The Not-So-Secret Ingredient People Are Adding To McDonald's Iced Tea
While you may have certain preferred customizations for your McDonald's food order, chances are your beverage order is fairly simple. However, as a TikTok video demonstrated, that doesn't mean you should overlook the ways you can tweak your drink of choice at the fast food chain. While the McNugget purveyor may not have fresh citrus or herbs for your iced tea, you can certainly repurpose some of the items more commonly used by coffee drinkers to create a more customized sip.
TikTok user @hasaneats posted a clip in which they filled a big plastic cup with iced tea, complete with a healthy dose of ice cubes. Rather than enjoying the beverage as is, though, they doctored it with two servings of coffee cream (yes, the same coffee cream you'd pour into your cup of joe). It's a bit of a twist on the dirty soda trend that was popular on TikTok for a stretch, in which soft drinks get leveled up with add-ins like flavored syrups and cream.
Many people commented that the additional ingredient wasn't exactly a groundbreaking invention, claiming that milk tea (or simply adding milk to hot tea) has been common for ages. However, the less-than-20-second clip did manage to snag over 21,800 likes from TikTok users, suggesting some were indeed interested in the simple combination, and might even try it out next time they found themselves at McDonald's.
Tips for mastering the chilled, creamy beverage
TikTok creator @hasaneats showed themselves pouring two packets of coffee creamer into their tall cup of iced tea, and that amount is a fairly good guideline. You want the cream to enhance the flavor of the tea, so less is more. If you're curious about the creamy, icy black tea concoction but don't love the high fat content of coffee creamer, you could also add in a small portion of regular milk, also available at the fast food chain.
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It's worth noting that you may want to check what type of iced tea your particular McDonald's serves before tossing the cream in, though. One user commented on the video that Canadian locations of the chain use a brand of iced tea that has lemon flavoring in it, which they claim causes the cream to curdle.
For best results with this particular hack, you'll want either the unsweetened iced tea served up in U.S. McDonald's locations, or for those who prefer things a little sweeter, the sweet tea, which contains the same blend of orange pekoe (which doesn't have any orange flavor) and pekoe cut black tea, just with a dose of added sugar. The former is the best option because, just as you can adjust the amount of cream used to suit your taste, you can also add more or less sugar to the unsweetened version depending on what you prefer.