Driving Notes

Happy Wednesday and Happy Iced Tea Month!
On the show today, I gave you all the ins and outs and who knew’s about iced tea that you could ever want! Keep reading to find out about the history of iced tea, and some fun facts about my favorite beverage.

Though usually served in a glass with ice, it can also refer to a tea that has been chilled or cooled. It may or may not be sweetened. Iced tea is also a popular packaged drink. It can be mixed with flavored syrup, with multiple common flavors including lemon, raspberry, lime, passion fruit, peach, orange, strawberry, and cherry. While most iced teas get their flavor from tea leaves (Camellia sinensis), herbal teas are also sometimes served cold and referred to as iced tea. Iced tea is sometimes made by a particularly long steeping of tea leaves at lower temperature (one hour in the sun versus 5 minutes at 180–212 °F / 80–100 °C). Some people call this “sun tea”. In addition, sometimes it is also left to stand overnight in the refrigerator.

Variations on iced tea in the US…

• In barbecue, soul food, and Southern cuisine-style, establishments, along with greasy spoons and general eateries, black tea is iced. This is by far the most commonly available form of freshly brewed iced tea, to which the above statements apply. Fruit-flavored teas and herbal teas are also popular iced.
• Iced Chai (spiced Indian tea) is available from some restaurants and stores. While not traditionally served iced, in the U.S. chai is frequently served iced, with honey as a sweetener, or pre-sweetened when bottled.
• Iced Jasmine tea, Genmaicha, and Hojicha are available from some Chinese cuisine or other Asian cuisine restaurants, but rarely. It is more common to find one of these

Variations on iced tea in Canada…
In Canada, iced tea refers to sweetened iced tea, flavored with lemon. The iced tea is usually made at home from drink powder or obtained in bottles or cans. Sweetened green teas and those flavored with raspberry, peach, or pomegranate are also becoming more common via marketing efforts.

Variations on iced tea in Turkey…

Turkey

In a traditional tea-drinking country such as Turkey, with its own tea and tea culture, iced tea became popular when Lipton introduced it in the 2000s. Iced teas are a popular alternative to soft drinks. Lipton and Nestea were the two major brands until 2012, when the contract between Coca Cola İçecek A.Ş. and Nestea expired, Coca Cola replaced Nestea with its Fuze Beverage brand.

Iced Tea variations in the United Kingdom…

Although iced tea is not as widely consumed in the United Kingdom as the rest of Europe, the drink became more popular in the 2000s.^[7] Lipton sold their carbonated iced tea, similar to the one sold in Belgium, in the 1990s. Recently,^[when?] Lipton has returned to general sale of non-carbonated tea, quickly followed by Nestea and Twinings.

Thanks for listening!
-Lilly