February 4, 2022
The Drifting Leaf
Humble Origins of Iced Tea
Iced Tea is extremely popular to its country of origin the United States. According to the Tea Association of the USA, Americans consume over 2.2 billion gallons of Iced Tea every year, 60% of which is in the Southern States exclusively.
Iced Tea can be followed back to the 17th Century to the US state of South Carolina, the only colony in the Americas producing tea plants, with credit due to French explorer and botanist André Michaux.
Iced versions of tea began appearing in cookbooks in the 18th Century. Cold green tea punches mixed with alcohol were very popular by the 19th Century. In 1879, HouseKeeping magazine published a recipe by Marion Cabell Tyree of Old Virginia. The recipe called for Green Tea leaves to be boiled and left to infuse for one day. Then poured in an ice-filled glass and sweetened with sugar. Great tasting on its own or complimented by adding lemon.
In 1904 at the World's Fair in St. Louis, a vendor named Richard Blechynden discovered that an iced version of his hot tea was quite appealing to the crowds during the hot summer days on the fairground. The attendees who hailed from all corners of the country loved it so much, they took the idea of Iced Tea home and a new beverage was absorbed into the fabric of the nation.
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