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.

  • xuxebiko@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    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.

  • omgarm@feddit.nl
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    1 year ago

    Netherlands: you get asked what kind, or hot water with a box teabags to pick from.

    Iced tea is a seperate thing entirely.

    • ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      Ordering tea and getting hot water and teabags in return is my restaurant pet peeve. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even bother unless I know they’ll actually bring me a pot of already-brewed tea.

      • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net
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        1 year ago

        You’re getting downvoted, but I can relate (even if I never drink tea while out.). It isn’t much work to let it steep, then take the tea bag out, but it’s not about the literal work, but the brain energy involved. My short term memory is trash, so I often forget about drinks; I had to learn to enjoy lukewarm or cold coffee, otherwise I would rarely drink coffee.

  • gmtom@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    When you said south east I was thinking south east Asia and was trying to decipher what countries NC and VA were, until I realised you were American expecting everyone else to be American and understand American state codes.

    • EssentialCoffee@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      That’s okay, I’m an American and interpreted South East as South East Asia too.

      I don’t normally see the space when referring to the Southeastern US, only for South East Asia. I have no idea why that is and have never really thought about it.

    • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Expecting everyone to know the US states is just us getting revenge on Europe for demanding we keep track of which products are named after geographic regions and which are just recipes immigrants from those places brought to America.

      If you’re not in Europe, sorry you got caught up in our couple’s spat.

  • sndrtj@feddit.nl
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    1 year ago

    Netherlands. You’d get a glass or cup of hot water, and a box of tea bags to select from. If you want ice tea, you explicitly have to call that out. Just “tea” refers to the hot (original) version without sugar.

  • schnokobaer@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    “Black, green, peppermint, chamomile, melissa, ginger?”

    10 minutes later you get a hot cup with a bag in it, no clue how long it’s been sitting in there already. Usually a bag of sugar and/or a cookie on the saucer.

    Germany.

  • slabber@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    In Spain they will immediatelly ask you if you are sick. Only sick people drink tea there, or english tourists, but they will usually go to english bars anyway. In those places they will serve black tea and ask you if you want it with lemon or milk.

      • slabber@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        I’m happy to get conviced otherwise but in my 26 years living in Spain, Valencia and Andalucia, that was what I have experienced.

  • HatchetHaro@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    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.

    • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
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      1 year ago

      I still want to visit Hong Kong but don’t have the budget atm, and that first paragraph isn’t helping

      Also, 鐵觀音 (Tie Guan Yin) is also my favourite tea, that’s a coincidence!

  • JoBo@feddit.uk
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    1 year ago

    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.

  • CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net
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    1 year ago

    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.