American tea culture encompasses the methods of preparation and means of consumption of

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

within the context of the culture of the United States. American restaurants and workplaces typically offer machine-made

drip brew Brewed coffee is made by pouring hot water onto ground coffee beans, then allowing to brew. There are several methods for doing this, including using a filter, a percolator, and a French press. Terms used for the resulting coffee often reflect t ...

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

by default, while hot tea brewed by the cup with

tea bag A tea bag, or the compound teabag, is a small, porous, sealed bag or packet, typically containing tea leaves or the leaves of other herbs, which is immersed in water to steep and make an infusion. Originally used only for tea (''Camellia ...

s is available by request. Tea parties can be celebrated for many occasions, from the very small and intimate to the large family gatherings and celebrations. In the

U.S. south The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

a regional favorite called sweet tea – which is brewed, sweetened, and chilled in advance of consumption – may be served at all meals and throughout the day as an alternate to other beverages. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, about 85% 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."

Afternoon tea Tea (in reference to food, rather than the drink) has long been used as an umbrella term for several different meals. English writer Isabella Beeton, whose books on home economics were widely read in the 19th century, describes meals of va ...

, as a meal, is rarely served in the U.S. except in ritualized special occasions such as the

tea party A tea party is a social gathering event held in the afternoon. For centuries, many societies have cherished drinking tea with a company at noon. Tea parties are considered for formal business meetings, social celebrations or just as an afternoon ...

or an afternoon out at a high-end hotel or restaurant, which may also offer cream tea on their menu.

History

The American tea culture is a part of the history of the United States, as this beverage appeals to all classes and has adapted to the customs of the United States of America. In the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, now known as New York, tea was served with the best silver strainers, the finest porcelain cups and pots, and wooden

tea caddy A tea caddy is a box, jar, canister, or other receptacle used to store tea. When first introduced to Europe from Asia, tea was extremely expensive, and kept under lock and key. The containers used were often expensive and decorative, to fit in w ...

. Tea became a very popular drink in the colonies, and tea ceremonies were common among all classes. In

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

, tea leaves were boiled to create a bitter brew, then served as a vegetable side dish with butter. By the time of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, tea was drunk everywhere from the backwoods to the cities. At

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

. The view of tea in American culture began to shift when the British government introduced the Townshend Acts in 1767. Tea was taxed as part of these laws which made it less affordable for the American people. However, cheaper tea was still smuggled into America. Later in 1773 the Tea Act was put into place which allowed the East India Company to gain a monopoly on tea sales in America by being able to sell tea at prices that were cheaper than both the colonial tea importers and smugglers. The British government did this to be able to continue to collect tea taxes from the American colonies. However, the British were unable to hide the tax from the colonies and only managed to enrage the colonists. This led to the

Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell t ...

, where tea was dumped into the Boston Harbor, and other public protests of shipments of tea. As a consequence, tea drinking became unpatriotic.

Boycotts A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

of tea led to an increase in consumption of other beverages, such as

herbal tea Herbal teas, also known as herbal infusions and less commonly called tisanes (UK and US , US also ), are beverages made from the infusion or decoction of herbs, spices, or other plant material in hot water. Oftentimes herb tea, or the plain term ...

s infused with

peppermint Peppermint (''Mentha'' × ''piperita'') is a hybrid species of mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in many regions of the world.Euro+Med Plantba ...

, sage or

dandelions ''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...

. The American specialty tea market has quadrupled in the years from 1993 to 2008, now being worth $6.8 billion a year. Specialty

tea house A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment wh ...

s and retailers also started to pop up during this period.

U. S. tea publications

* TeaTime Magazine * World Tea News * T Ching

American Tea Masters

The American Tea Masters Association was founded to provide mastery-level training, education, and professional certification to individuals desiring to become tea masters and tea sommeliers.

Iced tea

Iced tea 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 Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans that enables people to quickly prepare hot coffee by adding hot water or milk to coffee solids in powdered or crystallized form and stirring. Instant coffee solids (also called sol ...

. 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 flavoring, 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 A bag-in-box or BiB is a container for the storage and transportation of liquids. It consists of a strong bladder (or plastic bag), usually made of several layers of metallised film or other plastics, seated inside a corrugated fiberboard box. ...

, and in others, it is simply poured from a separate container that contains freshly brewed tea. In restaurants, iced tea is usually served unsweetened except in the Southeastern

where 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 or gritty, undissolved sugar crystals in the tea. Some restaurants have begun serving iced tea that has been pre-flavored with fruit essences, particularly

passion fruit ''Passiflora edulis,'' commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to southern Brazil through Paraguay and northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its sweet, seedy ...

, often as the only iced tea made available. Iced tea's popularity in the United States has led to an addition to standard cutlery sets; the

iced tea spoon An iced tea spoon, also called a soda spoon or a latte spoon, is a thin spoon with a very long handle. It is used primarily in the United States, for stirring sugar or other sweeteners into iced tea, which is traditionally served in a tall glass. ...

is a standard flatware

teaspoon A teaspoon (tsp.) is an item of cutlery. It is a small spoon that can be used to stir a cup of tea or coffee, or as a tool for measuring volume. The size of teaspoons ranges from about . For cooking purposes and dosing of medicine, a teaspoonf ...

, but with a long handle, suitable for stirring sugar into the taller glasses commonly used for iced tea.

Tea bags

Roberta Lawson and Mary McLaren were given the patent for the tea bag. Tea bags

Thomas Sullivan is credited with inventing

s in 1908. Sullivan, a New York tea importer, inadvertently invented tea bags when he sent tea samples to clients in small

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...

bags to cut costs, and they mistakenly steeped the bags whole. The customers were more interested in the brewing convenience of the novel silk bags than his bulk teas. Sullivan did not realize this until they all started to complain that the orders they received were not in the same small bags the samples had been in. Silk was too expensive for everyday disposal; therefore, he invented tea bags made of gauze. The tea bag made of paper fiber was a later American invention. The nylon pyramidal tea bag containing broken teas and semi-leaf teas made an appearance in the marketplace for aficionados. The pyramidal shape - it is said - allows more room for the leaf to steep. Environmentalists prefer silk to nylon because of the health and biodegradability issues.Tea’s Got a Brand New Bag
the ''New York Times'', September 13, 2006. Most tea sold in the United States is sold in bags, although loose leaf teas and iced are also available.

Instant tea

In 1946, Nestle USA introduced the first instant tea,

Nestea Nestea is a Swiss brand of iced tea and pop beverages owned by Nestlé, manufactured by The Coca-Cola Company and distributed by Nestlé's beverage department in the United States and by Beverage Partners Worldwide (BPW),

Revival of fine teas

Yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the ...

and

white tea White tea may refer to one of several styles of tea which generally feature young or minimally processed leaves of the ''Camellia sinensis'' plant. Currently there is no generally accepted definition of white tea and very little internationa ...

s became difficult to find in the United States and even green tea had become uncommon because of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

's ban on exports to the USA which was lifted in 1971. After the resumption of trade between mainland China and the US, these teas typical to China re-entered the American market for the first time since the first two decades of the 20th century. In the early 1980s, a mini-revival of demand for better quality teas from all origins occurred in the United States. Prior to this time, much of the tea available in 20th century USA was blended specifically for gallon and half-gallon sized iced tea bags, with the quality of not "creaming down" (a creamy looking color that imparts to some teas after cooling down) when iced as a needed aspect; "clear-liquoring" teas were required. Most iced tea blends in the USA have traditionally been made from the teas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Argentina and Malawi. Even though there is no correlation between the quality of cloudy teas versus clear teas, clear iced teas were considered more attractive by the consumer. A recent rise in the demand for orthodox tea in both gallon and half-gallon iced tea bags, as well as 500 and 1,000 gram loose tea packs has caused manufacturers to reinstate orthodox manufacturing methods. This is a departure from the more common Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Argentinian and other nations' orthodox rotorvane tea-making method which has limitations and can not produce whole leaf black tea. The rotorvane method was adopted primarily to satisfy the demand for the smaller leaf sizes that fit into small (1-2 gram) tea bag blends worldwide starting in the early 20th century.

Varieties of teas

Currently, there is a revival of interest in the many varieties of

black tea Black tea, also translated to red tea in various East Asian languages, is a type of tea that is more oxidized than oolong, yellow, white and green teas. Black tea is generally stronger in flavour than other teas. All five types are made from ...

s throughout the United States. Additionally, other exotic teas (such as the vast variety of African, Asian and South American teas) and different brewing styles are becoming more commonplace. Teas from all origins and elevations, made in all methods of manufacture, are popular in the US, a tea market which has traditionally been more flexible and willing to try new types of drinks than tea markets throughout the old world. Decaffeinated tea is widely available in the United States, for those who wish to reduce the physiological effects of

caffeine Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine to ...

. There are many who are aware that the sales trend for decaf teas in the USA has shown a decreasing curve in demand at retail over the past 20 years, yet the high price of decaf remains unchanged. The reasons are twofold. Not only is decaf tea more expensive than non-decaf tea, the processes of decaffeinating that is commonly used depletes a great deal of the flavor out of the tea. The teas with the highest caffeine content fall far below the coffees with the lowest caffeine content. In this light, and considering that most people would prefer to buy better quality teas rather than the less flavorful decaf teas, the American consumer has been buying decaf tea slightly less in recent years. For those who are caffeine intolerant, however, the invention of decaffeinated tea has been welcomed as a refreshing and tasty alternative to caffeinated beverages.

U.S. regional tea traditions

Sweet tea

'' Sweet tea'', with sugar or corn syrup added (usually while the tea is still hot from brewing), the mixture then being cooled with ice, is ubiquitous in the Southeastern

. In these states, when a person says "tea", they normally mean 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 The culture of the Southern United States, Southern culture, or Southern heritage, is a subculture of the United States. The combination of its unique history and the fact that many Southerners maintain—and even nurture—an identity separate f ...

. 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. While

high fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), also known as glucose–fructose, isoglucose and glucose–fructose syrup, is a sweetener made from corn starch. As in the production of conventional corn syrup, the starch is broken down into glucose by enzy ...

is commonly used as a sweetener for commercially manufactured tea, more often consumers are unaware of this, and when made at home, refined sugar is used. In the Northern United States and the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

, "tea" generally means the hot beverage and iced tea is referred to by name.

Sun tea

''Sun tea'' is frequently brewed in temperate areas by placing tea and room-temperature water together in a glass jar left outdoors in direct sunlight. Steeping times are necessarily long, two to four hours. 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 can promote the development of bacteria, particularly '' Alcaligenes viscolactis'', the

Centers for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

and the Tea Association of the U.S.A. Inc. suggest storing sun-brewed tea in the refrigerator and discarding it after 24 hours.

Gallery

File:1856 tea BostonAlmanac.png, Tea & coffee warehouse advertisement listing teas for sale in the Boston Almanac, 1856, described as a 13-year-old business supplying "families, hotel keepers, boarding houses, ship's use, and schools" File:Interior view of the Oriental Tea Co's store by Getchell cropped.jpg, Interior view of the Oriental Tea Company store of Boston, 1800s File:1897 Chase and Sanborn BostonMA.png, In this advertisement from 1897, Chase & Sanborn, a Boston company that claims to be the first to can coffee, also dealt in imported tea, here a packaged tea from Formosa is shown File:The Library of Congress - (Sylvia Sweets Tea Room, corner of School and Main streets, Brockton, Mass.) (LOC).jpg, Sylvia Sweets Tea Room, corner of School and Main streets, Brockton, Mass., 1940–41

In popular culture

Architecture

* Chester teapot, a teapot shaped building made in 1938, and billed as "world's largest" to represent a local pottery industry

Idioms

*"Not my cup of tea" (not one's choice or preference) *"Tea" is used to refer to salacious or personal information or gossip in

African American Vernacular English African-American Vernacular English (AAVE, ), also referred to as Black (Vernacular) English, Black English Vernacular, or occasionally Ebonics (a colloquial, controversial term), is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urba ...

. Theories regarding the origin of the term vary, with one popular theory being that it originates from the practice of confiding with close friends at tea parties, a common practice in the American South.

Museums and tea farms

* Charleston Tea Plantation, owned by the Bigelow Tea Company *Finger Lakes Tea Company in

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

*East Texas Tea Company in Mount Vernon, Texas started tea cultivation in 2009 *Atealier (formerly East Texas Tea Company) in

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Coeur d'Alene ( ; french: Cœur d'Alène, lit=Heart of an Awl ) is a city and the county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the largest city in North Idaho and the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistica ...

The Great Mississippi Tea Company
in

Brookhaven, Mississippi Brookhaven is a small city in Lincoln County, Mississippi, United States, south of the state capital of Jackson. The population was 12,520 at the 2010 U.S. Census. It is the county seat of Lincoln County. It was named after the town of Brookha ...

Minto Island Tea Farm, Oregon
* Sparta Teapot Museum, a former American museum of more than 6,000 teapots, closed a few years after a funding controversy

Music

*" I'm a Little Teapot" (formally titled "The Teapot Song"), a children's song from 1939 and a related dance * My Cup of Tea *" "Tea for Two" (song), a song from the 1925 musical ''

No, No, Nanette ''No, No, Nanette'' is a musical comedy with lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, music by Vincent Youmans, and a book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play ''My Lady Friends''. The farcical story involves t ...

Bibliography

*Griffiths, John (2011). Tea: A History of the Drink that Changed the World. London: Carlton Publishing. pp. 16,18,63, 78–79, 106. *Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell (1841). Early American Cookery. Boston: The Good Housekeeper. p. 112. *Heiss, M.L and Heiss, R.J. (2007). The Story of Tea: A cultural history and drinking guide. Berkeley, CA: 10 Speed Press. p. 80. *Mair, Victor and Hoh, Erling (2009). The true history of tea. New York: Thames and Hudson. p. 201. *Stern, Tracy (2007). Tea Party: 20 Themed Tea parties with recipes for every occasion, from fabulous showers to intimate gatherings. New York: Random House. pp. 12–18.

References

{{Teas Tea culture by country

Tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

Culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

Cultural history of the United States