Heaven of Tea

I’m always interested in tea trivia (okay, I’m interested in all trivia) so I thought I would share some interesting facts about tea consumption in the U.S. Think you know everything about tea? Try out these “tea truths”:

• Worldwide, tea is the most popular beverage except for water. But in the U.S.? Tea is 6th, behind water, soft drinks, coffee, beer, and milk (yes, beer is 4th, ahead of milk). However tea consumption is growing rapidly in the U.S. - much faster than the drinks ahead of it on the list.
• Two big contributions to tea drinking were created in the U.S.: iced tea and the tea bag. At the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Richard Blechynden was trying to sell hot tea without any success (it was hot). He decided to put it over ice in an attempt offer a cool beverage and iced tea was born (there is some question as to whether this was the original invention of iced tea or not).  In 1907, Thomas Sullivan (a tea seller) started selling teas in silk bags that could be used to make the tea without an infuser or filter. This was the start of the tea bag (which now mostly holds “tea dust” rather than full tea leaves).
• Do you like your tea hot or iced? In America, 85% of tea is consumed over ice, which makes us quite different than the rest of the world. Also, 82% of American tea is black teas and only 17% is green (much different than tea consumption in the East, for example).
• When you think of tea, do you think of the British? If so, you might be surprised to realize that tea was introduced to the colonies around the same time it was introduced in Britain, approximately 1650. In fact, tea was more popular than coffee prior to the Boston Tea Party - at which point it became difficult to find good tea in the colonies!
• Most of the U.S. consumes unsweetened teas, however the Southern states still cling to their sugar and drink mostly sweetened tea (it’s difficult to find “sweet iced tea” in other areas of the country). Originally, most sweet tea in the U.S. was green tea, however it is now black tea (green tea was difficult to obtain during World War II, making black more popular).
• Each day more than 127 million Americans drink tea. Around 60% of the tea consumed is from tea bags in the U.S. But change is happening: loose-leaf teas are gaining in popularity because of their freshness and higher quality, among other things. On average, Americans drink 0.75 pounds of tea a year, which equates to just under half a cup a day.

For more details on the history of tea and facts about tea, see these references:

• Wikipedia entry on Tea, Iced Tea, and Sweet Tea
• The Tea Industry in the US has an informative website at TeaUSA.org with more information. And see especially their Tea Fact Sheet.