Iced Tea
Cold tea drink, often sweetened.
What is Iced Tea? Iced Tea is a chilled, non-alcoholic beverage made from brewed tea, typically the leaves of Camellia sinensis, served cold over ice and consumed either sweetened or unsweetened. First documented in 1823 by Marguerite Countess of Blessington, who wrote of sipping it in Naples, it grew into a daily staple long before refrigeration was common. Its mass popularity in the United States dates to the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, and today iced tea accounts for roughly 85% of all tea consumed in the U.S. Refreshing, versatile, and easy to prepare at home, it sits alongside lemonade and sparkling water as one of the defining non-alcoholic options on a modern table.
Origins and Spread
The earliest printed recipes appear in U.S. cookbooks of the 1870s, including the Buckeye Cookbook of 1876 and Housekeeping in Old Virginia in 1878. Cold tea spread quickly across American households during that decade, helped along by the gradual arrival of ice as a domestic commodity. The decisive cultural moment came at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, where Richard Blechynden promoted chilled tea to fairgoers escaping the summer heat — a story that fixed iced tea in the American imagination.
Industrial production followed much later. The first bottled iced tea made at industrial scale was produced in 1983 by Switzerland's Bischofszell Food Ltd, opening the door to the supermarket category we know today. In China, iced tea gained mass popularity in the late 1980s alongside the spread of household refrigeration, and from there it became a global format with strong regional identities.
Preparation and Styles
Black tea is the most common base, though herbal infusions are also served cold. Three preparation methods dominate at home: hot-brew then chill, which delivers the strongest flavor; sun tea, steeped in sunlight in a clear jar and traditional in the American South, though it carries some bacterial risk; and cold brew, steeped overnight in the refrigerator for a softer, less tannic cup. The standard serving is cold over ice in a tall glass, sweetened with sugar or syrup or left unsweetened depending on preference.
Regional styles run wide. Sweet tea, heavily sweetened, is strongly associated with the U.S. South. Thai iced tea is popular internationally, often prepared with milk and sweetener, while Hong Kong-style includes lemon tea and milk tea variants. In Vietnam tra da is integral to street food culture and served very strong, and in South America iced mate and Paraguayan tereré are related cold tea traditions. Common flavorings include lemon, peach, mint, and various fruit syrups.
Notable Variations
The Arnold Palmer is a non-alcoholic mix of half iced tea and half lemonade, named after the golfer who ordered it in Palm Beach, Florida in the late 1960s. It has since become a standard request at cafes and clubhouses across the U.S. and beyond.
Worth noting for anyone reading a menu: Long Island Iced Tea is an alcoholic cocktail despite the name, built from several spirits and only colored to resemble tea. It is entirely distinct from the standard non-alcoholic iced tea described here.
