Sweet tea & Coca Cola...How far from the south is it served?

[yanksfan6129]

As has been already mentioned, coca cola isn't a regional product. Grocery stores virtually everywhere carry both coke and pepsi, and as far as restaurants go, it is fairly evenly divided (at least outside of the south; having not been to the south, I can't say for sure, but given that area's regional loyalty to coke, I would imagine that few restaurants serve pepsi).

That having been said, I have interestingly noticed in my time living in western New York for college that most non-chain restaurants here carry pepsi products, not coke. In fact, I don't think I've been to a single (non-national-chain) restaurant in the greater Rochester area that serves coca-cola. So I suppose this area has a strong regional loyalty to pepsi (yuck).

All grocery stores in western New York, though, carry both.

[6a]

That having been said, I have interestingly noticed in my time living in western New York for college that most non-chain restaurants here carry pepsi products, not coke. In fact, I don't think I've been to a single (non-national-chain) restaurant in the greater Rochester area that serves coca-cola. So I suppose this area has a strong regional loyalty to pepsi (yuck).

Pepsi is headquartered in Westchester County, although it was invented in North Carolina.

[xcellntbuy]

In the antebellum capital of Georgia, 100 miles southeast of Atlanta, this is definitely Coke country, preferably with peanuts.

[cjk374]

My original post apparently needs to be explained a lil better.  I was referring to Coke & Pepsi being sold in restaurants.  I know Coke is sold world wide, but here in the US, I was noticing a pattern that the further north I went, Pepsi seemed to be in more restaurants instead of Coke products.  I was wondering if I was right about that train of thought.

[froggie]

I was noticing a pattern that the further north I went, Pepsi seemed to be in more restaurants instead of Coke products.  I was wondering if I was right about that train of thought.

We don't eat out a whole lot, but here in northeastern Vermont it seems to be about 50/50.  And on rare occasions, you find a place that offers both.

[rickmastfan67]

The Pittsburgh area seems to be mostly Coca-Cola.  About only Arby's has Pepsi here that I can recall.

[yanksfan6129]

That having been said, I have interestingly noticed in my time living in western New York for college that most non-chain restaurants here carry pepsi products, not coke. In fact, I don't think I've been to a single (non-national-chain) restaurant in the greater Rochester area that serves coca-cola. So I suppose this area has a strong regional loyalty to pepsi (yuck).

Pepsi is headquartered in Westchester County, although it was invented in North Carolina.

Maybe so, but if headquarters proximity was the main determinant, it would seem that restaurants in the greater New York area would all tend toward pepsi, which is not the case at all...in my experience it is only western New York that this is true (my restaurant experience in other parts of upstate New York is, however, quite limited). Nonetheless, in Westchester County itself there are plenty of non-chain coke restaurants, ditto New York City. And North Jersey.

[Scott5114]

As I mentioned in another thread, I think that Pepsi contracts are generally cheaper than Coke contracts; it would explain a lot of things. Such as why casinos, who give away all the free soda you can ask for, tend to dispense Pepsi, why you find it in small independents like Chinese places, etc.

I would guess the restaurants you do see Coke in either are large enough to negotiate better contracts with Coca-Cola, or else the owner thinks that having Coke on tap will help business enough to offset the cost.

I used to room with a Coca Cola employee. I'm a Pepsi guy but I had to switch to Coke because he didn't want Pepsi around the apartment at all.

I can't understand someone being that fanatically wedded to their employer. I probably would have told him where he could stick his Coke.

[english si]

McDonalds in the UK is Coke, but most other chain fast food are Pepsi.

Pubs are about 80-20 in favour of Pepsi in terms of fountain sodas. Lower-end sit-down restaurants similar.

Bottled sodas ordered in restaurants, however, are always Coke.

[BamaZeus]

Something I've been wondering about for a while that was hinted at a few posts above:

Have any of you been in a Mexican or Chinese restaurant that DIDN'T serve Pepsi?  I would almost swear that there's some secret "protection racket" going on to force these restaurants to all use Pepsi.  I have no objection to Pepsi products, but to me it's quite different than having all McDonalds or Firehouse restaurants using Coke.  Those are franchises vs. a large number of individual restaurants.

[hbelkins]

I used to room with a Coca Cola employee. I'm a Pepsi guy but I had to switch to Coke because he didn't want Pepsi around the apartment at all.

I can't understand someone being that fanatically wedded to their employer. I probably would have told him where he could stick his Coke.

I've heard it said that if a soft drink delivery person, who usually wears a uniform with the employer's logo on it, is seen consuming a competitor's product, it's considered a fireable offense. The Coke truck driver better not be caught drinking a Pepsi. It's possible that the Coke employee was fearful for his job if someone saw a Pepsi product at his residence.

[doorknob60]

Something I've been wondering about for a while that was hinted at a few posts above:

Have any of you been in a Mexican or Chinese restaurant that DIDN'T serve Pepsi?  I would almost swear that there's some secret "protection racket" going on to force these restaurants to all use Pepsi.  I have no objection to Pepsi products, but to me it's quite different than having all McDonalds or Firehouse restaurants using Coke.  Those are franchises vs. a large number of individual restaurants.

Los Betos, a local/regional Mexican fast food place in the Boise area serves Coke.

[Scott5114]

I used to room with a Coca Cola employee. I'm a Pepsi guy but I had to switch to Coke because he didn't want Pepsi around the apartment at all.

I can't understand someone being that fanatically wedded to their employer. I probably would have told him where he could stick his Coke.

I've heard it said that if a soft drink delivery person, who usually wears a uniform with the employer's logo on it, is seen consuming a competitor's product, it's considered a fireable offense. The Coke truck driver better not be caught drinking a Pepsi. It's possible that the Coke employee was fearful for his job if someone saw a Pepsi product at his residence.

Why would you have someone you couldn't trust not to try to get you in trouble at work in your residence in the first place? If anyone saw a Pepsi at his house, they would be able to see that he obviously lives with a roommate, and so it should be simple to say "Yeah, roommate likes it, can't do anything about it."

But then again I couldn't stomach an employer telling me what to do when I am not actively drawing money from them, anyway, so I would be a shitty Coke employee. So be it. You have 9 hours of my day to tell me what to do; for the rest, you can pound sand.

[The Nature Boy]

The guy also had a ton of Coca Cola decorations up. Either he was really paranoid about being fired or he was actually a big fan of Coke.

[triplemultiplex]

Ah, the cola wars....


Getting back to tea, I consume quite a bit of the stuff.  I'm in a vehicle for work all the time and I like to have something to sip on throughout the day.  Water is way too bland of course.  And chugging sugary sodas all day is a fast way to diabetes.  "Diet" beverages all taste like ass to me.  The sweetness hits the tongue wrong and ruins the flavor.  They make those 'sparkling waters' but the effervescence and the flavor without the sweetness is off-putting for me. Everything else is loaded with sugar.  Way too much for something I want to consume a lot of.

Then I found I liked drinking unsweetened ice tea.  And the best one for me is the Lipton stuff in the square bottles.  I think it's because they put citric acid in it and that tarts it up just a little.  So I go through lots and lots of it and get bummed out when I pit stop at a gas station that doesn't stock it.
I'd make my own, but that's just not convenient for me when I'm living out of hotels.  So Lipton it is.

Someone said Lipton is British?  Maybe at one point, but that's been a Pepsico brand for a long time now.

[huskeroadgeek]

Coke is easy enough to find here in Nebraska in grocery stores and some restaurants(like McDonalds). But it seems that most regional or local restaurants serve Pepsi. I don't drink tea, so I can't speak to the availability of sweet tea from personal experience, but I don't think it's served around here already sweetened. I do remember a story from my older brother when he was in Mississippi one time and ordered team in a restaurant. Having already been warned that tea in the South was sweet tea, he made sure to ask the waitress if he could have unsweetened tea. She kind of paused and gave a confused look and said that she guessed he could, but they would have to make a special batch just for him.

[english si]

Someone said Lipton is British?  Maybe at one point, but that's been a Pepsico brand for a long time now.

It's a Unilever* brand, with the ready-to-drink stuff being a joint 50-50 venture with PepsiCo.

The dry tea, which was the topic at hand "family-sized bags" is entirely Unilever.

*HQs in Rotterdam and London, so I guess it is Dutch-British, rather than just British.

[triplemultiplex]

Oh, the tangled webs our corporations weave...

[Road Hog]

Thanks to my doc, I cannot have over-sugary drinks anymore. I miss sweet tea.

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

Coke is ubiquitous.

Sweet tea is available at any McDonald's, which is ubiquitous.

[thenetwork]

I have gotten to the point where Coke vs. Pepsi depends on very specific factors:

-  If both are carried in glass bottles, I prefer Coca-Cola.

-  If I came by those portable Coke/Pepsi "hot dog stand" trailers (usually outside next to a store with some charity trying to raise money by selling hot dogs & pop), I prefer Pepsi (those port-a-stands use those pre-mixed huge canisters that pour a not-so carbonated product.

- If I had to choose a fast food restaurant for Coke or Pepsi alone, the "Coke Mix" used at McDonalds is the best tasting.

-  I prefer Pepsi in the plastic bottles, and Coke in the cans.

[BigRedDog]

Coke is ubiquitous.

Sweet tea is available at any McDonald's, which is ubiquitous.

Yeah, but sweet tea at McDonald's is like a hamburger at McDonalds. It's not that it's bad, it's just that it's "meh". One could do so much better.

[slorydn1]

I preferred Pepsi over Coke even when I was a kid in the Midwest long before I moved here to New Bern, NC (which is the very birthplace of Pepsi Cola I might add)


The tea question is a little more complicated. I always preferred my tea to be sweetened, but I grew up having to do it myself. Even McDonalds made you add the sugar yourself back then. I didn't get to try true sweet tea until the first time I visited New Bern as a teen in 1983.


My recollections of the 80's and early 90's was that we couldn't get tea that was sweetened by the batch as opposed to adding our own until we got to eastern sections of TN  (or southern VA if coming down from visiting family in NY/NJ first). And when we continued on to FL from here, once we left SC into GA on I-95, sweet tea disappeared yet again. Now it seems like it's everywhere, I even had it in El Paso when I visited my son who was then stationed at Ft Bliss back in 2011.

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

Coke is ubiquitous.

Sweet tea is available at any McDonald's, which is ubiquitous.

Yeah, but sweet tea at McDonald's is like a hamburger at McDonalds. It's not that it's bad, it's just that it's "meh". One could do so much better.

I've had much worse.

[Pete from Boston]

Coke is ubiquitous.

Sweet tea is available at any McDonald's, which is ubiquitous.

Yeah, but sweet tea at McDonald's is like a hamburger at McDonalds. It's not that it's bad, it's just that it's "meh". One could do so much better.

What I don't understand is, isn't the unsweetened tea and sugar that McDonald's has enough to make your sweet tea just how you like it?

Starbucks, by comparison, has ok iced coffee, but if you take their default, a large is sweetened with ten teaspoons of sugar!  That much sugar in anything is disgusting, in my opinion.  I sweeten my own, with three or four teaspoons, and to me that's just right.