In the middle of the 17th century, tea came to America with the Dutch, which also started the history of tea drinking in North America. Although Americans have not been exposed to Chinese tea for a long time, they have formed their own unique tea culture, and their tea drinking habits have been constantly changing with the development of the times and technology. Since the 20th century, tea culture has taken on new vitality with its spread and development in North America. Americans creatively introduced tea drinks with distinctive characteristics, invented ice tea, tea bags, bottled tea, instant tea, etc., and became one of the world’s major tea importers and consumers.
According to historical records, when tea was first introduced, the United States had a repulsive attitude towards tea. This is because the Europeans, represented by Britain, reaped profits from the tea trade. The Boston Tea Dumping Incident was a revolt by the North American people who were dissatisfied with the rule of the British colonists. For a long time after that, Americans did not drink tea much.
Along with the immigration of a large number of European immigrants, especially the political and economic changes in the United States, tea was gradually accepted and loved by the American people. But they were not satisfied with the traditional way of brewing tea, and invented a unique way of drinking tea, which is also a concrete embodiment of the fusion of American spirit and tea culture. In 1908, American tea merchant Thomas Sullivan invented the tea bag. After putting tea leaves into a tea filter ball, put it in a cup to brew and drink. Around 1920, it developed into using cloth to tie tea leaves into small balls and pouring them into cups for drinking. Later, a tea bag packaging machine was developed. This kind of tea bag meets the requirements of fast, convenient, clean and hygienic without wasting tea leaves, so it is quite popular in the United States, Canada and other places. The invention of teabags allows Americans who live a fast pace and advocate freedom to not only taste tea with excellent flavor, but also avoid the annoying work of cleaning tea leaves, allowing tea as a drink to enter thousands of households conveniently and quickly.
The most dramatic innovation in tea drinking is the emergence of American iced tea, which is also regarded as a major change in the way of tea drinking. People pour the brewed tea into a container with ice cubes, and then add lemon or sugar to make it. Drink hot tea in the winter, iced tea in the summer, and many people even drink iced tea all year round. Iced tea has become very popular across the United States, and ice tea shops can be found on the streets of cities and towns. Most American families are accustomed to buying a large bag or bottle of iced tea made by American manufacturers from the market, putting it in the refrigerator and drinking it slowly. Hot tea and iced tea are usually officially listed on American restaurant menus as two beverages.
American tea culture has always been in the process of absorption and integration. There are still many people in the United States who are keen on traditional tea drinking customs, pay attention to tea making and tea tasting, and study tea sets, tea tasting rituals and evaluation techniques. It is reported that tea drinkers’ associations have been established in many places in the United States, and members all believe that tea drinking is an art with profound knowledge.
Now, Americans can not only find teahouses to drink tea in big cities, but also have teahouses opened in remote suburban areas. In many places in the United States, you will find a large number of Chinese-style teahouses. The tea drinkers among them are not only Chinese, but nearly half are Americans. And compared with the high-priced famous teas with gorgeous packaging in China, the same famous teas produced in China can be bought in bulk in the United States, and the price is cheaper than in China.
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