Happy National Iced Tea Day!

It's hot, it's humid, it's time for an iced tea. According to an  NPR story on the history of iced tea, the Tea Association of the U.S.A states that 85 percent of all tea consumed in the United States today is sipped cold.  Iced tea's history is a fascinating one.  It was often the base of a punch, a punch with a punch, so to speak.  Recipes for tea punch date back to Colonial times, although the icing of tea was a thing in the Northern United States it wasn't possible in the South until the turn of the 19th century when New Englanders began shipping ice.

The Iowa City Cook Book, 1898 published by the Ladies of the Christian Church, has a recipe for tea punch, (without the alcoholic punch, they were church ladies, after all).  It's looks delicious and one could, if one so wanted, add a little extra kick.  The Iowa City Public Library also has a number of books on tea; how to make it, how to grow it and how to have a party with tea.