If you ask for "tea" at a restaurant, what happens and where do you live?
If you ask for "tea" at a restaurant, what happens and where do you live?
In the South East, they bring you sweetened (usually far too sweetened for my tastes) iced tea. This is amazingly universal.
I live in NC and have been probing the border for years.
For "nicer" restaurants, the universal sweet tea boundary seems to be precisely at the NC/VA border.
India, You'll get properly boiled tea with milk (called chai) unless you specifically ask for black/ red tea which you'll only get in Kerala (called black/kattan ) & in our NorthEastern states (called red tea/lal cha). Tea is by default served hot unless you ask for iced tea which is just tea-coloured flavoured sugar water made with a premix.
The 2nd best way to piss off an Indian is to serve tea brewed with teabags, the best to upset us is to serve tea brewed with teabags and using powdered milk.
We like our tea to be boiled with milk, water, spices, and sugar/jaggery. If you want to make our day, boil the tea with condensed milk, water, and spices and watch us beam. The spices will always be fresh and any combo of sweet cardamom, ginger, cloves, star anise, pinch of cinnamon, lemongrass, black pepper, fennel seeds,
In Kashmiti homes/ restaurants, you'll get the saffron flavoured Kehwa (no milk in this one, but lots of flavour) and the pink colored salt tea (noon chai) made with green tea leaves, milk, rock salt, cardamom, pistachios, almonds. and baking soda.
In the UK they bring you dinner
Malaysia is fun for this. Just asking for tea (teh) will get you a hot sweet milk tea, if you want no milk you ask for "teh-O". If you want no milk AND no sugar you ask for a " teh-O kosong", kosong basically meaning empty. Then of course there are the ice variants like "teh-O ais kosong". So basically the default is getting everything except ice, then you add modifiers to take things out.
But tea language strangeness aside, Malaysian teh-tarik (pulled tea) is amazing and should get more global attention. Even the preparation can be quite a show and there are local competitions.
In Australia - you might get asked what type of tea. There's usually about 10 types of the menu from the usual English Breakfast or Early Grey to Chai, green or some other more fruity variants. It may come in a pot, or a cup, or a mug, depending on the sophistication of the joint. You'll usually be asked "cup or mug?".
And in Australia, they're pretty good about knowing which teas need sugar and or milk and usually bring that separately to the table for you to apply the way you want. Other times they'll ask "how many sugars and how much milk"?
Everywhere else in the world they either bring woefully too little milk, or can't even begin to understand the concept of milk in your tea. (mainland Europe and Asia mostly).
Hong Kong. It depends on the establishment.
In big Cantonese restaurants, tea is the very first thing you have to choose, and you are expected to know what tea varieties there are. They then brew and bring you the tea in a white porcelain pot, and can top it up with water upon request (or do it yourself since water is always served alongside the tea). I generally like 鐵觀音, but my dad prefers 普洱. The tea is unsweetened, and if you ask for it sweetened or put sugar in it, well idk what happens but you'd probably get laughed at and kicked out.
In smaller diners, you often can pick the type of tea you want from a menu, though those are often not traditional Chinese teas, and are hot and sweetened by default, though you can always ask for it unsweetened or iced. Milk tea is always available (I can only assume under threat of public boycott). Depending on the diner, various fruit teas would also be available.
In Vietnam, if it's a café they'd ask you hot or cold.
Normal restaurants you'd get iced tea, usually very strong unsweetened Lipton yellow label.
Cincinnati Ohio, they'd ask you if you meant sweet or unsweetened iced tea
Tea would be an unusual drink to ask for in a restaurant (as opposed to a cafe) unless they do breakfast/brunch, or you were partaking of "afternoon tea" (a rare treat for the ordinarily incomed).
If it was "afternoon tea" you would be offered a menu of different teas to choose from and it would be served with a tiered tray of finger sandwiches and pastries. And you would be charged a ridiculous amount of money for what is basically a small picnic.
If you were ordering tea as a drink in a restaurant, it would most likely come in a small teapot (with a teabag unless it was a very posh place), possibly some extra boiling water to refresh the pot after you've poured some tea, a cup and saucer, a small jug of milk, and a bowl of white sugar or sugar cubes (or a selection of packets of sugar or sweetener if it was not such a posh place).
If you asked for tea in a cafe, depending on how fancy the cafe is, it might look similar to the restaurant offering, or it might be a teabag in a mug of boiling water, pots of UHT milk, and packets of sugar.
No one would ever assume you wanted iced tea unless you specified it. And if you did specify it, they would most likely look blank and say they couldn't do it. I can't recall ever seeing it on a menu. Hot tea would be providable by any establishment whether or not it was on the menu because pretty much every kitchen in the UK has teabags in it.
They’ll probably bring a sad cup of water that used to be boiling and a Lipton tea bag. NYC, USA.
Southern US — get black tea, iced. Sometimes asked for sweeter preference.
Hot tea is never on the menu, except for tea houses.
US West: you get unsweetened iced tea unless they have hot and then they’ll ask. You can only get sweet tea at certain places and chains like McDonalds and Chick-fil-a.
I used to be a southern sweet iced tea drinker but now prefer unsweet.
In a better place, I usually get a menu with a number of different teas (Ceylon, Assam, Darjeeling, Green, several fruit and herbal teas), which will be served hot and unsweetened, of course.
In a lesser place, I might get a selection of only two or three teas, usually a black breakfast blend, a green tea or Earl Gray, and maybe a mint tea as a herbal variant.
I live in Europe.
Here in Estonia you'll get asked what kind of tea (black, green etc) you want (restaurants here usually have several kinds of it). It's assumed you want hot tea unless you specifically ask for iced.
Dim sum restaurant will ask you what kind
Pu-er, iron goddess, chrysanthemum, oolong, saumei, etc.
If you ask for it at a particular restaurant you will receive a tea pot full of beer, the restaurant is not authorized to sell alcohol. It’s an open secret.
I'm from Ireland. Asking for tea in a restaurant will usually get you a cup of English breakfast tea or an Irish variant of from a brand like Lyons, Barry's, Bewley's, or Fallon's. Its a slightly different flavor to typical English breakfast tea, sometimes called Irish breakfast tea.
You would usually get a small pot of hot tea, with a cup, a small jug of milk and some sachets of sugar. Most people take milk and the equivalent of 2 tea spoons of sugar.
Sometimes I prefer coffee, but if I dont feel well or am stressed, I tend to reach for this kind of tea since that's what I grew up with.
NJ here. If you ask for just "tea," it usually means hot tea. You'll then be asked for the usual add-ons, milk, lemon, so on. It's usually black tea, some places will have others, and they'll ask if you just ask for tea. Unless you say "iced," "unsweet", "sweet", or any flavors they might have, they'll usually assume hot tea.
In Israel you'll get a cup of hot water and teabags to choose from.
Hot water with peppermint is also a popular option as well as sweet tea.
I live in Australia now but someone already had a good answer for Australia.
I’m from Indonesia and there it’s most likely sweet iced tea if you don’t specify anything. But I think it’s more likely they would ask, warm or iced, and sweetened or unsweetened. You’ll get black tea with sugar syrup, sometimes regular sugar for warm tea. Lots of restaurants would often have iced lemon tea, which is also sweetened but with some squeezed lemon.
Here they tend to either ask you if you want green or black tea or bring you a box of lipton with various flavors and let you chose from that.
And 9/10 chance it'll taste moldy AF.
Tea isn't very common here.
Scotland - you'll get a pot of brewed tea or a cup with a black tea bag in. And some milk.
Middle East, tea ranges from Moroccan tea to the west to Chai in the east. If you ask for just tea (without specifying):
Gulf: unsweetened black tea
Egypt and Levant: overly sweet and over steeped black tea (levant usually with mint).
West of Libya: green tea with one or two types of mint.I once got a teapot with a few tea bags inside and one free water refill, I live in Poland and tea is rather warm/hot drink here
Even in hot countries people drink hot tea, it's a custom in Turkey for example, in north Africa people drink hot coffee and it's surprisingly effective in fighting the heat
Always hot tea in thin waisted little glasses. If I drink in a good place it is "rabbit blood". I am from Turkey.
For “nicer” restaurants, the universal sweet tea boundary seems to be precisely at the NC/VA border.
Interesting. I'm driving from Raleigh to Northern VA tomorrow with lunch in Farmville, VA. I'll have to test this theory. Can corroborate that NC "tea" is super sweet iced tea.
Edit: Hmm, so I asked for tea in Farmville, VA and the waitress asked me "sweetened or unsweetened". We told her what was up and she admitted that she was from further north in Virginia, but she had learned to ask while working there. Where she was from, tea would be unsweetened unless specified.
So ... Maybe there is a bit of a DMZ in Virginia before you fully cross into unsweetened territory?
I get black tea, cream, and sugar. Hot.
"so like iced or hot?" If you ask for hot you get a cup of hot water with a bag of saddness floating in it.
In the southern states of Australia you're likely to be asked "English Breakfast, Peppermint or Green?" Maybe one or two other varieties depending on the establishment.
Probably barley or green tea in a little paper cup. I'm in Korea.
You'll usually either get a pot of tea with a teabag or two in or a pot of hot water and some tea bags. Milk is usually served in a separate jug.
We talking breakfast tea, cream tea, high tea, dinner or just a cuppa?
Brisk Iced Tea, I think. Most around here drink MTN DEW like its keeping them alive.
I knew someone back in college that tried to outline the sweet tea line. They found there's a zone of ambiguity where it will vary from restaurant to restaurant.
I thought a good follow up would be to ask different individuals how to make sweet tea. Those who know, know you can't just put sugar into iced tea.
Europe.
Either they ask back wether I want hot or ice tea (beverage) or they default to hot tea and bring out the tea arsenal in a small box to choose.
so if you want the beverage (ice tea) you should say that you want ice tea.
Probably an Arizona or Brisk.
Maybe a green tea if you're in an Asian restaurant.
They show me a QR code laminated onto the table. Then I ask if they have a paper menu, and they sheepishly say no. Then I ask them what kind of tea they have, and they list a bunch of things involving citrus. Then I buy one of the citrus monstrosities to be polite, and never go there again.
Then I go home and make some basic green tea, and I follow the steeping instructions because overstepped green tea makes me nauseous.
I get hot tea, unsweetened. New Zealand. I would probably get a couple of sachets of sugar to sweeten my tea if I want to, or they'll be in a container at the counter or on the table
Very few places here would even have iced tea, especially the sweetened varieties, and you would definitely have to specify it. Only at some "nicer" restaurants would you even have a chance of finding it, most fast food chains or buffet type places wont have it with the exception of some Asian places
I remember some years back staying in a hotel in New Jersey as a part of a wedding party that had gathered mostly from the UK and Commonwealth countries. I asked for tea on arrival, and they had none. When I came down for breakfast in the morning, there was a box full of tea at the breakfast buffet that had obviously just arrived by courier and just been opened up, management must have ordered it overnight for urgent delivery for all the English and Australasian guests, it must have taken them unawares
It entirely depends on what kind of establishment
If I asked for just "tea" at a restaurant here in the central valley of California, I would be asked what kind. The choices would be unsweetened ice, sweetened ice, or Lipton Raspberry Brisk (or a knock off brand I always forget the name of that's becoming more common than the Lipton). The only restaurants I know of that Incan get hot tea are Chinese places, and they usually only have oolong tea.
They always ask "you mean hot tea?" And I fill with rage and think YES, of course I bloody well want my tea to be hot!
In the Texas, you can ask for “half and half” tea. You’ll get a mixture of sweet and unsweet iced tea. In a huge glass with plenty of ice. And free refills.
If you want hot tea, you need to ask for hot tea. Most places will bring you a couple selections of bagged tea and a too-small pot of not-hot-enough water. Hotel restaurants are known for bringing out a huge caddy of various tea bags for you to chose from. If you want milk/cream in your hot tea, you’ll have to ask for it, it’s not assumed.
Southern CA default seems to be unsweetened iced tea, which is basically all I drink so it's fine with me.
NM here and it depends on the restaurant, many only have iced tea. But when you ask for tea you will be asked if you wanted sweet or unsweetened. If you say sweet, they bring you packets of sugar and a glass of unsweetened tea.
Fast food places will have both dispensers but mostly the sweet is unsweetened.
You ask for iced or hot, and you usually get some nasty ass Lipton tea if you go for hot, though this may vary by restaurant. I love tea, but I've spoiled myself with fancier ones to the point where I can't stand most of those big American brands. Some iced teas I can at least tolerate though.
I dunno, I'm southern, and you're right that sweet iced black tea is the default anywhere below the Mason-Dixon line. The only real difference you'll run into outside of niche places is Lipton vs tetley vs whatever industrial food supply had.
But you can get unsweetened almost anywhere, and Chinese-American places will almost always ask if you want sweetea just to be sure.
Above the line, when I've traveled into damn yankee land over the years, it's changed. Back as a kid driving through the Albanians Appalachians up to Ohio, and Pennsylvania, once you got into west Virginia, it was a coin flip what you'd get between sweet and not, and anywhere north of that, it was unsweetened iced tea.
Last trip I took, sweet iced was default even in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the few restaurants we went to.
I remember going to DC on a school trip in jr high though, and McDonald's didn't have tea at all in the one we went to. Baltimore during the same late eighties era, I only went a couple of times, but the fast food places didn't have tea on the menu.
Now, all of that could have just been a matter of not going to the right places, of course. But it's what I experienced.
Around here, in the Appalachians down to the foothills, good luck getting unsweetened iced tea. My wife is a damn yankee that likes her iced tea fairly strong, but only a tiny bit sweet. She calls the extra dark and sweet we have in this area tea syrup lol.
Texas - fast food they ask sweet or unsweet. Sit down restaurant they sometimes ask and they sometimes bring unsweet and a box of sweeteners.
Why in England do they have such good hot tea and terrible iced tea? It's usually that shit lemon lipton can. Everytime i ask for a cup of ice they just look at me like I'm doing it wrong.
Depends on the place Asian places will give you a kettle mug and a box of teas and other places will just give you the mug of hot water and the box of teas and sometimes you can ask for sweet tea and have the full options of sugar maple honey and raspberry tea I'm from Vermont by the way
Supermarket tee (the one in the bags), just more expensive and cold.
Chicago: Asian restaurants will bring you a pot of already-brewed, ready-to-drink hot tea. So will nicer Western restaurants that have an actual tea program. Coffee shops and mid-tier restaurants will typically give you a cup with the tea already brewing and it's up to you to remove the bag or sachet in a timely manner.
Everywhere else brings you a little tea-making kit consisting of hot water, teabag(s), and maybe lemon and honey. You have to ask if you want milk, except at oldschool diners.
Colorado here, and at most restaurants you’ll usually be asked what type of tea or be brought a mug/teapot of hot water and an assortment of tea bags to choose from.
