Not Popeyes, Not Chick-Fil-A: The Best Fast Food Sweet Tea Comes From This Southern Chain

Sweet tea is known as the unofficial drink of the South — whether it's from grandma's pitcher or the local meat and three. Fortunately, for those who love this refreshing beverage, plenty of national fast food chains have sweet tea on the menu as well. And while most of them probably don't hold a candle to grandma's homemade version, some chains have created a pretty fantastic drink.

When we ranked 20 fast food sweet teas, we found that the best one was by Raising Cane's. Known for its simple menu of chicken fingers (which are marinated for 24 hours — the secret to why they taste so good) and fries, Raising Cane's is no stranger to focusing on just a few things and doing those things well. The chain's sweet tea fits that bill perfectly.

Raising Cane's regular sweet tea costs $2.72 (prices might vary slightly by location) for a 22-ounce cup. It's served with that delightful, pebble-style ice, and it hits all the right notes in terms of quality sweet tea. It's made from real brewed tea leaves sweetened with cane sugar — none of that fake stuff which many of the other chains offer. It's very well balanced, has a nice flavor of the tea leaves, and we thought it was flat out a perfect 10. In comparison, Chick-fil-A's version came fifth and had a not very strong tea flavor, whereas Popeye's came last for having an excessively sweet and odd taste.

Let's be clear: This sweet tea was so good we would have happily drunk a gallon of it — in different sittings of course! And, in fact, we actually could have purchased a jug of Raising Cane's sweet tea, as the chain sells it by the gallon for $6.99 as well. When you consider the regular sweet tea is 22 ounces and costs about 40% of the jug's price point — that's quite the deal.

According to employees on Reddit, Raising Cane's has its own proprietary blend of tea, which proves the chain goes out of its way to make a quality sweet tea. Many customers also comment on the pellet-sized ice, which really does take the tea to the next level in terms of freshness and coldness. You can also order a regular size half-sweet tea, half-lemonade — an Arnold Palmer — from Raising Cane's for $2.89 if you so choose. One reviewer said the sweet tea carries the show in the chain's Arnold Palmer as well, and gave the tea element a nine out of 10 while scoring the lemonade just a four.

In terms of other high-quality fast food sweet tea, Cookout, Whataburger, and McCallister's Deli all finished in our top four. The bottom dwellers, surprisingly in some cases, were Swig, Popeye's, Zaxby's, Bojangles (quite a shock there), and — in dead last — none other than KFC. While both KFC and Raising Cane's specialize in chicken, it appears only Raising Cane's knows how to brew up a good sweet tea. So, next time you visit, if you appreciate a quality-brewed sweet beverage, skip the soft drink and order that sweet tea.