A Brief History of Southern Iced Tea

A century before Iced Tea was an international, or even national sensation, the Old South, was sipping on cold tea punches to help relieve the long humid summers. These punches used green tea instead of black tea, and were usually well laced with alcohol.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century iced tea beverages separated from alcoholic punches, and became a staple of the growing temperance movement. Lemon or Mint leaves were added for flavor.

Even before refrigerators made their way into kitchens, iced tea recipes were found in Southern cook books.

Starting in the 1880’s black tea from Assam, India, or Ceylon, present-day Sir Lanka, was becoming more and more the staple. While these black teas were robust and responded well to sugar, one major reason for the change from green to black, was because this is what the British dominated tea world at this time had to offer.

Even though the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair recorded selling over $2,000 of iced tea and lemonade, the year iced tea went international was on a hot summer day at the 1904 Chicago World’s Fair.

Today roughly 80% of the tea consumed in the United States is enjoyed iced. And nobody has a taste for this sweet liquor more than the Old South.