When iced tea was introduced at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, Americans fell in love with it. In fact, iced tea became a status symbol. A perfectly brewed pitcher of tea was the mark of a successful hostess. Women’s magazines provided tips on how to brew tea correctly, and offered recipes for “Tea Punch” a sweet beverage for summer tennis and golf gatherings.

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To make tea punch, the hostess with the mostess added sugary syrups made from lemon, grape and pineapple juices. To top it off, you could add lemon slices, maraschino cherries and mint leaves.

The year 1904 also saw two inventions which caused iced tea’s popularity to really flow: The tea bag and the vacuum flask, known as the thermos. The tea bag was born when a New York restaurant owner accidentally dunked a small silk bag full of tea leaves into hot water. It made tea, but not as good as the old fashioned kind. Still, what the tea bag lacked in quality was made up by its convenience. A blessing for busy Americans.

Then, along came the thermos. Remember, the refrigerator wasn’t a common appliance back then. Although the thermos was not tied directly to iced tea, it did allow you to enjoy your brew--iced or hot--wherever and whenever you wanted. Not everyone was fond of iced tea, though. During prohibition, a campaign to make tea “America’s national drink” failed. Tea haters said, “The disappearance of beer will not necessarily make us a nation of tea drinkers.”

Today, iced tea remains a favorite summertime drink and June is National Iced Tea Month. What is your favorite summer drink? One of my favorites (ahhhh!) is Alaska Raspberry Fruit Punch.

Slurp.

   Bottoms up.

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