Tea Blog

As I write this, we’re approaching the midpoint of summer, and if that’s not a prime time for iced tea drinking, I’m not sure what is. It’s hard to say with any certainty who might have been the first to come up with iced tea. But we here in America are enthusiastic fans of it and have been for a while. As the common wisdom goes, at least 80 percent of the tea we drink here is of the iced variety.

Which can take many different forms, including bottled tea of every imaginable flavor and variety, the syrupy sweet tea that’s favored in the American South and occasionally something less common, something like a cold-brewed homemade iced tea made from a fine premium Japanese or Chinese green tea variety.

Iced tea has never meant just one thing to all people and if you take a casual glance through the historical record you’ll find evidence to support this claim. I was able to find references to iced tea going back as far as 1835 and I suspect that someone engaging on a serious research project might be able to go back further.

In an 1868 volume titled Handbook of Practical Cookery, they’re a bit sparse on their instructions for making iced tea, noting that it “is made as iced coffee” and assuming that the reader knows the formula for that particular beverage. The Illinois Cook Book, from 1881, gives a little more detail, recommending that the tea be made strong and allowed to cool before adding ice, sweetening to taste and lemon optional.

An 1890 volume called The White House Cook Book cautions against using sugar and milk in iced tea, notes that green or black tea (or both!) can be used and also recommends making it strong and well ahead of time. The Every-day Cook-book and Encyclopedia of Practical Recipes, from 1889, gives similar recommendations but votes in favor of sweetening the drink and claims that mixing green and black tea is an improvement.

The Hearthstone, or, Life at Home, from 1886, goes a little more in depth, suggesting that readers heat the dry tea leaves first, then scald a teapot (preferably earthen), add the “first boiling of water” from a freshly drawn kettle and steep for no more than five minutes. The kicker here is the recommendation to add an equal amount of milk to the tea, unless using lemon. Lemon also figures in a recipe in The Home Cook Book, from 1876. Iced Tea a la Russe calls for one cup of tea, ice and the juice of half a lemon. If it sounds naggingly familiar, look here.

See more of William I. Lengeman’s articles here.

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