Why Do Americans Drink So Much Iced Tea?

That is not to say that tea is not succeeding in America — imports appear to grow year-on-year in America and consumers between 18 and 29 are evenly split on coffee and tea as their preferred drink. Still, tea will always struggle to become mass culture. Because tea takes time and tea takes people.

The reason for the presweetening is that it may be difficult to dissolve sugar in iced tea, even with constant stirring. The result can be insufficiently sweetened tea or gritty, undissolved sugar crystals in the tea.

There is evidence, too, of Native Americans brewing caffeinated drinks with leaves for thousands of years on the Western Hemisphere. Of course, there are many traditions of tea drinking in America. The South, as always, has something to say.

Some 80 percent of U.S. households have tea in their kitchens, and more than half of the American populace drinks tea on a daily basis, according to the U.S. Tea Association. There are, however, some quirks to the country’s growing love for tea.