Ice Tea vs. Hot Tea: A Southern Tea Tradition
Recently, I heard a woman on the radio refer to drinking an “ice tea.” Some listeners may have assumed she misspoke—but she hadn’t.
That single phrase marked her unmistakably as a Southerner.
In the South, it’s often ice tea, not “iced tea.” To avoid debate, I eventually adopted a simpler term: cold tea.
Growing Up with Sweet Tea
For the first nineteen years of my life, tea meant one thing: cold, sweet tea. In my North Carolina family, coffee was always hot—but tea was always served cold, never the other way around.
Back then, choices were simple. We bought familiar brands like Lipton or A&P, brewed the tea in a saucepan, and poured it through a well-worn strainer into a sturdy glass pitcher.
Then came the essentials:
- Generous amounts of sugar
- Ice cubes from metal trays
I still have that old pitcher. It somehow seems much smaller than I remember.
The Arrival of Instant Tea
When instant tea appeared in the 1950s, it took some time before my family embraced it.
Eventually, it changed how tea was served—individual glasses instead of large pitchers, stirred with long-handled iced tea spoons from the silverware set.
It was a small shift, but a memorable one.
Discovering Hot Tea
Despite living in a household full of coffee drinkers, I never acquired a taste for it. That left a gap—until we met new friends who introduced us to something different.
On our first visit, our hostess asked, “Would you take tea?”
I remember thinking—where am I supposed to take it?
But that simple question changed everything.
Soon, my husband and I were enjoying strong, freshly brewed hot tea, sharing long conversations around the kitchen table. It became part of our daily life and our connection with each other.
A Lifelong Appreciation of Tea
Over time, tea became more than just a beverage. It became an experience:
- Exploring different tea varieties
- Collecting teaware and accessories
- Enjoying quiet moments of reflection
- Sharing conversations over a pot of tea
Today, high-quality teas from around the world are easy to find, even in small towns across the South.
And yet, among my family and many of my friends, I remain something of an oddity:
“She drinks hot tea.”
Still Choosing Hot Tea
When that comment comes up, I simply smile, reach into my bag, and pull out a favorite like
Darjeeling tea from Taylors of Harrogate.
Then I say, “I’ll just take a cup of tea.”
And that’s all there is to it.
CurtissAnn is the author of several books. Visit CurtissAnnMatlock.com for more information.
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