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Long Island Tea |
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Has it ever occurred to you that we drink and are offered iced coffee in cafés and restaurants yet very seldom, if ever, iced tea. And yet up until the last decade, Australians followed their English forbears and drank copious quantities of tea. In the heat of the summer, men on the land took hot tea with them when harvesting or working away from home base. Was this idea of drinking hot tea in 40 degrees of heat a carry over from the English in India who always thought that it was such a thirst quencher?
Has it ever occurred to you that we drink and are offered iced coffee in cafés and restaurants yet very seldom, if ever, iced tea. And yet up until the last decade, Australians followed their English forbears and drank copious quantities of tea. In the heat of the summer, men on the land took hot tea with them when harvesting or working away from home base. Was this idea of drinking hot tea in 40 degrees of heat a carry over from the English in India who always thought that it was such a thirst quencher?
Whatever the reason, it seems ironic that in the US where hot tea was hardly ever offered, iced tea was drunk in vast quantities and today, in the summer, is on every menu - from fast food outlets to high quality restaurants. Yet Americans have always been regarded as great coffee drinkers.
This strange situation dates back to the 18th century when South Carolina started growing tea in commercial quantities. The English who were still in control over the country at that time were happy to have tea grown locally even though the first plants were brought to that part of the US by a French botanist.
In the Southern States iced tea is traditional. It is not just a summertime drink but year round and served with most meals. There it is mostly served sweetened but in most other States it is served black.
Drinking iced tea became commonplace around the country after the World Fair in St. Louis in the early 1900s. Because the weather turned very hot during the Fair, the tea producers from India and Ceylon tried to tempt visitors to taste their products by putting ice into the drinks in a desperate attempt to lure them away from the other cold beverages on offer. Not only was this new drink an instant success, it introduced tea to the rest of America but in its iced form rather than its hot.
There is no doubt that it is the most refreshing drink during the hot months. Black tea, poured over ice cubes with a spring of mint or lemon is hard to beat, yet it has never really caught on in Australia. Tea producers have tried and many years ago invested in a major marketing campaign to make it popular. It was not a great success. We can still buy iced tea in cans but it has been sweetened which is not to everyones liking. We even import fruit flavoured tea drinks from Italy which in itself seems an amazing thing to do.
Yet we love iced coffee and so do many Asian countries who are usually hot tea drinkers. Ask for an iced coffee in Vietnam and you will get it made with sweetened condensed milk. The same applies to Thailand where they may also add ground cardamon pods.
Whilst the weather is still hot try making a jug of iced tea. Use a flavoured herb or fruit tea to ring in a change but remember the tea needs to be quite strong as you will be diluting it with ice cubes.
And dont be misled into thinking that you can drink copious amounts of Long Island Iced Tea - that is a drink of quite another persuasion!
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