Drink Your Tea

One of the unintended consequences of my drink more water/drink much less soda mantra of the past couple of years is that I have re-discovered my love for iced tea.

I’m not a sweet tea drinker. That doesn’t appeal to me at all. My preferred iced tea comes without sweetening (and I add a packet or so of a non-sugary sweetener such as Sweet-n-Low or Splenda). I also don’t add lemon.

I make my lemonade out of lemons; otherwise, I prefer that my beverages fit me to a tea.

During my early years as a P.R. professional, it seemed like I attended myriad banquets – either as a photographer, participant or interested guest. Standard fare for those events often included a serving of tea (especially for those who are non-coffee drinkers) along with the usual complement of banquet chicken, veggies, cheesecake and a roll. 

All that to say, I took a break from tea about the time I left my position as Director of Publications at Maryville College and became Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Roane State.

I simply fell out of the habit. 

Over the years, I guzzled more and more soda and, well, that just wasn’t a good thing. So, in the past couple of years, I’ve been consuming a ton of water and, just to change things up occasionally, I’ve been enjoying an occasional iced tea and finding out how much I really missed this refreshing beverage.

Kudos to Lisa for encouraging me to do so. Or maybe it was the Eastern Towhee employing me with its call: Drink Your Tea.

Or is that just an example of tautology?

As I’ve been drinking more and more tea, I’ve noticed something. I like the iced tea selections at certain establishments more than others. I’ve even found that I categorize the choices (ones I love, ones I like and other).

Enter Coach Jeff’s Blog. Holly chuckled at the notion that I would categorize tea. It’s true. I do.

First, I’ve been pleased with the quality of the iced tea served in our cafeteria at work. Otherwise, here are some of my rankings and some of my favorites.

Tier One (Can’t Get Enough of it).

To me, one of the best glasses of iced tea in town can be found at Aubrey’s. In Farragut, I always think of Aubrey’s as our hometown restaurant. Often, when I go there, I see someone I know. And, in a like manner, being served a refreshing glass of iced tea is somewhat akin to running into an old and dear friend.

Other Tier One choices are somewhat surprising. For example, I love the unsweetened iced tea at Dunkin’ Donuts. I know the store is known for its coffee, folks, but Dunkin’ also has a good brew of a different sort. I picked a nice glass as I headed out to work this morning (sans donuts, of course).

Another choice in this category is Chik-Fil-A. I often enjoy it with my traditional Friday breakfast.

Tier Two (Pretty Darn Good)
Speaking of breakfast, over the last six months, Lisa and I have been enjoying Saturday morning breakfast together when our schedule is amenable. Two of our favorite breakfast haunts – First Watch and Cracker Barrel – serve a very nice unsweetened tea.

I sampled tea at a Ruby Tuesday, recently, and it was also quite good. Ditto for Panera. Holly and I lunched at a Panera Bread, recently, and the iced tea was primo.

Tier Three (Other)
Well, none come to mind for this category and it’s just as well!  I can’t think of any establishment I’d list as Tier Three.

One last note I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention the lovely brew Lisa does for us at home.

In past years, I would’ve gone right past the tea pitchers in the Gary fridge to grab the bottle of Diet Coke. Not any more.

I have an occasional Coke, lots of water, and an occasional nice refreshing glass of iced tea.

JG

Originally posted 3/24/2015