170 calories in a small Sweet Tea, all of it sugar, typically $2.00 on a $1.69 to $3.79 band.
Sugar accounts for every one of the 170 calories McDonald's gives a small Sweet Tea. The McDonald's sweet tea price recorded from published US listings in August 2026 ran from $1.69 to $3.79, with $2.00 in the middle, the widest band of any drink in this section. Pour the same brewed tea without the sugar and the count drops to zero, at much the same money.
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What you need
5 itemsSweet Tea (Small) price and calories
| Item | Typical price | Price range | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweet Tea (Small) | $1.69 | $1.69 – $3.79 | 170 Cal |
If something goes wrong
Sweet tea has more calories than a soft drink at the same price
- Cause
- Sweetened tea is brewed with sugar dissolved into the batch, so a small cup lands at 170 against 190 for a Sprite and 200 for a Coca-Cola. Money is the same because the cup is the same.
- Fix
- Order the unsweetened version if the count matters, since it is the identical brew at zero calories. Half and half poured from both urns is the middle option where a restaurant will do it.
Asking for less sugar in the sweet tea does not work
- Cause
- Sugar goes in during brewing rather than at the dispenser. Nothing can be dialled back once the batch is made, unlike a syrup dose on the fountain.
- Fix
- Ask for a cup of unsweetened topped with sweet tea, or take the unsweetened and sweeten it at the table. Both give control the sweet urn cannot.
One branch charges $1.69 and another wants $3.79 for the same tea
- Cause
- A 124% spread on a cup of tea is what franchise pricing looks like at its extremes. Roughly 95% of US restaurants under the brand set their own board, and captive sites sit at the top of every band.
- Fix
- Plan around $2.00 and treat anything near $3.79 as a location premium rather than a price rise. The app will show the board for a specific restaurant before the order is placed.
The tea tastes different from one visit to the next
- Cause
- Tea is brewed in-restaurant several times a day and served over ice that melts at its own rate, so strength moves with the batch and the wait.
- Fix
- Order it fresh at a busy hour if strength matters, and ask for light ice.
The 170 calories are the sugar, and the sugar is optional
Two versions of one brew sit side by side on the counter. Same leaf, same water, same cup. One carries 170 calories in a small and the other carries none, while the price band underneath them barely moves. Nowhere else on the menu is a swap this cheap worth this much.
Sweet Tea readings in August 2026 ran from $1.69 to $3.79, with $2.00 in the middle. That top figure is worth staring at. It is 124% above the bottom of the same band, the widest spread of any drink on the section table, and it came from the kind of captive site where every line runs high. A cup of tea is the cheapest thing a restaurant can make, which is exactly why the margin on it varies so much between operators.
What's in it
Brewed black tea and dissolved sugar, chilled and poured over ice, with the sugar added during brewing rather than at the dispenser. That detail matters more than it sounds. A fountain drink can be diluted at the machine; a sweetened batch cannot, so the only way to soften it is to mix the cup with unsweetened tea or to switch entirely. McDonald's puts a small at 170 calories, and since tea itself contributes nothing, all 170 belong to the sugar. The rest of the panel could not be read: carbohydrate, sodium, caffeine and the allergen list are written into the product page by a script that runs in the browser, so a plain read returns the calorie sentence alone.
Is it worth it
Judged on money the answer is easy, because $2.00 for a cup of brewed tea is among the better rates on the menu. Judged on calories it depends entirely on which urn the crew reaches for. The sweet cup at 170 costs the same as the unsweetened cup at zero, which makes the sugar a free 170 calories rather than a paid one, and free calories are the ones people forget to count. Set against the soft drinks the tea looks better than it is: 170 sits below Coca-Cola at 200 and Hi-C Orange Lavaburst at 220, close to Sprite at 190, so a sweet tea is a soft drink by another name as far as the count goes. Anyone drinking two a day is looking at the calorie load of a small meal, taken through a straw and never noticed.
Prices here were recorded from published US listings on 19 August 2026, and the calorie figure is McDonald's.
Sweet Tea (Small) at a glance
- McDonald's price
- not published
- Calories
- 170, from McDonald's
- Typical price
- $1.69
Questions people ask
How much is a sweet tea at McDonald's?
$2.00 is the middle of the August 2026 readings, which ran from $1.69 to $3.79 for a small. McDonald's publishes no price of its own, so the restaurant's board is the only figure that binds.
How many calories are in a small McDonald's Sweet Tea?
170, published by McDonald's, and effectively all of it sugar. The unsweetened version of the same brew is zero, which makes the swap one of the largest free calorie savings in the drinks section.
Can McDonald's make sweet tea with less sugar?
Not from the sweet urn, because the sugar is dissolved during brewing. A cup mixed from both urns, or unsweetened tea sweetened at the table, is the practical way around it.
Is this page an official McDonald's price list?
No. The 170-calorie figure is McDonald's; the prices are not, since the company publishes none for tea. Every reading here carries the date it was taken.
Can this site tell me the price at my local McDonald's?
It cannot. About 95% of US restaurants under the brand are franchised and each sets its own board, which is what a $1.69 to $3.79 spread on one cup means.