A Little Iced Tea History…

A Little Iced Tea History…

The 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair offered an opportunity for merchants from around the world to show off their wares. Little did tea merchant Richard Blechynden know it would also mark the beginning of America’s love affair with iced tea! In the midst of a sweltering St. Louis summer, Blechynden’s efforts to promote Indian black tea at the fair were proving unsuccessful. Hot tea was the last thing on the minds of those attending the fair. So, the enterprising merchant and his staff set out to develop an apparatus in which their brewed Indian tea would flow through iced lead pipes, creating a chilled beverage that was very well-received by fairgoers. Not only was Blechynden successful in promoting Indian tea at the fair, he also uncovered America’s seemingly endless thirst for iced tea - a thirst that has yet to be quenched to this day!