What's so special about the viral Sprite lemon tea drink?

If you spend any amount of time on social media watching people cook, taste new foods, or mix up drinks, you’ll see that trends come and go. Some trends stick around because they’re just smart and other trends are novel at first but fade away quickly.

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Drinks can trend, too and this time there’s a Sprite concoction that’s showing up everywhere online, and it sounds like it could be either really great or really awful, with no in-between.

Sprite Lemon Tea

Sprite is already a sweet drink and this lemon-lime soda is super refreshing when cold. But it can also be a little too sweet sometimes. It is unknown who first decided to add a couple of tea bags to a bottle of Sprite and let it sit for a bit. Speculations claim that the idea might have stemmed from a flavour combination of half iced tea and half lemonade.

But you don't need to know the pioneer to enjoy this drink.

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When TikTok’s Hisham Rouse posted his version of this drink in July, it received over 15 million views. He mentioned in the comments that “Sprite tea” goes back to Myspace and Friendster days. It seems it’s been popular for over 20 years, but suddenly it’s trending.

How to make Sprite Lemon Tea

Push two regular black tea bags down into a 20-ounce bottle of Sprite.
Put the cap back on and allow the tea bags to cold steep in the Sprite for 1 hour.
Pour the Sprite-tea mixture into an 8-ounce glass filled with ice.
Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and stir.

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The bitter tannins in the tea bags counterbalance the sugar in the Sprite, bringing some complexity. The lemon juice adds some acidity. The end result is something unexpectedly better than the sum of its parts.

For a 2-litre bottle of Sprite, just add 6 or 7 tea bags. Just remember that the longer you leave the tea bags in, the stronger the tea flavour will be.

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You can take all the tea bags out after an hour and drink the bottle over a few days, or you can leave the tea bags in and see how you like the stronger tea flavour as it develops.