Today, Americans consume more than 2.2 billion gallons of tea per year (according to the USDA's consumer data), about 80 percent (around 1.75 billion gallons) of which is reportedly iced. That is an average of nearly 6.5 gallons of iced tea per person. America's overall consumption of tea peaked during the first two decades of the last century, averaging as much as 11.3 gallons per person during World War I.

With the rise of fast food franchises in the sixties and seventies, almost all of which sell iced tea, USDA import and consumption data indicates that United States tea importation doubled in the last thirty years, while the overall population has increased by less than 30 percent. Even so, our overall per capita consumption has only increased by 1 gallon per person.

In summary, one can say that iced tea and Luzianne grew up together, for while iced tea was created in, and first popularized in the nineteenth century, it was in the early twentieth century that it came into its own, which may be one reason that the St. Louis World's Fair story has endured.

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