Friday Quickie

I have decided to do a Friday Quickie this week in anticipation of my food weekend to come. We will be heading up to Venice, FL on Saturday for a BBQ Competition and I plan on going to town on food. The anticipation is so high right now that I can taste it. I also plan on going to Chipotle at some point this weekend. It has been opened in Naples since Tuesday, and I still have not gone! I was counting down the moments for it to open and must go. Soon. Now. While I am thinking about Chipotle, Fried Oreos and BBQ, I will write a review on a non-food item. A non-food item but yet an item I consume quite frequently. Unsweet Iced Tea. I have grown up on Unsweet Tea. My mom is a tea junkie and has literally gone through times where we would quest out the best tea on a daily basis. I am one of those people who drink Unsweet Iced Tea just the way it is. I do not put any sweetener in it whatsoever and love the taste of it for just that…the taste. There is really nothing better than a freshly brewed glass of unsweet tea. I really enjoy unsweet tea but normally only have it on the weekends. Unsweet tea is something that is best when enjoyed either at a restaurant or take out. We have tried to brew our own tea and it is just not the same. Publix bottled iced tea just doesn’t do it either. We have certain restaurants that we will frequent due to their unsweet tea. We also have restaurants that we will not visit due to the fact that they have either really bad tea, instant tea or weird varieties of tea. The freshness of tea is key. You can immediately taste if the tea was made hours ago or with bad water. The color of the tea is normally a good indicator as well. If the tea is really, really dark, it normally means that it is old and will have an old taste with a horrible after taste. When the color is too light, it will taste like a slightly flavored water and the normal tea flavors will not be there. When you get a good glass of tea, you know it right away. The color is a medium shade and the smell is perfect. Unsweet tea has a somewhat indescribable taste. You do not get any tastes of sweetness yet you do not get any bitter tastes either. I think this is what draws me to unsweet tea so much. I don’t like overly sweet drinks and tea is the perfect flavor with no carbonation. Jeez, this is a pretty bad review since I really can’t describe the taste of one of my favorite beverages! Lemon in my glass of tea is also not really a necessity. I used to always put my lemon in but have now moved away from it. I find the only time I throw the lemon in, is when the tea is just not good. I most frequently get unsweet tea from Chick-fil-A. A large tea (32 oz) is $1.90 out of the door at Chick-fil-A and is served in a foam cup. I find their tea is almost always good and fresh. I even got a glass of tea last night at 7:30pm and it tasted like it was just brewed. For a few months, our favorite for tea was Moe’s. I would go into Moe’s just to get the tea and leave. Then, all of a sudden, Moe’s tea started to go downhill. I had it a few weeks ago and it was just okay.

Getting a glass of good tea can make or break your day. I will return my glass of tea at a restaurant if it is really bad. I just don’t want to waste the time drinking gross tea and don’t want those flavors in my mouth. If you are on a quest for good unsweet tea, here are some locations in Naples to try: Chick-fil-A, Michaelbobs, Outback and Panera. Do not get the tea from: Calistoga (it is not regular tea), Cheesecake Factory (it is not regular tea) or Chipotle (sadly it is not freshly brewed). Occasionally, you can get a good cup of tea from McDonalds if you go early in the morning. Panera is almost on the list that Moe’s is on because the last time I went the tea was really bad. I am maintaining it on my good list though because this was a one-time thing.

Unsweet tea is very refreshing and a nice addition to my daily routine of water. There is something just so fantastic about a great glass of tea that just makes your day. Unsweet tea is by far one of my most favorite drinks. I was hoping that this blog would help get my mind off of my quest of food this weekend but…it certainly hasn’t. Bring on the FOOD! (and throw in a glass of tea while you are at it!)