sweet tea, to English tea. That being said, I don’t always drink tea how it’s “meant” (in that context anyway" to be drank.
Whether or not I sweeten my tea, and what I sweeten it with depends on the type of tea. For herbal, some green, and flavored black teas, I usually use honey, varying from a tiny amount to a teaspoon, depending on how strong the tea is. For unflavored black, oolong, and jasmine teas, I use sugar (usually 1/2 teaspoon per 8oz, but it can vary based on the strength of the tea).
I go through unsweetened tea periods, and there are a few varieties I prefer unsweetened, but I always come back around to sweetening most of my tea. I find that adding a touch of honey really brings out flavors and adds a soothing note to the tea for me, so I’m especially prone to adding it to an evening cup.
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