America, with the full name of America, is located on the east coast of the Pacific Ocean and the west coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It is divided into North America and South America by the Panama Canal. Starting from 1492, the Italian navigator Columbus discovered the new continent of America after three voyages to the west.
The beginning of tea drinking in America is closely related to the invasion of Europeans into this land. Therefore, the history of tea drinking in America is later than that in Europe, with a history of only 400 years. As for the history of tea planting, it is even shorter. There are 12 tea-growing countries, namely: Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Paraguay, Jamaica, Mexico, Bolivia, Guyana and the United States. The tea planting industry is mainly distributed in South America.
The tea drinking customs in America have both the Western European tea drinking style and the preference for sweet black tea; at the same time, they retain the characteristics of indigenous peoples, such as the fashion of iced black tea and the inheritance of mate tea. Below, the tea drinking customs in North America and South America are briefly described as follows.
North America is located in the northern part of the Western Hemisphere. The main countries are the United States, Canada, Mexico and other countries. The United States and Canada are economically developed countries. North America spans tropical, temperate and cold zones, and the climate is complex and diverse. Most of the residents in North America are descendants of European immigrants. Due to various reasons, there are few tea trees planted here, but like Europe, the people of North America have a strong tea drinking atmosphere and the way of drinking tea is deeply influenced by Europe. Below, select several representative countries in North America for tea drinking, and briefly describe them as follows.
The United States is located in the central part of North America. It is a settlement area of indigenous Indians. The invasion of Western European colonists brought blood and Western civilization, as well as Chinese tea drinks. In fact, the history of tea drinking in the United States is almost the same as its founding history, which is less than 400 years.
Americans first drank green tea, and then gradually changed to black tea. Since the 20th century, the way of drinking tea has also changed. They emphasize convenience and speed, and are unwilling to waste time on the traditional slow brewing of tea. Therefore, they like to drink fast tea. Nowadays, Americans drink tea in more diverse ways. Some drink tea with a blended tea, and some drink tea without a blended tea, but the blended tea is the main drink; some drink black tea, some drink green tea, oolong tea, scented tea, and flavored tea, but the main drink is black tea; some drink sweet tea with sugar, and some drink tea without sugar, but the main drink is sweet tea with sugar. In short, the way Americans drink tea is just as the country pursues itself: freedom, individuality, no constraints, no rules and regulations, and diversified characteristics. Despite this, most Americans refuse to drink steaming hot tea. In comparison, they prefer to drink cold iced tea, which is a common feature. It is said that iced tea was born at the St. Louis Exposition in the United States in 1904, and thus opened a new era of tea drinking in the United States. In the hot summer, a tea stall owner racked his brains for the tea stall business that few people cared about, so he had an idea to take some ice cubes from the ice cream shop next door and add them to the steaming tea. This newly invented tea drink quickly became popular among people. As a result, the iced tea business flourished and quickly became popular, becoming the most popular drink among Americans. Today, for Americans, iced tea is not just a summer drink, but also popular in winter. Ice tea sales account for more than 85% of the total tea consumption in the United States. Tea, which was originally just a hot or warm drink, has been transformed by Americans into a cold or iced drink. They believe that drinking tea in this way is refreshing, appetizing and replenishing, and iced tea has become the most popular health drink.
Americans' iced tea is very simple to make. They usually choose their favorite tea leaves, such as black tea, green tea, flavored tea, etc., but mainly black tea; then filter out the tea dregs after soaking or boiling, and then add lemon, milk, juice, sugar and other condiments to the tea soup; finally add an appropriate amount of ice cubes, or put it in the refrigerator to cool for use. In daily life, Americans pursue efficiency and live a fast-paced life. They pay attention to effectiveness and convenience when drinking tea, and are unwilling to waste time on making tea and dumping tea dregs. In this case, there are also a wide variety of canned iced tea and bottled iced tea available in American supermarkets.
In addition, in many restaurants in the United States, tea is also drunk using the traditional brewing method. However, according to the living habits of Americans, no matter what kind of traditional tea is drunk, some sugar or honey is always added to the tea, which is the hobby of most tea drinkers. Americans pursue excitement and enjoy freedom, so they love to drink alcohol, but when cocktails and tea collide, and the hardness and softness are combined, cocktail tea wine conquers the taste buds of Americans. The production method of cocktail tea wine is not complicated, that is, according to each person's hobby, a certain proportion of black tea juice is added to the cocktail to make it a cocktail tea wine. It's just that the quality requirements of black tea are high. The black tea added to the cocktail tea wine must be a high-grade black tea with a rich soup color, strong stimulation, and fresh taste. They believe that the cocktail tea wine brewed with this black tea juice has the mellowness of wine and the fragrance of tea, which can both refresh and wake up the mind, so it is welcomed by more Americans. In fact, it is not an easy task to make a fine cocktail tea wine. In practice, only experienced bartenders can master the correct tea-wine ratio and bring out the maximum charm of cocktail tea-wine. Nowadays, cocktail tea-wine is very popular in the United States, especially in tourist destinations, such as Hawaii and other places on the beach, people can always see tourists drinking cocktail tea-wine while enjoying the beautiful natural scenery.
In recent years, with the popularization of the concept of healthy living, Americans, especially young people, have also begun to try different styles of tea drinking. Since 2012, Starbucks in the United States is no longer a place dedicated to drinking coffee. In terms of business, in addition to traditional coffee, Starbucks also supplies black tea, green tea, and seasoning tea, and is committed to creating a relaxed and free personal space to attract more and more young Americans. It is said that Starbucks is also preparing to gradually promote this successful experience in chain stores around the world.
As for the history of tea planting in the United States, it was in the late 20th century. So far, only a small amount of tea has been planted in Hawaii and other places, and tea is mainly solved by imports. In recent years, influenced by the new concept of healthy living, green tea has re-entered the eyes of Americans and has gradually become popular.
In addition, a variety of snacks are an indispensable component. Afternoon tea not only takes place in teahouses, but also in various workplaces and even in family tea drinking. It can be seen that Canadians have tea everywhere in their lives and are always soaked in tea.
It is particularly worth mentioning that Canadians also love to drink maple sugar tea. Maple sugar tea is actually a substitute tea, which is not tea. It is not difficult to make. First, juice is extracted from maple leaves and then boiled into sugar. This is the so-called maple sugar. When this special sugar is diluted with water, it becomes the "maple sugar tea" that Canadians like. Maple is the national tree of Canada. It can be seen everywhere in Canada and is fully utilized by Canadians. Perhaps because of their love for the national tree, Canadians love the maple tree and its people, so they also highly praise maple sugar tea.
In addition, in Canada, there is also a kind of citrus tea that is very popular among women. They believe that some active substances contained in the peel, pulp and core of oranges have the effect of beauty and prevention of breast cancer. In addition, citrus tea is sweet and sour, which can meet women's taste requirements and pursuit of health. Therefore, citrus tea made from orange peels and cores is very popular among women.
Mexico is adjacent to the southern United States. Compared with other North American countries, their tea drinking customs are unique. Although many people have the habit of drinking black tea like Americans and Canadians, there are still many people who have the custom of drinking "non-tea tea", especially cactus tea and roselle tea. In comparison, their tea drinking customs are unique and full of unique ethnic customs. Cactus is the "first national flower" of Mexico, with more than 2,000 varieties, but only a few types of cactus are edible. In addition to making cactus into dishes for consumption, Mexicans also like to dry and store the refined cactus, and brew it into tea for drinking as needed. They believe that cactus tea has the "three-lowering" effect, lowering blood sugar, blood pressure and blood lipids; it can also promote human metabolism, improve immunity, and has very high pharmacological effects and efficacy value. This is also the reason why Mexicans like cactus tea, so it is generally welcomed by local people.
In addition to generally liking to drink cactus tea, Mexicans also like to drink roselle tea. Roselle belongs to the genus Hibiscus. It is very simple to make roselle tea. Just pick the flowers, place them in the sun to dry, and peel off the calyx after dehydration. The dry roselle tea is black and purple, and once brewed, it blooms with a unique and charming charm. The soup color is purple-red, bright and bright, and it is placed in a glass pot to give people a unique visual enjoyment. The brewed Roselle tea has a sweet and sour taste and unique flavor. It is said to have the effects of beautifying the skin, nourishing the lungs and relieving coughs, lowering blood pressure, and sobering up. Therefore, in Mexico, both men and women regard Roselle tea as a favorite.
