The story of America's nation’s independence begins with tea. At the celebrated Boston Tea Party of 1773, three shiploads of tea were dumped into the harbor in protest over high taxes on the tea being re–exported from Britain to the American colonies. In our formative years, we were a green tea–consuming culture. Until WWII, tea was the most widely consumed hot beverage in the United States.
Most notably, the US has made its contribution to global tea culture by popularizing iced tea. It was first introduced at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. A group of tea producers from India had set up a booth to promote their black teas. The sweltering summer heat and humidity prompted them to serve the tea over ice, just to get people to try it. In the 100 years since then, consumption of iced tea in the US has grown to over 40 billion cups per year.
In recent years, demand for specialty premium teas in North America has risen dramatically. New tea shops and tea houses are opening weekly, making quality tea, innovative tea drinks and tea-related products readily accessible to many Americans.
