Sweet Tea in Austin

[NWLarry]

Hey y'all :)
So that the highly informative pie thread remains on topic, I thought I would seek out help on the best sweet tea in Austin. I'm thinking sickeningly sweet stuff. Yes, sweeter than Bush's.

Who you got?

[ieathereforeiam]

11th Street Station has what you are looking for. chicken and waffles are about as good as you are going to get in Austin.

[shalom9]

Manns Barbeque has some pretty sweet stuff (although I have not been there in a while). The food there is pretty good, too. http://www.mannsbbq.com

[texangurl]

chickfila has pretty good sweet tea and you can buy a gallon from them if you really like it. I do that from time to time.

[Allison L.]

I got a sweet tea at Chick Fil-a the other day and it was toothache sweet. That's to me though, I didn't grow up on the stuff so I'm curious if that's the level of sweetness that people here are talking about - is it sweeter than that?

[NWLarry]

I haven't tried it, but Rudy's, Bush's, and Popeye's aren't even close to being sweet enough. To me it's a southern summer thing, super sweet tea with tons of ice and fresh lemon, or a frosty cold Barq's in New Orleans. Probably similar to the local (Dublin) Dr. Pepper preference, which I love as well.

[NirvRush]

panera has both sweet & unsweet

[tokyomonamour]

I agree with ampeg66, try the sweet tea at Bill Millers. It is my favorite in town.

[Helind]

The last time I was in Lockhart, Blacks had it. It wasn't syrupy sweet like I used to make when I worked at Shoney's. But, this Virginian was very excited!

[drdelicious]

Awesome... I used to work at Shoney's as well, but I find many Austin people have never been to one. We even had a 'Shoney's Inn' hotel :) Sysco food at it's finest there.

My biggest frustration here is no restaraunt serves sweet tea. I like it made sweet, not made unsweetened where I have to add sugar after it's iced. It doesn't go into solution as well; at least not the volume of sugar that is required.

It's also hard to just find iced tea that isn't flavored with peaches or hibiscus or something else. Any restaraunt I've ever worked in served iced tea 'sweet' or 'unsweet.' That's it.

To answer the original question: My go to place is McAlisters... ( there's one on Bee Caves) when I need real Southern MS-style sweet tea (iced is implied). Popeye's is a close second. Home is third.

[danny_w]

A friend of mine always orders his tea with no ice and an extra glass of ice, then proceeds to stir in 7 bags of sugar. You're right, there is no way this amount of sugar would ever dissolve in iced tea!

[ampeg66]

Bill Miller and Rudy's both have it. I haven't had Bush's to compare sweetness levels.

[bloody hammer]

Rudy's has sweet tea but it's not even close to the level we're talking about.

[Homero]

I realize it is a chain, but when I heard you say sickeningly sweet, I immediately thought of the Cane Sweetened Iced Tea at Popeyes Fried Chicken. I ordered it once, because I was jonesing for some fried chicken in a pinch and I like sweet tea. It tasted more like honey sweetenend than cane sugar sweetened to me, but maybe it was because it was just so sweet. Anyway, just thought I would put it out there.

[NWLarry]

It's worth a shot! My go-to fill in has been Sonic Sweet Tea with Peach sweetener added.
Somehow I still have teeth.

[bloody hammer]

Sounds like you're looking for the type of sweet tea I grew up with in Georgia. I haven't found it here but Bush's Chicken does come the closest. Honestly though... I've been out of The South for a long time and here in Texas for about 11 years. I guess I've adapted as these days I seem to prefer unsweet tea. I wouldn't even have imagined that 15 years ago.

[danny_w]

I also grew up with extremely sweet tea (born in Texas but my parents were from the Carolinas) so I know what you mean. I started on unsweet tea after college and have never looked back. Now I can't even stand the thought of it personally, but I know that there are those that prefer it.