American Tea Culture?

30 comments

1. We drink hot tea and iced tea. Restaurants serve both. But iced tea is significantly more popular.

2. Nope! Depends on the restaurant specifically, but fancier sit down places will offer hot tea sometimes.

   Traditionally, we in the US like sweetened iced tea, and that’s more often available.

   I’m in Maryland, but have lived in Mississippi and Louisiana as well. Iced tea was more popular in the deep south.

3. I drink tea every day but I always drink it iced. Very rarely do I drink it hot…usually only if I’m sick.

4. Iced tea is way more popular, unsweetened, sweetened, and flavored. Lots of people drink hot tea but coffee is more popular. Most restaurants will have some sort of hot tea you can order. I had a cup of hot tea the other day for the first time in over a year probably

5. Hot tea is uncommon and only some restaurants have it (usually cafe’s and coffee shops will definitely). Also, you’d be surprised at the amount of people that just boil water on the stove or in the microwave for it when they do want it.

6. Iced tea is considered a more or less standard soft drink, especially in the south. Most restaurants will offer hot if you ask, but what you get is a roll of the dice.

   Some places that offer iced tea do have a bug up their ass about hot, and I don’t understand why. One place I went to had a big sign stating hot tea was available for $275, just to dissuade people.

7. I drink hot tea a lot during the winter (not so much in the summer) but when I do drink Iced tea, it’s unsweet and only in the summer when it’s hot outsie. (Cold/iced tea is actually a Russian invention.)

   I also use a proper kettle for my tea, and loose tea most of the time. I usually buy my teas (white, green, green jasmine, chai, Earl Gray etc.) through a special tea shop online.

   I don’t use milk in tea, though. That’s just weird to me. I usually use honey and lemon

   Edit: A lot of restaurants do offer hot tea but it’s pretty much a cup of hot water and a crappy Lipton tea bag on the side. It’s gross.

8. Iced tea is definitely way more common. I’m someone who kind of breaks from the norm here because I prefer my tea hot and my coffee cold.

   In many restaurants, if you order iced tea they will pour you some from a massive pitcher while if you order hot tea (if they even offer it) they will just give you some hot water and a cheap teabag to brew it yourself just like you would at home. Exceptions exist, especially in Asian restaurants.

9. I like unsweetened black iced tea. Don’t care about brand or flavor.

10. It’s true that Americans drink iced tea, it is not true that places *only* offer iced tea. In fact, there are more places that offer hot tea than there are places that offer iced tea (with most offering both), though it will usually just be a simple tea bag. At the workplace, there are plenty of people who opt for hot tea over coffee. It’s all a matter of taste, which is wide and varied.

11. It is true Americans drink iced. Some, not all, restaurants offer hot tea selections but iced tea is far more common.

    Plenty of Americans still drink traditional hot tea.

12. Ice tea and sun tea are the only teas I’ll drink.

13. There is no such thing as “tea culture” in the United States. Most people drink coffee instead of tea (like 20:1)

14. Hot tea is typically used as a coffee alternative but there is a following for tea as tea. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a restaurant only offer iced tea unless it was a fountain drink.

15. If you want to drink warm tea in the middle of July in central Texas, be my guest.

    Warm climate, cold drinks. And vice versa.

16. Different strokes. Different folks. Like most “is it true Americans” questions.

17. Places that serve coffee typically also serve hot tea. We have many, many places where you can get “afternoon tea” with a pot of your choice of tea accompanied by tea sandwiches and pastries.

    Bottled beverages would be various flavors of iced tea, and are consumed much more than hot tea

18. We prefer iced over hot. Sweetened.

    Restaurants offer both, but hot tea is generally a crappy brand of tea bag and a single cup of hot water. Refills/ topping off is rare on the hot, free and frequent on the iced.

    There are those of us with proper kettles, loose leaf and strainers at home. But milk is not a popular add in. Honey over sugar.

19. It depends on what state I’ve found. In WA State we do go hard for hot tea. Restaurants it’s more common to order iced teas however.

20. Iced tea where I live because we live in a humid subtropical climate. Nobody wants hot tea when it’s 38c out with 85% humidity. I prefer mine barely sweetened with lemon.

21. >Is it true that Americans drink tea cold?

    Yes, but not exclusively. We drink hot tea and iced tea. I think iced tea is more common.

    >And restaurants/cafes only offer iced tea?

    No. Most have at least cheap tea bags. But hot tea is just nowhere near as popular as iced tea. So even if a restaurant carries it, it’s not going to be ordered much.

    Coffee is king here. Tea is more of a niche thing here.

22. Iced tea is a lot more common, especially outside the household. We generally drink coffee, not tea. I wouldn’t say we have a “tea culture”.

    Personally, I can’t stand coffee or tea. Just give me some ice water please.

23. I grew up in the northeast, and “tea” means hot tea, iced tea meant cold tea. My husband is from the south and tea means “iced tea” and “hot tea”means tea. I am a big (hot) tea drinker and always find tea at restaurants, cafes, hotels, airbnbs etc but sometimes I will bring tea bags to relatives’ houses when I stay overnight and I know they don’t drink tea

24. Hot teas and cold teas are widely available in the US. Hot tea might not be available at every restaurant. There are shops here and there that are focused on hot teas.

    I drink unsweetened iced tea instead of soda pop at fast food restaurants. My husband makes hot tea at home daily.

25. Tea. Black. Iced. So sweet I can taste years being taken off my life.

    If it ain’t offered like that I don’t want it.

26. Nope. You can find hot tea at pretty much any Cafe/coffee shop, breakfast place, and some regular restaurants.

27. Being from the southern US I grew up with sweet iced tea. On a trip as a teenager with my father to Washington DC, I asked for “tea” as my beverage for lunch, expecting a tall glass of sweetened iced tea. I received a hot tea service complete with the pot, cream, sugar cubes, and lemon. One of the most elegant things I’d ever seen.

28. Iced tea is a very common beverage in America, particularly in the Southeast, where it’s often sweetened. Iced tea is very commonly served by restaurants and cafes, though many will also serve hot tea.

29. I like my tea in the harbor

30. It feels like hot tea drinkers in America have some weird subculture that seeks to reprimand those filthy iced tea drinkers. And I’m one of them.