Sweet iced tea has been the preferred drink in the South for so long that it has reached an almost mythic status, and is jokingly referred to as "the house wine of the South" – ubiquitous at practically every meal. There is probably no one single reason that sweetened iced tea (or just simply "icetea" as it is colloquially known) has become so commonplace as to be almost iconic. Here are a few thoughts and fun tidbits about the South's favorite drink and how it came to favor:

• The most obvious factor in iced tea's rise to popularity is the heat. While other parts of the mainland experience hot, humid summers, the South endures this heat far longer than those other regions. Southerners have long been fond of cold beverages during hot weather and it is not accidental that the biggest names in the soft drink industry – Coca Cola, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper being just three – were born and bred in the South.
  
  
• Another factor is who settled in the different regions of our country. Our country's regional character is determined more by the colonists from Europe than by the native pre-Colombian population. In the South, at least, the oldest part along the Eastern seaboard, the colonists were largely Anglo. There were some French, German, Spanish, and later, Greek settlers to be sure, but the lion's share of the Southeastern colonies were settled by the English, and English culture dominated. Other hot-climate areas of the country, notably the Midwest (home of that World's Fair in 1904) and the Southwest, were settled by Europeans who were not predominately tea-drinkers-namely Germans and Scandinavians in the Midwest and the Spanish in the Southwest by way of Mexico.
  
  
• Another suggestive factor is the South's large African-American population. While there has not been a study of the connection, Southern African-Americans have long had an overriding preference for tea, and it has long been enjoyed in many African countries, including, suggestively, some that exported slaves. Obviously, in a hot climate, once there was a choice between a hot beverage and a cold one, the cold beverage was likely to win out.
  
  
• During the late nineteenth century, when the South's economy was still agrarian and not exactly flourishing, American and English tea merchants were introducing relatively cheap teas from India and Ceylon (and, later, other markets). The relative cheapness of these teas must have made them very attractive to frugal Southern housekeepers.
  
  
• Just as iced tea began to be popularized, the "great experiment" or prohibition swept wine and beer off the dinner and supper tables of ordinary Southerners. Since iced tea was already a popular teatime and supper beverage, it was only a matter of time before it began to find its way to every meal, even breakfast, where hot tea had not been commonly served.
  
  
• Probably the reason that iced tea became a popular thing to serve unexpected (and even expected) company is because it is inexpensive and can be made ahead, ready to serve to as soon as company appears on the doorstep, and without having to boil a kettle, grind coffee, or squeeze out fruit juice.

No one in the South knows exactly why iced tea has become so universally popular, reaching almost mythic status in the nation's images of the South at least since the early 1940s. Probably all the reasons given above played a part. It is safe to say, however, that iced tea became universal because it was an inexpensive, easy, and non-alcoholic drink that anyone could make well and everyone could enjoy.

As to when it reached this status, again cookbooks give us a clue. The moment the recipes begin to disappear from cookbooks and becomes a staple on restaurant menus (which began to happen in the 1930s) is the moment that we know iced tea is being taken for granted, and when something begins to be taken for granted, we know that it is indelibly ingrained in the culture of a society.

In the early 1930s, we see this trend taking firm root, as printed recipes in cookbooks begin to be very off-hand, when they appear at all. For example, 200 Years of Charleston Cooking (1930) and Aunt Julia's Cook Book (ND, but before 1938) give only recipes for flavored iced tea. Marion Brown's Southern Cook Book (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1951) follows the same pattern a mere twenty years later when the trend reached its peak, offering several flavored iced tea recipes, but not one for the plain brew.

What this tells us is simple: the underlying message is that everyone is making plain iced tea; here's how to make something "special" with it.

A most telling example of this taken-for-granted phenomenon can be found in books printed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when color photographs became commonplace. In Eugene Walter's classic American Cooking: Southern Style (Time-Life "Foods of the World" series, 1971), iced tea appears in the background of several illustrations, but there's barely a mention of it in the text, and then, only in passing in a single anecdote. In Mildred Evans Warren's The Art of Southern Cooking (New York: Doubleday, 1967) it appears in the dust jacket photographs, but is not mentioned in the book itself – not even in passing.

Whatever: since the 1930s, iced tea has been so popular in the South, and so universal, that it has taken on a kind of iconic meaning that seems to rest solely on the fact of that popularity. Most Southerners don't think about it very much, however; they just enjoy their tea and let well enough alone.

A most telling example of this taken-for-granted phenomenon can be found in books printed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when color photographs became commonplace. In Eugene Walter's classic American Cooking: Southern Style (Time-Life "Foods of the World" series, 1971), iced tea appears in the background of several illustrations, but there's barely a mention of it in the text, and then, only in passing in a single anecdote. In Mildred Evans Warren's The Art of Southern Cooking (New York: Doubleday, 1967) it appears in the dust jacket photographs, but is not mentioned in the book itself-not even in passing.

Whatever: since the 1930s, iced tea has been so popular in the South, and so universal, that it has taken on a kind of iconic meaning that seems to rest solely on the fact of that popularity. Most Southerners don't think about it very much, however; they just enjoy their tea and let well enough alone.

Next : Southern Iced Tea Protocol