The sweet iced tea beverage popular in the South is called sweet tea. It is usually made by brewing black tea, adding sugar while the tea is still hot, and chilling it over ice.
Sweet tea became a defining beverage of the Southern United States, where it is commonly served with lunch, dinner, barbecue, and other regional foods. The oldest known printed recipe appeared in the 1878 community cookbook Housekeeping in Old Virginia by Marion Cabell Tyree.
Sweet tea is more than ordinary iced tea with a little sugar. Southern versions are often brewed strong and heavily sweetened before being diluted with ice or water. Lemon, peach, raspberry, or mint may be added, but these flavorings are optional.
An Arnold Palmer is different: it combines iced tea with lemonade and may be sweetened, but it is not the standard name for Southern sweet tea. In many Southern restaurants, “tea” may mean sweet tea unless “unsweet” is requested.