McDonald’s employee reveals how iced tea is really made

You’re lovin’ it — but is it too good to be true?

A McDonald’s employee revealed how the fast food chain’s iced tea is made — and she claims it’s a lot sweeter than most customer’s might think.

TikTok user @gia2bad claims she’s letting viewers in on how the beloved drink is really made, leaving them stunned at what they’ve allegedly been consuming.

In the now-viral video — which has garnered 1.3 million views and 101,700 likes as of Monday morning — Gia exposed the restaurants for putting an entire 4-pound bag of sugar into their iced tea.

“If y’all were wondering why the sweet tea so sweet at McDonald’s,” she wrote in the text over the video, which showed her emptying a bag of White Satin sugar into a bucket of tea and stirring it up.

“Yes we use a whole bag sometimes 2,” she added in the caption.

Viewers rushed to the comments to express their shock.


A McDonald's employee has shocked foodies by revealing how the fast food chain's iced tea is made - noting that it's a lot sweeter than you would expect.
A McDonald’s employee has shocked foodies by revealing how the fast food chain’s iced tea is made — noting that it’s a lot more sugar than you would expect.
TikTok/gia2bad

A McDonald's employee has shocked foodies by revealing how the fast food chain's iced tea is made - noting that it's a lot sweeter than you would expect.
The McDonald’s website lists a large sweet tea as having 40 grams of sugar, although employees are suggesting there’s significantly more than that.
McDonald’s

“I been looking at this for hours,” one person commented.

“Would you like some tea with your sugar,” someone quipped.

“Jaw = dropped that’s literally cancer,” another wrote.

“I’m about to get diabetes,” one commented.

“I remember I took a sip and almost passed out,” a viewer added. “it was so f – – king sweet It was like ten cans of diabetes.”


A McDonald's employee has shocked foodies by revealing how the fast food chain's iced tea is made - noting that it's a lot sweeter than you would expect.
Gia exposed the fast food chain for putting an entire 4-pound bag of sugar into their iced tea.
TikTok/gia2bad

However, some people in the comments section claimed that they don’t use this method at their respective McDonald’s, noting that different locations have different ways of making the iced tea.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that added sugars should make up less than 10% of total daily calories, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.

For example, a 2,000-calorie daily diet would permit 200 calories worth of added sugars, or 50 grams, per day.

The McDonald’s website lists a large sweet tea as having 40 grams of sugar, although employees are suggesting there’s significantly more than that.

The Post has reached out to the fast food chain for comment.


A McDonald's employee has shocked foodies by revealing how the fast food chain's iced tea is made - noting that it's a lot sweeter than you would expect.
Gia’s video showed her emptying an entire bag of White Satin sugar into a bucket of tea and stirring it up.
TikTok/gia2bad

Meanwhile, Gia isn’t the only McDonald’s worker who has claimed that they use 4 pounds of sugar to make the popular summer drink.

A former manager for the golden arches eatery said in a TikTok that went viral in 2022 that they do indeed use that much sugar for their sweet tea.

“I was a manager at a McDonald’s. I worked there for about three years,” Nicole Weiser said, per Yahoo!’s Eat This, Not That! blog.

Explaining that they kept the sweet tea in a 4-gallon red container and the unsweetened tea in a 4-gallon green container, she added, “For every 4 gallons of the red jug, the sweet tea, there was a full 4-pound bag of sugar emptied into it.”