National Iced Tea Day

As an underaged drinker in college, I quickly learned why my friend’s drink choice when we snuck into bars was a Long Island Iced Tea. Here are the ingredients for a Long Island Iced Tea: vodka, rum, gin, tequila, triple sec, sweet and sour mix, cola and a lemon slice. If all of the prices for well drinks were the same - why wouldn’t she get the most alcohol for her money? The rationale is simultaneously gross and brilliant. However, it begs the question - why do they call it Long Island Ice Tea when iced tea isn’t even an ingredient?

According to nationaldaycalendar.com, iced tea, in the US, was thought to be served as early as 1860. By 1870, hotels served iced tea and it was for sale at railroad stations. However, it wasn’t until the World Fair in 1904 held in St. Louis that iced tea became really popular. National Iced Tea Day is celebrated every year on June 10th.

Of course when I decided to write about iced tea, the first person I consulted was my cousin Jay-Jay . Although she can’t speak for the entire south, this is what I learned from her. In the south there are two kinds of iced tea. It’s either sweet tea or unsweet tea. Venues all over the state of Georgia (and probably safe to assume many southern states) offer and sell both kinds of iced tea. When I asked Jay-Jay about decaffeinated iced teas, her reply was, “We don’t do decaf tea in the south.” So there’s that.

Jay-Jay’s family did some recon work for me and reported that Country’s has the sweetest sweet tea they have found where she lives. Some of her family orders sweet tea, some drink unsweet tea and someone gets 1/2 of each.

You can’t drink this product but I had to bring it up because Iced Tea is a “thing” in the south! This shea creme is light as a feather, makes your skin feel very soft and so why not smell like sweet tea while you’re at it?

My kids have enjoyed iced tea for years now. The decaf variation because that is all I will allow. I think the only reason why my kids like iced tea is because we don’t let them drink soda and too many sports drinks so they are just excited to drink anything besides water or milk.

This is one of the favorite iced teas in our house. I found this brand and flavor at Whole Foods but I have spotted it in Target seasonally. There aren’t many caffeine-free iced tea products out there so I’m always on the lookout and ready to try them all.

I’m not a big fan of anything with cactus but my daughter likes this flavor both hot or cold.

I recently bought this flavor at Trader Joe’s and we prepared it as iced tea. Very subtle and delicious. Pair a box of this tea with a cute set of mason jars for a Thoughtful Pinch to give to a family with young kids or anyone who likes iced tea.

Speaking of thoughtful pinches, our neighbor Dana gave my hub this huge jug of tea for his birthday. She wanted to get him a gift but something different. I knew he would appreciate this gesture because it was definitely different than the other beverages friends brought as gifts (cough, light beer, cough).

A local tea shop, Jinx Tea, sells bubble tea, hot tea and jugs of iced tea! This is caffeine-free - Woke Punch. Sooooo good! My daughter poured some over ice, slid a drink umbrella in a wine glass and enjoyed it while watching her dance school virtual gala the other night (see first photo).

Meanwhile, mama poured a little extra fun into her iced tea and finished off the jug. Whoops! Don’t worry, my National Iced Tea thoughtful pinch to my daughter will be more of this great ice tea!

We’ve come a long way from the big glass jars filled with water and about 50 Lipton black tea bags sitting in the hot sun steeping for hours. Nowadays we have fancy iced teas with all sorts of flavors and additional fun tapioca pearls. Starbucks, local tea shops, bubble tea shops, McDonalds, Chik-Fil-A and many other places sell iced tea. Grab a gift card or better yet pick up an extra cup of your faves and go celebrate National Iced Tea Day with someone who will love it. You can talk about the name Long Island Iced Tea. Rumor has it the name came about because the drink looks like an innocent glass of iced tea. Ahhhh, it’s anything but innocent or iced tea!

Pinches,

Barb