American Tea Culture

American Tea Culture refers to the methods of preparation and means of consumption of teain United States.

Afternoon tea is rarely served in the United Statesexcept in ritualized special occasions such as the tea partyor an afternoon out at a high-end hotel or restaurant, which may also have cream teas on the menu. In the United States, about 80% of the tea consumed is served cold, or iced. Iced tea is more frequently consumed during periods of hot weather or in lower latitudes, and hot tea is likewise more common in colder weather. Any confusion when one is visiting different parts of the country can easily be solved by explicitly asking for either "hot tea" or "iced tea."

Iced tea debuted in 1904in the United States and is usually prepared from bagged tea. In addition to tea bags and loose tea, powdered "instant iced tea mix" is available in stores. This is made by preparing tea and then dehydrating it, similar to instant coffee. Iced tea can be purchased, like soda, in canned or bottled form at vending machines and convenience stores; usually, this pre-made tea is sweetened with corn syrup, and sometimes some other flavouring, such as lemon or raspberry, is added. Also, like other soft drinks, it can be purchased as a fountain drink, though in some establishments it is pumped from a Bag-In-Box, and in others, from a separate container near the fountainthat contains freshly brewed tea.

In restaurants, iced tea is usually served unsweetened except in the Southern United Stateswhere iced tea is much more common and is available both sweet and unsweetened and "iced tea" is often considered to be "sweet tea" unless otherwise specified. The reason for the presweetening is that it may be difficult to dissolve sugar in iced tea, even with constant stirring. The result can be insufficiently sweetened tea and/or gritty, undissolved sugar crystals in the tea.

Iced tea's popularity in the United States has led to an addition to standard flatwaresets; the iced tea spoonis a standard flatware teaspoon, but with a long handle, suitable for stirring sugar into the taller glasses commonly used for iced tea.

Hot tea is often consumed "black" in the United States but sugar or honey can be added; milk, cream, or cream substitutes are less common. It is also common for tea to be flavoured by adding a slice of lemon, or lemon juice. When cream is added to tea, it may be called "English style".

Visitors from countries where hot tea consumption is more ubiquitous frequently complain that American restaurants are not familiar with proper tea preparation. Instead of pouring boiling water over tea leaves or a tea bag, waiters usually bring the customer a tea bag and a cup (or small pot) of hot water in which to dunk it.

Traditionally, red and white teas were difficult to find in the United States, and even green tea was uncommon; however, they have recently become more popular. Recently, many coffeehouses have begun to serve a milky, sweet, spicedtea called "chai", based on Indianmasalachai. Bubble teafrom Taiwanhas also become popular in the United States in recent years. This beverage contains sweet tapiocapearls, which settle to the bottom of the glass or cup prior to serving.

Decaffeinated tea is widely available in the United States, for those who wish to reduce the physiological effects of caffeine.

U.S. regional tea traditions

Sweet tea, with sugaror corn syrupadded (usually while the tea is still hot from brewing), the mixture then being cooled with ice, is ubiquitous in the core Southern United States. In these states, when a person says "tea", he or she normally means sweetened iced tea. The unsweetened variant is often called "unsweet" tea instead of unsweetened or plain. The consumption of sweet tea with many meals leads to it sometimes called the "table wine of the South" and this trait is considered an important marker of the culture of the Southern United States.^{[{{fullurl:Template:FULLPAGENAME}}#endnote_#]} Southern sweet tea is made by brewing tea at double strength, adding a large amount of sugar to the freshly-brewed hot tea, and diluting to the proper strength. It is served over a glass full of ice cubes and is often garnished with a slice of lemon.

In the Northern United States, "tea" generally means the hot beverage.

In Texasand much of the Western United States, iced tea almost always means freshly-brewed unsweetened tea, generally served in a tall glass and garnished with a lemonwedge. Sweetenersare then added by the customer (or not) according to taste. Free refills are a matter of course in most restaurants.

Sun tea is frequently brewed in temperate areas by placing tea and water together in a glass jar left outdoors in direct sunlight. Steeping times are necessarily long. Tea may also be brewed with no heat at all by simply immersing the tea bags or infuser in room-temperature water and allowing a period of several hours (typically overnight) for steeping. Since sun brewing occurs in a temperature range that promotes the development of bacteria, particularly Alcaligenes viscolactis, the Centers for Disease Controland the National Tea Associationsuggest brewing sun tea in the refrigerator, and discarding it after 24 hours.

Alcoholic "tea"

The so-called Long Island Iced Teausually contains no tea; it is an alcoholic cocktailthat looks like and (if made correctly) tastes similar to iced tea. A variant recipe uses actual iced tea as a mixer.

Historical background

During the colonial period, tea and tea taxes were a bone of contention between the American Colonies and England. This led to the Boston Tea Party, a precipitating event of the American Revolution, where angry Colonists destroyed the tea cargo of three British ships by dumping them into Boston Harbor. Boycotts of tea by the colonists during this period led to an increase in consumption of other beverages, such as coffeeor herbal tea. To this day, coffee remains more popular than tea in the United States.

References and further reading

1. ^  Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris, eds. Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Chapel Hill, NC, USA: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1989.

Current Trends

Not only is there a come back of many varieties of black teas being used throught the United States but also other exoctic teas such as the vast variety of Asian teas, also some Americans are learning about the different countries brewing styles, all of this is include in the subject of Tea Culture.

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It uses material from the Wikipedia article American Tea Culture.