Ottawa Foodies

There's other people in Ottawa who want real iced tea! I tried so many times this summer to be served good iced tea in Ottawa & area. Finally I started asking for a pot of tea and a big glass of ice. If need be partway through my meal I ask for another glass of ice. One place in Merickville seemed proud that they only carried canned artificial ice tea.

Fresh Foodie, I totally agree with your comment on Americans and iced tea - it was definitely a refreshing treat to have brewed, unsweetened iced tea with our meals when we were in Florida a couple of years ago. (It was also great that most of the wait staff recognized that we were Canadian and told us it was unsweetened - oh the wonderful staff at Disney World...)

Awesome! Thanks all. I'll add those vendors for this item. Are there any actual *restaurants* that serve it? Iced tea goes so well with a meal!

The Tea Store too. And they also have the simple syrup available which allows for it to be brewed unsweetened, but sweetened to taste later on, if you're one of *those* people, like me, who needs it sweet.

Bridgehead! At most locations, their black iced tea is just brewed black tea. They expect you to put in your own sweetener if you want any. They have some sugar syrup for this purpose.

Lonestar *used* to serve real iced tea many years ago but then they switched to the horrible syrupy stuff. Does anyone know of any restaurants in town that serve real chilled brewed tea?

Iced tea is one area where Americans outclass us in a big way. When you ask for an iced tea in most states you get a tall glass of real cold tea on ice. I think the default presence or absence of sugar depends on the particular state. It's quite a controversial topic, with some preferring no sugar and others wanting sugar, but only if it's added while the tea is hot rather than after it is served. A wedge of lemon is good too.

There is a little bistro over here in Hull (near Portage) called "Le Troquet" which has amazing fresh and inexpensive food, a great beer selection (with a 2 for $5 happy hour deal on Boreal beer) and they also have real unsweetened iced tea. I order it everytime I go there for lunch and everytime the waitress says "Just to let you know it's real unsweetened ice tea" and I say "Perfect!".

Great little place to pop over to on the weekend for a sit on the patio and have some good food and beers.