How I became a heretic (in the way of tea)

You should know that I live in the south.
I've lived in the south all of my life.
I have generations of family from the south.
No disputing this.

You may also know that being a southerner has certain connotations.
Nestled among them is the love of iced tea. Specifically, sweet tea. ("What other kind of tea is there?" is often asked)


I used to drink sweet tea.
It used to be my beverage of choice. Always. It was right up there with water.
I never really liked soda, but sweet tea? Wonderful stuff!

A few years ago something happened.
A chain of events led to my discontinuation of ingesting that sugary beverage.
My dad, who used to be the biggest sweet tea drinker I knew, decided to switch over to unsweet tea.
I couldn't understand this radical change in behavior.
When I'd accidentaly grab his unsweet tea pitcher from the fridge and pour myself a glass, I'd gag at the grossness of the flavorless tea.

I still drank sweet tea, despite what my parents were doing.

Then a year or so later, I got a job at a quick-service restaurant that had (and still has) quite the fan club: Chick-fil-a.
If you're from anywhere but the eastern US, you might not know what this restaurant is.
Basically it serves fried chicken sandwiches, waffle fries, and the like. It's good stuff (if you didn't eat it to ad nauseum like I did...but every so often the CFA mood hits.)

One of the perks of working there was the infinite drink refills. As a cashier, this was exceedingly helpful, because one has to do a lot of talking to guests... and one's throat gets PARCHED.
I had open access to sweet tea! W00t!

Ok, so part of my duties at this job was manning the sweet tea levels, and making sure that we didn't run out of tea.
Sweet!

...It was then that I realized just how much sugar was in sweet tea.
I'd start the brew cycle, and run back to get the sugar to sweeten the tea. It was a large sugar scoop that held about 6 cups of sugar. The tea machine made about 3 gallons of tea at a time.

TWO CUPS OF SUGAR PER GALLON OF TEA!
WHAT?
That's a lot of sugar.

I was working more frequently, and I had access to sweet tea at any time, like I said. The first week or so, I had a definite sugar buzz.

I decided to cut back on the tea--especially since I am a gulper, if you know what I'm saying. I can easily drink a half-gallon (okay, maybe more like a quart) of liquid in one sitting. I am no sipper of drinks. (unless the drinks are smoothies or milkshakes or something that is supposed to be savored)

...it's helpful to be a "gulper". I'm hydrated, this is for sure.

But as I realized how much sugar I was drinking daily, I started drinking tea that was a 1:1 ratio of sweet and unsweet.
Soon it was a 1:3 ratio.
Before long, I was drinking unsweet tea with a splash of sweet.
Next thing I knew, I was just drinking straight unsweet tea.
People at work started to look at me funny for my odd choice of beverage.
I'm sure they thought "Who, other than diabetics, would drink unsweet tea?
Diabetics even add that fake sugar!"
I usually didn't.
Ok, YANKEES. YANKEES drink unsweet tea. (but I know that yankees are people too. I'm trying to spread this knowledge) I'm by no means a yankee, though I sound like one.

I didn't plan on totally ruling out sweet tea, I just wanted to be healthier and less sugar-buzzed.
As I drank more unsweet, I found that I actually started to prefer it. I liked the flavor of the tea leaves, and the comparable lightness in consistency--while still it gave me a much-needed caffeine boost.

I realized I was totally anti-sweet tea when I accidentally got sweet tea at a restaurant.
The drink was placed in front of me, and being the gulper I am, I took a long draw.

I coughed
                    I sputtered
What was this syrup I was drinking?!?

I tried to go back to being a 'true southerner', I really did. I tried to drink sweet tea again, but I was ruined.

I cannot stand sweet tea anymore.
But give me a large unsweet tea?

I am so set.