Best sweet tea
The Colonnade, an Atlanta classic, is your pick for the best local spot to get sweet tea in and around Atlanta. Photo: Becky Stein
YOUR PICKS (local)
1. The Colonnade
You say, “The Colonnade has really good sweet tea!”
2. Busy Bee Café
3. Mary Mac’s Tea Room
4. OK Café
5. Eats
When it comes to chains, Chick-fil-A comes out way ahead for best place to get sweet tea.
YOUR PICKS (chain)
1. Chick-fil-A
You say, “Chick-fil-a for the most consistently good sweet tea. I do ask them to mix sweet and unsweetened. That being said, I would prefer good tea that is a bit too sweet to hearing “we only have unsweetened tea.” I only expect to hear that in the north, not in GA!”
2. Publix
3. McDonald’s
4. Waffle House
OUR PICKS
1. Greenwood’s
The AJC dining team’s specialist in Southern and Neighborhood Fare Jenny Turknett says, “Greenwood’s on Green Street remains my favorite place to get my sweet tea fix. The tea is smooth and refreshing rather than bitter and cloyingly sweet.”
2. Mary Mac’s Tea Room
3. Chick-fil-a
4. Bantam & Biddy
5. Busy Bee Cafe
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65 comments Add your comment
Bubba
January 14th, 2013
3:53 pm
fresh-brewed sweet tea from Chick-Fil-A is my favorite.
McDonald’s “sweet tea” is nasty !
brett
January 14th, 2013
3:59 pm
when done right, chick fil a but the best sweet tea by far is a mary mac tea room…
Actually
January 14th, 2013
4:00 pm
Harold’s BBQ (now closed) had great sweet tea.
Lynn
January 14th, 2013
4:01 pm
The Busy Bee Cafe has the best iced tea because it’s always just right.
Skipper
January 14th, 2013
4:16 pm
I only drink unsweet tea… Chick-fil-a does it best…
Amazing
January 14th, 2013
4:17 pm
In the fast food arena, Chick Fil A is consistently the best, but I agree with Brett, Mary Mac has some mighty fine sweet tea.
Sharon
January 14th, 2013
4:25 pm
The Colonnade has really good sweet tea!
GaPeachy
January 14th, 2013
4:45 pm
The sweet tea at Busy Bee is sooooo good. Not overly sweet like syrup, but just right. I always get the Arnold Palmer/Uptown, thats tea and lemonade mixed for you northerners who don’t know what I’m talking about. When ever I go up north and ask for sweet tea people give me the weirdest look like I’m speaking foreign language, and then say we have unsweetened tea and you can add sugar, uhhh no, not the same thing people!
I'mRight
January 14th, 2013
4:47 pm
Chick-Fil-A and Mary Mac’s… hands down.
Corndawg
January 14th, 2013
4:49 pm
Mrs. Winner’s had great sweet tea, but they are no longer with us. Chick-Fil-A does it right.
Sweet Tea Lover
January 14th, 2013
4:52 pm
Waffle House 1st place and Chick-Fila-A 2nd
Former Good Day fan!!!!
January 14th, 2013
4:54 pm
First place goes to Popeyes then Chick-fil-A.
dk
January 14th, 2013
5:03 pm
EATS on ponce!! Hands down
Queen Noor
January 14th, 2013
5:06 pm
1. Mary Mac’s
2. McDonald’s on a good day at a good location
3. Longhorn’s
4. Outback Steakhouse
5. My house
sweet tea queen
January 14th, 2013
5:17 pm
The Norcross Station cafe has the BEST sweet tea in town!
Buzzed
January 14th, 2013
5:20 pm
When did it become necessary that sweet tea contains so much sugar that it will put you into a diabetic coma? I love sweet tea, but it doesn’t have to be like syrup to be good!
Dave
January 14th, 2013
5:50 pm
Hickory Hut in Dallas!!!!
mars
January 14th, 2013
5:54 pm
@gapeachy…next time you are up north, ask for an Uptown because that is what we call your Arnold Palmer. It is true we do not drink sweet tea the same way up north but isn’t it good to have regional goodies that you can only get when you visit? There is no Waffle House past the MD area but there are no White Castle’s in GA… I also personally hate the pizza in the south and can only eat it when home in NJ/NY….sweet tea is a southern thing and I think that is great!
Bama Man
January 14th, 2013
5:54 pm
I love sweet tea at chinese restaurants.
kt
January 14th, 2013
5:57 pm
Agree with DK. Eats has the best. They also have the best food in Atlanta (at any price) in my opinion. Man I wish it was 40 minutes away. Drawback to suburbia.
Vince
January 14th, 2013
6:56 pm
Sweetened Iced Green Tea @ Starbuck’s! Purely Orgasmic with a slice of the Iced Lemon Pound Cake…..YUM!
KJ
January 14th, 2013
7:16 pm
“there are no White Castle’s in GA”
Yes there are; they are called Krystal.
Kyle Moody
January 14th, 2013
7:16 pm
Matthew’s Cafeteria in Tucker
wooooo
January 14th, 2013
7:47 pm
Honestly, I think if you put on a blind taste test one could not tell the difference between McDonalds and Pitty Pats, or anywhere else for that matter.
peas
January 14th, 2013
7:50 pm
Plug in any electric device and you will see something. What happened to good old days?
Game, set…match?
Ama La MAMA
January 14th, 2013
8:42 pm
Chick Fil A all the way ( always good) and mcdonalds on their good days…
Spike
January 14th, 2013
9:52 pm
1. Cracker Barrel 2. McDonalds 3. Chik Fill It
poof!!!
January 14th, 2013
10:00 pm
I’m afraid to order sweet tea. Most times it is so overwhelmingly sweet that I automatically think someone has spiked it with a couple additional cups of sugar. I’m so paranoid about it that I look around to see if anyone else has noticed my reaction to tasting it.
Wes H
January 14th, 2013
11:01 pm
Surprisingly, Publix’s 1 gallon jugs of sweet tea are really good, and we buy them for any sort of family gathering.
Another comment
January 14th, 2013
11:28 pm
For those of us non-natives who still love tea, but want a healthy of version, the best is Panera’s Green Tea. You can get 2 – 1/2 gallon jugs to go, which is the best treat.
Otherwise, I drink Arizona Diet Green tea by the gallons. No one I serve it to realizes it is diet, it is sweet and has after taste.
I find both Mc Donald’s and Chickfillets unsweetened tea nasty. I have even tried to sweeten with Splenda but they still taste like the bottom of the bot of dirty dishwater was used.
I grew up drinking hot tea with Daddy. My mother is a coffee addict, which means even at 87 she drinks it from the moment she gets up until she goes to bed. Getting coffee, making waitstaff throw out and make her a new pot right before closing ( with my kids falling asleep in the booth) is common. 4/4 kids drink tea and 0/4 drink coffee.
FenderMan
January 14th, 2013
11:41 pm
A lot of places have tea that is too sweet. Unless its a place I know the tea is not too sweet I’ll order half and half and it just right. The homemade tea in my fridge is pretty good too.
I ordered tea in my wife’s hometown of Laconia N.H. and the waitress brought a coffee cup with a bag hanging over the side. I didn’t think it was mine. That’s NOT what I ordered.
Mike
January 15th, 2013
2:01 am
Chick-fil-a for the most consistently good sweet tea. I do ask them to mix sweet and unsweetened. That being said, I would prefer good tea that is a bit too sweet to hearing “we only have unsweetened tea.” I only expect to hear that in the north, not in GA!
Cheryl
January 15th, 2013
3:51 am
I like Quick Trip’s sweet tea the most, especially their Mango tea.
Mr Bill
January 15th, 2013
5:06 am
How much talent does it take to mix sugar with tea bags?
John
January 15th, 2013
6:36 am
The best sweet tea around is Chick fila. The next best is surprisingly Quick Trip.
RedHead
January 15th, 2013
7:40 am
Chick-fil-A without a doubt and my house
Rosebud
January 15th, 2013
7:47 am
Since I have recently acquired a taste for sweet tea in the past few years, after tasting many, I found that the new ‘Dunkin Doughnuts’ on Panola Road has very good tea. It is made fresh everyday, all day. I often go by there just to get an large cup of their tea and nothing else! I thought ‘McDonald’s was the best until I determined it depends on which one you go to.
CC
January 15th, 2013
7:47 am
I gave up Chick-Fil-H8, in spite of their tea, thanks to their choice in business decisions.
Los Bravos Mexican in Dunwoody has the best sweet tea, followed by Pig-n-Chik BBQ.
CD Wisner
January 15th, 2013
7:53 am
The Varsity and OK Cafe are my go-to places for great Ice Tea Having it poured over crushed ice is how I love it best.. Make mine half sweet and half unsweet.
Amazonmom
January 15th, 2013
7:59 am
EATS!!!
Dan C
January 15th, 2013
8:01 am
CC: What business decision did they make you disagree with?
JET
January 15th, 2013
8:06 am
Except for Chick-fil-A and Publix, all the other teas are made with tea flavored simple syrup and a lot of it. You might as well drink sugar water. Chick-fil-A and Publix are the only ones that are not thick syrup and actually taste like tea.
BitterEXdemocrackkk
January 15th, 2013
8:06 am
you people would be healthier and live longer if you give up drinking sugar sweet tea which on a daily basis is dangerous to your health.
Sugar is one of the most underreported causes of disease in the world.
OTP
January 15th, 2013
8:11 am
Surprisingly, a number of places have good sweet tea. To me, the most consistent is El Torero. But, the best is the tea I make at home – Tetley’s round decaf bags and Sugar In The Raw.
Road Scholar
January 15th, 2013
8:15 am
Harolds BBQ Is closed?
Don
January 15th, 2013
8:23 am
The sweet tea I make (I add a pinch of baking soda to the batch). The Bucket Shop brews some pretty good tea…
Mary B
January 15th, 2013
8:24 am
Mary Mac’s
Spud
January 15th, 2013
8:30 am
Chik-fil-a, McDonald’s, Subway, and Publix are all good. I get unsweet and add artificial sweetener. I don’t care for syrupy tea.
At home, Red Rose, Luzzianne, and Tetley seem to be a little better than other brands, but okay tea is better than no tea! I use a combo of sugar and sweetener at home.
Ned Barbre
January 15th, 2013
8:37 am
Louise’s at Kennesaw Mtn., by far the best sweet tea around.
Reality Check
January 15th, 2013
8:38 am
If you think a fast food restaurant makes the best sweet tea then you must have lost your taste buds or you’re a yankee!
Mary Mac’s
The Colonade
just about any mom & pop BBQ place in Georgia…