Best sweet tea
General manager Michael Fuhrman with a pitcher of Mary Mac's beloved iced tea. It's your pick for the best non-chain sweet tea in and around Atlanta. Photo: Becky Stein / Special
YOUR PICKS (Local)
1. Mary Mac’s Tea Room
You say, “Mary Mac’s Tea Room hands down! Big ups to all the true southerners that responded in kind.”
2. Williamson Bros. Bar-B-Q
3. OK Cafe
4. The Sun Dial
5. Wright’s Gourmet Sandwich Shoppe
Chick-fil-A is your picks for the chain with the best sweet tea. Photo: PRNewsFoto
YOUR PICKS (Chain)
1. Chick-fil-A
You say, “The best iced tea on the planet, including Atlanta” and “Are you serious? Chick-fil-A has the best. No question about it. Always very great! When I think sweet tea, I think Chick-fil-a.”
2. McDonald’s
3. Zaxby’s and Cracker Barrel (tie)
4. Bojangles’
5. Captain D’s
OUR PICKS
1. Greenwood’s on Green Street
The sweet tea at Greenwood’s on Green Street is a winner because it avoids the two main pitfalls of sweet tea. It isn’t bitter (due to over-brewing) and it isn’t overly sweet. It is smooth and satisfying.
2. Mary Mac’s Tea Room
3. Mittie’s Tea Room
4. Chick-fil-A
5. Busy Bee Cafe
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200 comments Add your comment
Claire
February 22nd, 2011
9:32 am
MILOS FAMOUS SWEET TEA….no contest.
Mel
February 22nd, 2011
9:34 am
Daddy D’z.
LS
February 22nd, 2011
9:37 am
Scholtzky’s has the best. Wallace BBQ in Austell is pretty good too.
Carerra
February 22nd, 2011
9:39 am
Williamson Brothers BBQ
Old School
February 22nd, 2011
9:43 am
I don’t know if it’s still there, but back in the day Bobby and June’s had a good offering.
LS
February 22nd, 2011
9:46 am
MelKel, I too was born and raised in the South. Mostly the Atlanta Metro area. Growing up, Iced Tea came unsweetened. You had to add your own sugar that was found on the table. So there was no “sweet tea”. Now that tea is made sweet or unsweet, you have to ask for Sweet Tea or UnSweet Tea.
Edward
February 22nd, 2011
9:51 am
To me all of the “sweet tea” I’ve tried at every restaurant around here is just TOO SWEET to be drinkable. It’s like tea flavored syrup. YUK. The only way I’ve been able to drink it is ask for half sweet/half unsweet (or do it myself if it is self-serve). Self-serve also allows me to mix half unsweet tea with half lemonade, too.
lynn
February 22nd, 2011
9:51 am
The best tea can be found at the Blue Willow Inn and the Busy Bee Cafe. If you want the best fast-food tea, then go to Chick-fil-A and McDonald’s.
Sweet tea party
February 22nd, 2011
9:53 am
McDonald’s does have good tea! At home, I use Luzianne (I believe McDonald’s does, also).
I recently switched to Luzianne’s green tea. I found that I have to use three family size bags of the green tea versus two of the black tea to the gallon. I add one and a half cups sugar and my secret ingredient…ICE…so that the tea is already cold and does not melt the ice in my glass.
fes
February 22nd, 2011
9:54 am
Bojangle’s! Their tea is awesome, followed by Alice’s Iced Tea at Waffle House.
She-She
February 22nd, 2011
10:02 am
McDonald’s!
Dammit_Allie
February 22nd, 2011
10:04 am
Pascal’s in Atlanta Airport!!! So Good, and not “pre-made”!
Huh?
February 22nd, 2011
10:06 am
Missing some things here: it is mandatory by this time that Flying Biscuit, QT, Zestos and Del Taco get mentioned. The “best is at my house” has been taken care of a few times. We are also missing the ITP snobs versus the OTP subject, plus the indignant ones who love to disparage anything “corporate” or “fast food” or “chain” and instead nominate some obscure place nobody has heard of.
Sid Vicious
February 22nd, 2011
10:11 am
Nibbles has the best sweet tea hands down!!! Then Chick-Fil-A second.
Karen
February 22nd, 2011
10:12 am
My house
Gee
February 22nd, 2011
10:13 am
Best Sweet Tea in town? No where. Sweet Tea is vile sugar water- all sugar.. no tea! And I’m a Southerner, yall.
JoeV
February 22nd, 2011
10:14 am
@Huh?
We have a winner! Well played!
Gene
February 22nd, 2011
10:16 am
If you go up I-85 to the north, pull off the road in Spartanburg,S.C. and ask for directions to the Beacon Drive-In on John B.White Blvd. and have some of the best sweet tea you’ve tasted.
Deborah
February 22nd, 2011
10:18 am
Don’t live in Atlanta anymore but recall that Canoe Restaurant had delicious iced tea; always tasted fresh brewed.
They provided sugar syrup so you could sweeten it to your taste, and a cute miniature “canoe paddle” stirring device.
Huh?
February 22nd, 2011
10:20 am
I forgot the other two categories – places that are three hundred miles from here and places that closed down 10+ years ago.
Expat
February 22nd, 2011
10:26 am
Hudson’s BBQ in Douglasville! The best there ever was!
Sweet tea party
February 22nd, 2011
10:29 am
Use to be in the South that if you ordered “tea”, you got sweet tea. Many places didn’t even have unsweet tea.
Unbelievably, some places only offer unsweetened tea which is almost impossible to get sugar to melt in (and I’m not into the chemical substitutes which will melt). That’s when I order Gerogia’s second best beverage…Coke.
Lisa Boalt Richardson
February 22nd, 2011
10:37 am
I love this topic! As an author,Certified Tea Specialist, and a Southerner, I love making iced tea at home with loose leaf tea. I think it makes really flavorful tea and I can limit the amount of sugar in it as well. If you have really great tea and make it correctly you don’t need a ton of sugar. This means not oversteeping it which brings out the bitter flavor and then more sugar is needed to balance the flavor. I am often disappointed when ordering iced tea out. However, I have say that Chic-Fil-A makes great iced tea and I order is 1/2 sweet 1/2 unsweet. I also enjoy The Cheesecake Factory’s iced tea!!!
SMH
February 22nd, 2011
10:45 am
Chick-Fil-A
Publix
summertime
February 22nd, 2011
10:46 am
PUBLIX has the best sweet tea!!!!
Jen @ Cup a Dee Cakes
February 22nd, 2011
10:47 am
I add another vote for Chik-fil-A, but I also think that Sonny’s BBQ also serves up a right decent glass of iced tea!
DreamsMaterialize
February 22nd, 2011
10:47 am
McDonald’s for the price. Chic-Fil-A is pretty good too. The best is my home brewed sun tea.
T
February 22nd, 2011
10:51 am
Chick-fil-a all the way!
Elaine
February 22nd, 2011
10:55 am
The best iced tea is from Pal’s in Kingsport, TN. It comes in a 32- ounce styrofoam cup, so it will almost make the trip from east TN.
cw
February 22nd, 2011
10:58 am
I have considered myself a tea connoisseur for many years. Also, my tea is so good I’ve met out-of-town friends at traveling antiques shows who have asked me to bring them a jug of my tea. Being older now, I drink unsweet with Splenda; however I have tasted and drunk for years sweet tea all over Atlanta. As a self-proclaimed expert, I can honestly say that the best tea I’ve ever drunk, sweet or unsweet is:
The Blue Durango Tea at Taqueria del Sol! The runner up is Mary Mac’s – we once had the waiter bring out a pkg of the tea they make to see if it was a brand we could buy ourselves. Both are heavenly and never displease!
really
February 22nd, 2011
11:01 am
i drink tea unsweetened, and chickfila has the best…
i’m sure it’s delish either way.
mexican restaurants always have GREAT unsweetened tea!
Abby
February 22nd, 2011
11:02 am
McDonald’s (great taste, consistency, price) then Zaxby’s (taste good, but not always consistent). If you’re buying it from the grocery store, you cannot go wrong with Gold Peak – the absolute best!!
cw
February 22nd, 2011
11:03 am
Almost forgot: DO NOT screw my tea up by putting fruity crap in it – I am not amused by having perfectly good tea ruined by “peach” or “apricot” or whatever nasty flavoring some put in the tea.
And, I consider myself the salvation of real, normal iced tea at The Cheesecake Factory and at “Corner Cafe” at Lenox. They both were having only the flavored crap and I complained over and over. At CF, I’d order a glass of ice and a pot of hot tea and brew my own. At CC I’d get my tea downstairs at the Bread Co, and make sure to tell the counter people I was doing it.
Happily they both now have regular unsweet and sweet teas.
Ben F
February 22nd, 2011
11:07 am
Waffle House and Olive Garden. At home, 2 family size bags + 1 Earl Grey single serve. Boil water, steep 20 mins, add sugar (2/3 cup for my tea jug), and add water. Earl Grey adds a very distinctive taste to iced tea.
Mike
February 22nd, 2011
11:13 am
Country’s BBQ, Columbus, GA. Made with cane sugar. It’s the best!
Really People?
February 22nd, 2011
11:18 am
I was waiting for the idiot who named some place outside the Atlanta area.
Rick
February 22nd, 2011
11:21 am
Mary Mac’s Tea Room!
Lynn
February 22nd, 2011
11:21 am
Burger King and Pizze Hut by far, I must be going to the wrong McDonalds because it’s always to watery
martin
February 22nd, 2011
11:23 am
BOJANGLES – JUST GOT TO HAVE MORE
Mr No it all
February 22nd, 2011
11:30 am
Other than my own tea, Mc Donald’s tea is the best. Chic-fil-a, Wendy’s and Zaby’s is like WATER NOT GOOD AT ALL. They all need to call me so I can help them out on the TEA LOL
MmmH
February 22nd, 2011
11:33 am
If purchasing at a store – definitely Milo’s. All others taste artificial. Sweet Tea at restaurants can be hit or miss. Sometimes, even fresh brewed tea has a strange, sour taste. I’ve learned it is because the staff does not sterilize all of the components of the brewer and urn. Therefore, old tea particles build up in it and spoil. Think of using a coffee cup continually without ever washing it. The residue is the same effect. Unfortunately, this greatly affects the taste no matter how great the tea is. I’ve learned that QuikTrip consistently sterilzes their equipment, so you have a better chance of getting fresh tasting sweet tea there. They also add just the right amount of sugar.
Denise
February 22nd, 2011
11:39 am
OMG…The Busy Bee.
BenB…I understand your comment. The sweet tea is not what causes Type 2 Diabetes, it’s the lack of exercise and eating a balanced diet that does it.
Chris
February 22nd, 2011
11:45 am
I don’t know if they have any in the Atlanta area but there is McAlister’s Deli in Stateboro and it by far had the best sweet tea anywhere. I liked it because it was a perfect amount of sugar. Sweet enough to satisfy the sweet tooth but not so much it turned to syrup and overpowered the actual tea flavor. With a wedge of lemon I was in heaven.
KD
February 22nd, 2011
11:46 am
Hudson BBQ in Douglasville! Ruby Tuesday’s is the worst!
dgl1970
February 22nd, 2011
11:48 am
Hudson’s Hickory House – Douglasville
Wallace Barbecue – Austell
dgl1970
February 22nd, 2011
11:48 am
Mrs. Winner’s
Bojangles
Sweetened by Desire
February 22nd, 2011
12:03 pm
Benjamin’s of East Point has THE BEST sweet tea. Try it.
BlondAlto
February 22nd, 2011
12:03 pm
Once you have had the sweet tea at a Truett’s or Chic-Filet, you will be spoiled for any other tea!!
Jonathan
February 22nd, 2011
12:05 pm
Chick-Fil-A and just about any Bar-B-Que joint west of atlanta where I live. The more rural, the better the Tea : p
Shawn
February 22nd, 2011
12:06 pm
PUBLIX has the best tea hands down….its actually kind of addicting lol!!!!