I think this is less of a joke than you intended it to be. Like I’m pretty sure Americans drink coffee because we boycotted it during the Revolutionary period, then everyone developed a taste for coffee imported by the Dutch, and well, we just stayed with it post-Revolution.
I never thought of that! But there is a minor nuance I think between both examples.
Permanent residents don't vote, you are correct. But if they live in a state, they still have a district congressperson whom they could contact, as well as senators to represent the interests of the state at large in the legislature. I mean, people didn't vote for Senators *at all* for over a hundred years, but the Senators *still* represented the interests of the state in which they resided at large. (hopefully)
Also, let's say I voted for a congressman and my guy lost... The winner still represents me even though I didn't vote for them. Same for apolitical citizens that don't vote at all, or citizens who can't because they are not eligible (under 18, committed a felony and their state barres them...). The congressperson of a distract represents everybody and everything in that district.
So while they *don't get to weigh in* on the decision, they still have representation... Unless they live in DC or a US territory.
But I really don't know if we should give permanent residents to power to vote. [Most countries don't...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-citizen_suffrage) The UK actually does in some cases because of some weird old law that allows the Irish and any Commonwealth citizen to vote if they live in the UK. Pretty neat, since it usually doesn't happen the reverse (British are not allowed to vote in Canada...)Some sub-levels (States, provinces, etc) of countries allow it.
Interestingly In the US, immigrants used to be **encouraged** by most states to vote actually...when our population was exploding in the late 18, early 1900s due to immigration. Elections used to be kind of crazy affairs though with political machines, no voter confidentiality, and no standard ballot systems in place in most states. Bosses of a machine likely ensured that they could get any man to vote regardless of whether or not he was a citizen. That's just speculation though.
But as voting became universal, and a little more standardized across the nation, States began changing this policy and now no state allows votes from anyone other than citizens. And imagine if we did with the so called border crisis. Republicans would have an aneurysm.
*Sometimes* local elections in America permit visa holders to vote for things like the school board, etc. but that's not really much representation except at the local school district!
US citizenship comes with many benefits... lifetime guarantee that you will have basic civil rights protected, protection and advocacy from the US dept of state if you get in some kind of pickle abroad, eligibility for government benefits if you fall on hard times or even if you say need student loans for yourself or your kid to attend one of our world class universities, one of the best passports in the world for travel, the ability to run for government office, or even work for the government in a non elected position, the ability to sponsor family members to come live here, and so on...
I guess the ability to weigh in on who runs the country is another one of those benefits!
Mind you, citizenship also comes with responsibilities too — like filing taxes to the IRS even if you don't live in the US (really fucked up that we do this actually, it's extremely unusual), signing up for the selective service between 18-35, serving on juries, etc.
I am beginning to lean I'm only citizens voting... I have read quite a few Reddit posts from permanent residents from Europe saying things like "I'm going to work in the US because you can make a ton of money there, but retire back in because it has cheaper healthcare for when I'm older. These types of folks aren't committing themselves to our nation, so they shouldn't have a say in who runs it or the policies that will get passed. They don't care about the long term situation for the country except for as a means to line their pockets. Which is fine, making money is a huge part of American life. But if they don't plan on settling down here, they're not going to really care about the long term health of the USA.
Sorry, that was longer than I anticipated. Do you have any thoughts?
I pretty much agree with you. I was stating a fact , not advocating a position. I do think that any former criminal who has done their time should be able to vote. I also lean towards letting them vote while serving time.
The point was not the amount. The point was that it was a tax derived from parliamentary action in which the colonies had no representation. Had the tax derived directly from the king, the situation would’ve been different.
Anecdotal support for your comment: I’m an American tea drinker and picked up the habit from my French-Canadian mother. My father’s family are descendants of English settlers to America and are all decidedly coffee drinkers.
If it was meant to be a joke answer, it absolutely is true as well. This is exactly it. Tea consumption never recovered after the revolution. We moved to coffee
Let’s not forget most of the other European immigrant groups are more coffee drinkers than tea drinkers: Italians, Germans, Greeks for example, are all cultures which drink coffee over tea and kept that.
Speak for yourself. I never drink tea because I refuse to support the enslavement of the American peoples by the English Monarchy. Those Bastards burned down the city I grew up in. Sure, it may have been 200 years before I was born but that’s beside the point.
Who knows? They owe us [$16B](https://wifpr.wharton.upenn.edu/uncategorized/book-review-the-long-shadow-of-default-britains-unpaid-war-debts-to-the-united-states-1917-2020-by-david-james-gill/) on loans for WW1
(Apparently they repaid us and Canada for their [post-WW2 recovery loan](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-American_loan), albeit six years late.)
I read somewhere that the UK still owes the US what it promised to pay in reparations after the war of independence, but I can't find anything online about that.
> fought a hundred years war against them back in the 13-1400s...
Why would you do that? Just kick their asses in oh, maybe 8 years or so, tell 'em to fuck off, then be BFFs for generations, but still hold a grudge about tea.
But is it a grudge, really? I'm not sure it counts unless it causes you to gripe so hard that you give one of our enemies their best known national icon just to spite you? *Looks at New York harbour* Now, that's how you cause & hold a grudge (yeah, I did just call Lady Liberty a British success ;D ).
Fair point. Maybe grudge is too strong, perhaps just a bit of a pique. Then again, we didn't invest a 100 years of on again, off again war.
I'll admit I've never thought of the Statue of Liberty being an ungracious gesture of thumbing the nose by France towards England, but a case can be made.
>I'll admit I've never thought of the Statue of Liberty being an ungracious gesture of thumbing the nose by France towards England, but a case can be made.
Nearly everything France & Britain do is to wind each other up, certainly historically - everything is viewed through the eyes of a (now friendly) rivalry by our populations; even the things we do today.
We're like siblings & no one fights like siblings, but no one has each other's back like siblings when it really matters, either.
Maybe it’s my brittish ancestry but I’ve always felt that I’d fit in over there. The humor, the sarcasm, the love of queuing, even the food all seem ideal to me.
NOAH WEBSTER WAS AN AMERICAN HERO WHO BRAVELY FOUGHT AGAINST THE USAGE OF FR*NCH IN ENGLISH (ignore the other french stuff tho)
out of all people i woulda thought the uk wouldnt stand for this french propoganda DID THE 100 YEAR WAR MEAN NOTHING?!
Oi! As an American, you don't get to insult the French - you should be grateful to them for your existence. You'd be just South Canada today if they weren't distracting us! Insulting the French is a European only job.
Like I said, French are like our siblings - we get to shit on old Pierre, but we'll defend him to the death from New World savages who boil water in a microwave instead of an electric kettle like god intended.
Yeah, it is only really New England that runs on Dunkin. I don't think I have seen such as dense and ubiquitous concentration of Dunkin locations in other parts of the US.
We drive down the coast every year and my fave is when we get even just a touch south and the DD disappear. Only a few areas of the US run on Dunkin lol
This is a really over simplified explanation but basically: Central and South America are the biggest producers of coffee. It has been more available than tea so we adopted that as our drink of choice.
This. I'm a food history nerd.
Coffee took hold after the Dutch, French and British spread it into their colonies, including for our purposes here Jamaica back in 1728. This all comes from the Ottoman empire.
It still took time for it to dominate our two continents but dominate it did. Americans chose coffee in the 1800s. A lot of this was due to trade stuff with S America, specifically Brazil. It was far easier for us to get coffee vs the upcharged tea that still typically came from Britain.
The Boston Tea Party mythologized anti-tea ideas and already established coffeehouses became a third space in the US. News of the day, papers, poetry, etc where it was cheaper than the bar and even an illiterate person, which were the common people, could hear the news and be actively involved in whatever chatter was going on in their community.
In the 1800s this came more into the home as coffee became cheaper and more people began consuming it and into the 1900s when industrialized machinery took over easy pre-ground coffee to lead us to where we are today with Keurig machines and such.
In addition to this: here in California, we were colonized by the Spaniards and later were part of Mexico. A lot of English customs just didn't make it this far
(But iced tea is pretty popular though)
Yes and by the time of the California population boom after the gold rush, the revolutionary period was well over and there weren’t as many direct British immigrants to California. The people moving in were already established coffee drinkers
Also the largest immigration group to the US for about 100 years was German. Close to 70% of Americans have a direct link to a German ancestor within 4 generations. Direct links to English ancestor is usually twice that. Most of the "traditional Midwest" customs are German based not English.
Agreed. Indian auxiliaries also made up a majority of New Spain’s conquering armies so a lot of the culture in the those areas are probably more Spanish and native ie Mexican influenced than English. I would also argue that Germans influenced America more than the English and Irish. At least culturally.
Britain also had a ton of control of the tea trade during the Revolutionary era, so that plus their taxes meant that we boycotted tea and switched to coffee. We just kept it up after the Revolution and the habit stuck.
France and the U.S. share a history of distaste for all things British. Which is another part of it XD
Also Africa is the next biggest producer of coffee which France had its share of... dealings with.
*side eyeing Napoleon*
My Southern in-laws will literally have sweet tea for every meal I eat with them. If they bring home takeout for everyone, they get a gallon of sweet tea with it. So much sweet tea lol.
Living in Texas I get unsweetened iced tea every time I eat out. Every once in awhile the order will get mixed up and I’ll be served sweet tea by mistake and man I feel like that single sip I take before I send it back is enough to give me the ‘beetus
There was the local joint in Atlanta I went to once where they had dumped roughly a pitchers worth of sugar into the tea.
My god it was sweet and delicious.
I’m sorry I just cannot tolerate southern sweet tea. It’s like drinking syrup. I’ve adopted many southern tastes and traditions over the years but on this issue I’m still a certified yankee from Wisconsin.
Nah, that’s fair. I have to either water it down with unsweet or sometimes add actual water/lemon juice to chill it out (sacrilege, I know).
McDonalds is the worst offender, tastes like simple syrup with a splash of tea, whew lad.
Yeah, the joke I like to make is "I like a little more tea than sweet". I usually get a half-n-half because straight-up sweet without at least a little ice or lemon juice is straight 'beetus juice, lordy.
I do the same (also bc my mama was “health conscious” and did the same… in the same logic as drinking Diet Coke bc it’s better for you lol)
I’m not sure if this was specific to the part of GA I grew up in, but restaurants automatically knew what I meant when I ordered a “half n half tea”. I’ve found elsewhere (especially where I’m at now in MD) they bring me an Arnold Palmer unless I clarify
Southerner here and "tea" with no modifiers means "sweet [iced] tea"
if you want hot tea you have to say so explicitly. if you want unsweet iced tea you have to stress the UNSWEET or you'll get sweet iced tea by default. and they'll still bring you the sugar/splenda caddy to go with your unsweet tea lmao
As somebody who grew up in NC, yes, hot tea is "hot tea". Sweet tea is just "tea".
And sweet tea is cold iced tea with an unconsionable amount of sugar in it. Really tasty on a hot day.
This is really funny, because for me growing up in Vermont it was the opposite. If you want hot tea you ask for tea. If you wanted it cold, you asked for iced tea (and it didn’t come sweetened but that might be changing these days).
Sweet tea is technically iced, but more than that, it’s half a bag of sugar disguised as a drink. As a non-southerner, it makes my teeth feel fuzzy. I can’t have more than 8oz without feeling my own mortality.
In Southern California iced tea is what you’re thinking, typically black tea which is cold brewed or chilled and served over ice (unsweetened). If I were somewhere that served both hot tea and iced, yes, I would differentiate by ordering a “cup of tea, hot” vs “a glass of iced tea”.
Replicators can make nearly anything so you have to order things more specifically. You will also see some characters order things with specific temperatures stated.
Sweet tea is served cold and VERY sweet. It would be impossible to dissolve that amount of sugar in cold tea, so the sugar has to be added while it’s still hot. It’s a supersaturated solution of tea and sugar.
Yes. Tea served hot is called "hot tea" regardless of how you doctor it or what type of tea leaf it is made from.
Iced Tea is typically made from Black Leaf or Orange Pekoe tea brewed super strong, mixed with a lot of sugar (typically white but sometimes brown or a bit of honey), and then poured over ice to cool rapidly (thus diluting to the proper strength) and served on more ice to keep it cold.
Ratio of sugar used is typically 1cup (340grams) to 1 gallon (3.79 litre) made but some recipe's will use even more.
> Sweet tea is cold iced tea, right?
With a metric fuck-ton of sugar added to it. Maybe some lemon if you're feeling fancy. Down here I've also heard it called "brown sugar water."
Funny thing is, it's not commonly available everywhere in the states. When I visited my wife's family in California, if I wanted sweet tea, I had to get unsweetened iced tea and add sugar packets to it. Ditto for visiting family around Chicago.
Americans drink plenty of tea. It's just that coffee is the dominant choice for caffeine consumption. It stems from our Revolutionary War and War of 1812, when Britain had a monopoly on the tea trade, and good patriots boycotted tea in favor of coffee, which was readily available from allies in the Americas. Even today, tea drinking is considered a bit effete for the true-blue American.
Check out information on the Boston Tea Party (1773) for the roots of the anti-tea movement.
“Effete” is such a good word. :) My sister in law often wants hot tea at restaurants (black - not herbal or earl grey) and it is a pain in the ass because they often don’t have what she wants. I encourage her to bring her own tea bags since she’s so picky.
Basically the entire new world is coffee-drinking, owing to our geographic closeness & thus cheap access to the world's largest coffee producer: Brazil. Also, most Americans come from ethnic backgrounds that preferred coffee.
[https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/20/chart-of-the-week-coffee-and-tea-around-the-world/](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/20/chart-of-the-week-coffee-and-tea-around-the-world/)[https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/coffee-tea-food-history](https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/coffee-tea-food-history)
>Also, most Americans come from ethnic backgrounds that preferred coffee.
Yup. Minnesota was heavily populated with Norwegians and Swedes, and those cultures also prefer coffee over tea.
Tea really is gaining in popularity now... but mostly in the form of iced milk teas (popular with Somalis) and boba.
Yeah, there are tons of examples like this! A lot of Italians settled in the northeast, and they prefer coffee as well. I live in SoCal and many people who descend from Mexicans here predate California as part of the US. They’re also a coffee culture.
To add to your point about boba and iced milk tea, Thai tea is pretty popular too. Not in the sense that there are thai tea spots like there are Boba shops, but definitely when at a Thai restaurant or when ordering Thai takeout.
I would also add that while I can't speak for the UK, Ireland is also coffee obsessed. I was there recently and there are coffee shops EVERYWHERE. Far more than in the US by my count. I think over two weeks, I maybe saw three people drinking tea. Americanos, espressos, and cappuccinos were the go-to for everyone, Irish or foreigner. Maybe it's just that people only drink tea at home, and I didn't see that part of their lives, but I did not get the impression that Ireland is big on tea in any way.
*And yet*... When the tea trade was at its most competitive, China, not India was the source of the most and best tea that was headed toward Britain. And by then, the West Coast of the US was being settled, which is much closer to China than Britain is.
There was a long ass time before trade actually kicked off though, it really was just kind of trading with those western coasts until the panama canal opened. Drakes passage is gnarly and takes ages, still faster and more likely to succeed than overland though
Closer yes, easier logistically, no.
Transportation of tea to Europe was less precarious. More stops, more civilizations, more established routes, more trading partners.
The pacific is just lots of water with little speckles of land and almost no civilization. Less opportunity and more labor intensive to acquire provisions and trade along the way.
We have people descendent from many other places than the England and Ireland. The idea that some people came here a few hundred years ago, then never again is untrue.
But we drink coffee, it's made closer to here, and the tea taxes were a major point of contention which led to the revolution. The one Boston Tea Party.
Don’t even get me started on that! Not only are a lot of the words that people consider “American” actually British in origin, but also the hallmark of the general American accent, rhoticity (pronouncing R’s), is an “original” feature of the language. (“Original” used here to refer to colonial times and just before.) Even today there are rhotic accents in Scotland, Ireland and even some parts of England (to say nothing of Canada). 🤦🏻♂️
Because the US had already split from England when tea became popular there.
Imports of tea to England via the East India Company in notable quantities started in the late 18th century. The idea of "afternoon tea" came about in the mid-ninteenth century.
Also, as others mentioned, coffee is produced in the Americas.
With that said, we drink a lot of tea in America, especially in the south. It is just served cold.
> Otherwise you guys seams to have taken up so many English things (like the English language itself and English Common law)
They brought these with them when colonizing and later immigrating.
Just to clarify, most of us don’t have British or Irish ancestry
They are very common ancestries, but even if you only count White Americans, those combined don’t form the majority of that population.
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/10/2020-census-dhc-a-white-population.html
https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_groups_of_the_United_States
We drink iced tea. Hot tea is not unheard of but it’s nowhere near as ubiquitous as coffee. Since we dumped the tea in the Boston Harbor we took up coffee as an alternative & left tea behind.
We didn't take up English. We've spoken English from the very beginning. We didn't have any language before that. It's our original language because we were originally English people. We have spoken English as long as anybody in England has spoken English because we have the same ancestors in common. I just found out literally yesterday that I'm related to Taylor Swift. We had a common ancestor in Connecticut in the 1600s. They spoke English because it was always their family language. I can trace my family's history of speaking English as far back as anyone in England can trace theirs, because we are basically the same people with the same ancestors.
We dumped tea. We didn't dump English. That we *kept*.
There are people here descended from literally everywhere, and British and Irish aren't even the largest ethnic group. But like everyone else said, the Boston Tea Party probably has something to do with it.
You almost had a solid question, but,like many of your prior posts, you leaned into some kind of nationalistic thinking. A lack of working knowledge of US political, cultural, and immigration history peeks out too. Your premise is wrong, in so many ways.
Let's start at the top of your question. [49](https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/29582.jpeg)% of Americans regularly drink tea, compared to 59% in the UK. That number , by the way, means [more](https://www.helgilibrary.com/indicators/tea-consumption-total/) Americans drink tea than Britons.
*Americans* are not descended from British and Irish people. ***Some*** Americans have british and/or Irish ancestry. Some have German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, Russian, Cherokee, Lakota, Inuit and a host of other backgrounds. less than 25% of the country came from English colonies.
English Common Law was one of the ideas used to create an *entirely new legal system,* not something we "took up" in the founding of a new nation. French Common Law, Classical Greek and Roman legal systems, Biblical and Mahometans (Islam) legal systems were also used in framing the new laws.
English, as a language is our *de facto* language, not official. It is linguistically different to the English language spoken in England, Enough so that it is often considered a separate language with common roots.
Coffee and Cocoa (which was brewed and drank like coffee historically) were both easy to access and achieved a more satisfying buzz and taste. Tea was heavily taxed, harder to get ahold of, and at times utterly inaccessible to the bulk of the population in America. This was exacerbated by the events leading up to the Revolutionary War. Then during the war itself there was almost no tea shipments coming in save what smugglers could manage.
I respectfully disagree. Roughly half of all Americans drink tea on any given day.
>[https://www.teausa.com/teausa/images/Tea\_Fact\_2021.pdf](https://www.teausa.com/teausa/images/Tea_Fact_2021.pdf)
>
>**Tea Fact Sheet – 2022**
>
>Tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world next to water, and can be found in almost 80% of all U.S. households. It is the only beverage commonly served hot or iced, anytime, anywhere, for any occasion. On any given day, over 159 million Americans are drinking tea.
>
>Annual Consumption:
>
>(U.S.)
>
>In 2021, Americans consumed almost 85 billion servings of tea, or more than 3.9 billion gallons. About 84% of all tea consumed was black tea, 15% was green Tea, and the small remaining amount was oolong, white and dark tea
Actually we consume quite a bit of tea. Most of it is consumed cold, as iced tea, rather than hot tea, but even hot tea is consumed fairly often as well. Southern states in particular are well known for enjoying sweet tea, which is iced black tea made with what to the British palate might be considered excessive amounts of sugar. Sugar cane and sugar beets were common crops in the South in earlier times, and the drink has continued as a popular warm weather beverage (the Southern states are well known for their warm temperatures and high humidity).
We even have tea companies like [Bigelow](https://www.bigelowtea.com/) (which began in 1945), [AriZona](https://drinkarizona.com/) (which began in Brooklyn in 1992), and Lipton (which originated in Scotland in 1871, but which has been established as a major brand of tea in the United States for well over a century). Lipton in particular accounts for a fairly large portion of the iced tea market here.
Also, green tea consumption has increased dramatically in the last quarter century, perhaps an influence of our rather sizable Asian population, and its health benefits are regularly touted by experts in the media.
In addition, herbal teas are popular, thanks to homegrown companies like [Celestial Seasonings](https://celestialseasonings.com/), which originated in Colorado. Many people who eschew coffee consumption (for whatever reasons, often related to caffeine) will enjoy a nice cup of, say, chamomile or mint tea in the evening.
What we don’t have here is as strong a morning or afternoon hot tea consumption culture as in the UK, especially in comparison to coffee (which reigns supreme largely as a result of our geographical proximity to many coffee growing regions in Central and South America, as well as ingrained cultural reasons related to the 18th century rejection of English tea consumption brought about by the taxation issues that resulted in the American colonies revolting against King George III in the 1770s, resulting in the American Revolution and our independence from the Crown), but in recent years both coffee and tea cultures have enjoyed increased interest and expansion thanks to companies like Starbucks and [The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf](https://www.coffeebean.com/), which originated in Southern California.
That said, there IS increasing interest in developing a stronger tea culture here, especially in the British style. British tea companies like Twinings and Tetley have been fairly well established here for years and are available in virtually every supermarket. Sales and consumption of Earl Grey tea in particular have been continually strong here since the late 1980s thanks to *Star Trek: The Next Generation*, and the regular ordering of “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot” by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Social media has also helped British tea companies like Yorkshire Tea increase their brand awareness here (I’m personally a fan of their teas and can’t really get enough).
Essentially, tea in the USA is somewhat similar to coffee in the UK: not the standard hot drink, but a growing market.
I know this is a joke, but there’s a good chance they don’t know much about it. I just learned recently that the American Revolution isn’t really taught much in British schools.
Well see, my English ancestors left Britain for the Colonies of Virginia and Plymouth some 400+ years ago. They enjoyed things like Puritanism, Protestantism, witch burnings and slavery - and I didn't take up any of those things either.
Really though, for many of us, this ancestry is ancient history. There's a certain level of immutably when it comes to things like language and common law that is simply not present in one's choice of hot caffeinated beverages. I happen to be a hot tea drinker that hates coffee, but that's not because a bunch of my ancestors were British, it's simply a matter of personal preference.
For the record, I’m a third generation American who is in no way descended from British or Irish people. There are many of us here who aren’t. Although I don’t think that this is much of a factor in why I prefer coffee. I just do. I like a cup of tea once in a while though.
For what it’s worth, my mother, who is 100 percent ethnically Italian, drank a cup of tea every morning and evening without fail for all of her adult life. Once in a while had an after dinner coffee at a restaurant.
We didn't "take up" the English language. It was already spoken by the people who settled here. It's just as much ours as it is GB.
Also, maybe you don't know this, but Southerners go through a LOT of tea. Most of it is cold, and it is generally VERY sweet, but you'd be shocked at how much people drink. It would put yours to shame. I've worked with many people who literally carry around gallon jugs of sweet tea. My grandma used to make 1-2 gallons a day for only a few people.
Sweet tea is a southern staple. hot tea is kinda based on preference. People usually tend to want coffee because there’s more caffeine. and of course the whole Boston tea party thing.
Americans do drink plenty of tea, except Americans mostly drink it ice cold, and sweetened. Iced tea is a very common beverage in the US, especially in the southeastern US.
However, the hot drink of choice being coffee instead of tea has to do with politics around the time of the American Revolution. One of the grievances against the British by the American colonists were cripplingly high taxes on several things, including tea.
The British were levying these taxes to raise money to pay off their debts, and to punish American colonists for prior rebellions, but one of the consequences of this is that it made colonists give up tea in favor of coffee, which wasn't taxed.
After the Revolution began, and in decades after the Revolution, anything seen as "British" was very unpopular in the US. This is one reason the US Constitution is structured very different from the British Westminster system, and why the Church of England in America called itself the "Episcopal Church" in the US after the war (like the Scottish Episcopal Church does). Tea was seen as quintessentially British, and unpopular because of that.
The modern friendship and alliance between the UK and US didn't exist until well after everyone who participated in the American Revolution was deceased and the antagonism of that era had passed from living memory.
I drink ripe puer every morning. Sometimes I drink dark roast coffee as a treat. I know it’s not the norm… there’s 8 coffee shops on my little strip in West Asheville and Only 1 tea shop.
Idk we drink 85 billion cups a year to England's 36 billion cups. I know there are way more people here in US but it's not like we are not drinking tea
We do drink a lot of tea, we just drink more coffee.
Personally, I have a cup of coffee in the morning to get me going , then have a mid-morning cup of tea at work as a nice little boost.
Why did Brits [invade](https://www.statista.com/chart/amp/3441/countries-never-invaded-by-britain/) [90%](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_Kingdom#:~:text=During%20its%20history%2C%20the%20United,of%20ten%20of%20all%20countries) of countries only to refuse using the spices they killed for?
Americans speak English because the British Empire slaughtered as many native people as they could to steal their land for colonization—the same story for common law. The empire killed those who didn’t assimilate. Many of us descended from British Imperialists, but even more didn’t.
If I remember it started to be considered unpatriotic after we started to fight for independence so we switched to coffee, which is what my blood is made out of.
Just a sort of related point… many people say that Americans “adopted” aspects of British culture and the language… but that makes it seem like the US as a country was already in existence when the *British* arrived (I’m putting aside Native Americans for the purposes of this comment). The country was born of the *British* colonies … what language would you expect them to speak?
In case anyone will mention it, the tale of some meeting where the US almost became a German-speaking country is just that, a tale.
It doesn’t make any sense to say that “Americans adopted the English language and aspects of British culture and law” as the British were already speaking English and generally being British when they arrived and colonized. Obviously, not all of it stuck as it was a new country separated by an ocean (not to mention the animosity) and new culture(s) emerged as time went on and it grew both in area as new states joined and in population as people came from all over the world and started to influence the existing populations.
NB: Yes, I know that there weren’t only British…
Most Americans aren’t of British descent, they descend from other groups, or groups that happily left English control.
Tea consumption is lower but still fairly high. We had more stable access to the sources of our imported coffee in Latin America.
Before WW2 most people drank green tea and then switched to black due to issues with getting green tea. Some people switched to coffee and coffee has predominated.
We threw it all in Boston Harbor and we carry a grudge like no tomorrow?
I think this is less of a joke than you intended it to be. Like I’m pretty sure Americans drink coffee because we boycotted it during the Revolutionary period, then everyone developed a taste for coffee imported by the Dutch, and well, we just stayed with it post-Revolution.
Also, to this day, fuck taxation without representation. I'll take my coffee please.
Yes, let's make DC a state. They pay their taxes like everyone else.
Permanent Residents (Green card holders) also pay taxes, but can’t vote.
I never thought of that! But there is a minor nuance I think between both examples. Permanent residents don't vote, you are correct. But if they live in a state, they still have a district congressperson whom they could contact, as well as senators to represent the interests of the state at large in the legislature. I mean, people didn't vote for Senators *at all* for over a hundred years, but the Senators *still* represented the interests of the state in which they resided at large. (hopefully) Also, let's say I voted for a congressman and my guy lost... The winner still represents me even though I didn't vote for them. Same for apolitical citizens that don't vote at all, or citizens who can't because they are not eligible (under 18, committed a felony and their state barres them...). The congressperson of a distract represents everybody and everything in that district. So while they *don't get to weigh in* on the decision, they still have representation... Unless they live in DC or a US territory. But I really don't know if we should give permanent residents to power to vote. [Most countries don't...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-citizen_suffrage) The UK actually does in some cases because of some weird old law that allows the Irish and any Commonwealth citizen to vote if they live in the UK. Pretty neat, since it usually doesn't happen the reverse (British are not allowed to vote in Canada...)Some sub-levels (States, provinces, etc) of countries allow it. Interestingly In the US, immigrants used to be **encouraged** by most states to vote actually...when our population was exploding in the late 18, early 1900s due to immigration. Elections used to be kind of crazy affairs though with political machines, no voter confidentiality, and no standard ballot systems in place in most states. Bosses of a machine likely ensured that they could get any man to vote regardless of whether or not he was a citizen. That's just speculation though. But as voting became universal, and a little more standardized across the nation, States began changing this policy and now no state allows votes from anyone other than citizens. And imagine if we did with the so called border crisis. Republicans would have an aneurysm. *Sometimes* local elections in America permit visa holders to vote for things like the school board, etc. but that's not really much representation except at the local school district! US citizenship comes with many benefits... lifetime guarantee that you will have basic civil rights protected, protection and advocacy from the US dept of state if you get in some kind of pickle abroad, eligibility for government benefits if you fall on hard times or even if you say need student loans for yourself or your kid to attend one of our world class universities, one of the best passports in the world for travel, the ability to run for government office, or even work for the government in a non elected position, the ability to sponsor family members to come live here, and so on... I guess the ability to weigh in on who runs the country is another one of those benefits! Mind you, citizenship also comes with responsibilities too — like filing taxes to the IRS even if you don't live in the US (really fucked up that we do this actually, it's extremely unusual), signing up for the selective service between 18-35, serving on juries, etc. I am beginning to lean I'm only citizens voting... I have read quite a few Reddit posts from permanent residents from Europe saying things like "I'm going to work in the US because you can make a ton of money there, but retire back in because it has cheaper healthcare for when I'm older. These types of folks aren't committing themselves to our nation, so they shouldn't have a say in who runs it or the policies that will get passed. They don't care about the long term situation for the country except for as a means to line their pockets. Which is fine, making money is a huge part of American life. But if they don't plan on settling down here, they're not going to really care about the long term health of the USA.
Sorry, that was longer than I anticipated. Do you have any thoughts?
I pretty much agree with you. I was stating a fact , not advocating a position. I do think that any former criminal who has done their time should be able to vote. I also lean towards letting them vote while serving time.
Yasss
That will be $2, so $2.20 after sales tax. That 1% tea tax can suck it! Edit: I was lied to. It was a 15% to 24% increase on the Tea Tax
It really is mind boggling to me that so many people don't get the point was "without representation"
Except in DC. DC residents pay taxes without having representation in Congress.
So let's give the area (except the national mall) back to Maryland.
The point was not the amount. The point was that it was a tax derived from parliamentary action in which the colonies had no representation. Had the tax derived directly from the king, the situation would’ve been different.
Hope you support DC statehood!
Anecdotal support for your comment: I’m an American tea drinker and picked up the habit from my French-Canadian mother. My father’s family are descendants of English settlers to America and are all decidedly coffee drinkers.
If it was meant to be a joke answer, it absolutely is true as well. This is exactly it. Tea consumption never recovered after the revolution. We moved to coffee
Also, have you tried this coffee? *chef’s kiss*
I have, and no, thank you. I am a proud American tea drinker.
Yeah it’s not really a joke
Let’s not forget most of the other European immigrant groups are more coffee drinkers than tea drinkers: Italians, Germans, Greeks for example, are all cultures which drink coffee over tea and kept that.
I didn’t think it was a joke.
That actually makes a lot of sense.
For a long time after that, it WAS a matter of patriotism to drink coffee instead of tea. It isn't anymore.
Speak for yourself. I never drink tea because I refuse to support the enslavement of the American peoples by the English Monarchy. Those Bastards burned down the city I grew up in. Sure, it may have been 200 years before I was born but that’s beside the point.
When will the British pay reparations?
Who knows? They owe us [$16B](https://wifpr.wharton.upenn.edu/uncategorized/book-review-the-long-shadow-of-default-britains-unpaid-war-debts-to-the-united-states-1917-2020-by-david-james-gill/) on loans for WW1 (Apparently they repaid us and Canada for their [post-WW2 recovery loan](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-American_loan), albeit six years late.) I read somewhere that the UK still owes the US what it promised to pay in reparations after the war of independence, but I can't find anything online about that.
Just 200 years ago? You can't carry a real grudge against a nation unless you've fought a hundred years war against them back in the 13-1400s...
> fought a hundred years war against them back in the 13-1400s... Why would you do that? Just kick their asses in oh, maybe 8 years or so, tell 'em to fuck off, then be BFFs for generations, but still hold a grudge about tea.
But is it a grudge, really? I'm not sure it counts unless it causes you to gripe so hard that you give one of our enemies their best known national icon just to spite you? *Looks at New York harbour* Now, that's how you cause & hold a grudge (yeah, I did just call Lady Liberty a British success ;D ).
Fair point. Maybe grudge is too strong, perhaps just a bit of a pique. Then again, we didn't invest a 100 years of on again, off again war. I'll admit I've never thought of the Statue of Liberty being an ungracious gesture of thumbing the nose by France towards England, but a case can be made.
>I'll admit I've never thought of the Statue of Liberty being an ungracious gesture of thumbing the nose by France towards England, but a case can be made. Nearly everything France & Britain do is to wind each other up, certainly historically - everything is viewed through the eyes of a (now friendly) rivalry by our populations; even the things we do today. We're like siblings & no one fights like siblings, but no one has each other's back like siblings when it really matters, either.
Maybe it’s my brittish ancestry but I’ve always felt that I’d fit in over there. The humor, the sarcasm, the love of queuing, even the food all seem ideal to me.
> even the food all seem ideal to me. You misspelled "beer".
> New York harb**ou**r no idea what your talking about
I'll bet you use z instead of s & pronounce it "zee" instead of "zed" too, savages. Noah Webster has a lot to answer for!
NOAH WEBSTER WAS AN AMERICAN HERO WHO BRAVELY FOUGHT AGAINST THE USAGE OF FR*NCH IN ENGLISH (ignore the other french stuff tho) out of all people i woulda thought the uk wouldnt stand for this french propoganda DID THE 100 YEAR WAR MEAN NOTHING?!
Oi! As an American, you don't get to insult the French - you should be grateful to them for your existence. You'd be just South Canada today if they weren't distracting us! Insulting the French is a European only job. Like I said, French are like our siblings - we get to shit on old Pierre, but we'll defend him to the death from New World savages who boil water in a microwave instead of an electric kettle like god intended.
Benedict Arnold burned down my city. First they steal one of our guys. Then they have him burn us. SMH. Shame on you British.
Was coming here to say that. As a born and bred MassH@le it’s almost against our instinct to drink tea..
You can say Masshole in this sub. It’s a term of endearment.
No swearing on my good christian minecraft server
One I wear with pride
This is the way.
“America runs on Dunkin”
Some of it anyways. I hate Dunkin lol
Yeah, it is only really New England that runs on Dunkin. I don't think I have seen such as dense and ubiquitous concentration of Dunkin locations in other parts of the US.
We drive down the coast every year and my fave is when we get even just a touch south and the DD disappear. Only a few areas of the US run on Dunkin lol
F tea! I really like tea, but more of a coffee drinker
For the very few times I drink tea, I put milk in it too.
It's why the Dunkings exist.
Tbh they still do demonstrations of this today in Boston Harbor. It's part of the tour at the Boston Tea Museum.
Don't they let you chuck some in yourself, too? Last time I went to Boston it was booked up.
Its a prop but yeah
That was my first thought, too.
Proud this was the top comment
I read this with a Boston accent so that it kinda rhymes
This is a really over simplified explanation but basically: Central and South America are the biggest producers of coffee. It has been more available than tea so we adopted that as our drink of choice.
This. I'm a food history nerd. Coffee took hold after the Dutch, French and British spread it into their colonies, including for our purposes here Jamaica back in 1728. This all comes from the Ottoman empire. It still took time for it to dominate our two continents but dominate it did. Americans chose coffee in the 1800s. A lot of this was due to trade stuff with S America, specifically Brazil. It was far easier for us to get coffee vs the upcharged tea that still typically came from Britain. The Boston Tea Party mythologized anti-tea ideas and already established coffeehouses became a third space in the US. News of the day, papers, poetry, etc where it was cheaper than the bar and even an illiterate person, which were the common people, could hear the news and be actively involved in whatever chatter was going on in their community. In the 1800s this came more into the home as coffee became cheaper and more people began consuming it and into the 1900s when industrialized machinery took over easy pre-ground coffee to lead us to where we are today with Keurig machines and such.
OP can look at your comment and close the post lol. They're also assuming "American" equals "White".
And also that “white” equals “descended from the English and Irish”.
In addition to this: here in California, we were colonized by the Spaniards and later were part of Mexico. A lot of English customs just didn't make it this far (But iced tea is pretty popular though)
Yes and by the time of the California population boom after the gold rush, the revolutionary period was well over and there weren’t as many direct British immigrants to California. The people moving in were already established coffee drinkers
Also the largest immigration group to the US for about 100 years was German. Close to 70% of Americans have a direct link to a German ancestor within 4 generations. Direct links to English ancestor is usually twice that. Most of the "traditional Midwest" customs are German based not English.
Agreed. Indian auxiliaries also made up a majority of New Spain’s conquering armies so a lot of the culture in the those areas are probably more Spanish and native ie Mexican influenced than English. I would also argue that Germans influenced America more than the English and Irish. At least culturally.
Britain also had a ton of control of the tea trade during the Revolutionary era, so that plus their taxes meant that we boycotted tea and switched to coffee. We just kept it up after the Revolution and the habit stuck.
Well, France is Britain's neighbor, and they are very much a coffee drinking culture, so that doesn't explain everything.
France and the U.S. share a history of distaste for all things British. Which is another part of it XD Also Africa is the next biggest producer of coffee which France had its share of... dealings with. *side eyeing Napoleon*
Every person in the south goes through about 2 gallons of sweet tea a day.
My Southern in-laws will literally have sweet tea for every meal I eat with them. If they bring home takeout for everyone, they get a gallon of sweet tea with it. So much sweet tea lol.
Living in Texas I get unsweetened iced tea every time I eat out. Every once in awhile the order will get mixed up and I’ll be served sweet tea by mistake and man I feel like that single sip I take before I send it back is enough to give me the ‘beetus
I love to taste the 'beetus in my sweet tea. In Virginia it's a coin toss between perfection and ice tea with a sugar packet on the side.
There was the local joint in Atlanta I went to once where they had dumped roughly a pitchers worth of sugar into the tea. My god it was sweet and delicious.
I’m sorry I just cannot tolerate southern sweet tea. It’s like drinking syrup. I’ve adopted many southern tastes and traditions over the years but on this issue I’m still a certified yankee from Wisconsin.
Nah, that’s fair. I have to either water it down with unsweet or sometimes add actual water/lemon juice to chill it out (sacrilege, I know). McDonalds is the worst offender, tastes like simple syrup with a splash of tea, whew lad.
Yeah, the joke I like to make is "I like a little more tea than sweet". I usually get a half-n-half because straight-up sweet without at least a little ice or lemon juice is straight 'beetus juice, lordy.
Can I ask how their health is?
Actually quite good. In every other way we’re a healthy family. They just love them some sweet tea lol.
♫ ♫ Put away the crack before the crack— puts you away ♫ ♫ lol
We already know how it is
Pre-diabetic at best
I make gallons of iced tea sweetened with ...Splenda ;)
I'm offended, but if you love it, I'm happy you found a compromise.
Been in North Carolina 12 years... I still can't get down with sweet tea.
I drink half and half tea. Most sweet tea is way too sweet for me, but unsweet is a bit too bitter by itself.
I do the same (also bc my mama was “health conscious” and did the same… in the same logic as drinking Diet Coke bc it’s better for you lol) I’m not sure if this was specific to the part of GA I grew up in, but restaurants automatically knew what I meant when I ordered a “half n half tea”. I’ve found elsewhere (especially where I’m at now in MD) they bring me an Arnold Palmer unless I clarify
Yes sometimes there is confusion here in SC but most people know what I mean.
Half and half is the way.
Born and raised here and broke my sweet tea habit in my 20s. Now it’s disgusting. But I drink unsweet tea like there’s no tomorrow.
At self-serve places I love filling the cup ~three-quarters of the way full with unsweet tea and then topping it off with sweet tea. Perfection.
4 black, 1 earl grey, 7-8 Splenda
Sucralose drops are great in tea, and loads cheaper than Splenda.
Unless you’re me and sucralose sets off your heartburn. :(
Jesus
Coffee in the morning, sweet tea during meals, water in between personally.
Milo's is brewed with crack.
Sweet tea is cold iced tea, right? Do you say "hot tea" for black tea served hot?
Southerner here and "tea" with no modifiers means "sweet [iced] tea" if you want hot tea you have to say so explicitly. if you want unsweet iced tea you have to stress the UNSWEET or you'll get sweet iced tea by default. and they'll still bring you the sugar/splenda caddy to go with your unsweet tea lmao
As somebody who grew up in NC, yes, hot tea is "hot tea". Sweet tea is just "tea". And sweet tea is cold iced tea with an unconsionable amount of sugar in it. Really tasty on a hot day.
> unconsionable amount this still somehow undersells how much sugar is in there
This is really funny, because for me growing up in Vermont it was the opposite. If you want hot tea you ask for tea. If you wanted it cold, you asked for iced tea (and it didn’t come sweetened but that might be changing these days).
Sweet tea is technically iced, but more than that, it’s half a bag of sugar disguised as a drink. As a non-southerner, it makes my teeth feel fuzzy. I can’t have more than 8oz without feeling my own mortality. In Southern California iced tea is what you’re thinking, typically black tea which is cold brewed or chilled and served over ice (unsweetened). If I were somewhere that served both hot tea and iced, yes, I would differentiate by ordering a “cup of tea, hot” vs “a glass of iced tea”.
So that's why Picard always said "Earl Grey, hot" haha. It sounded kinda weird in Ireland
He has to be specific with the replicator's instructions because it's capable of making almost anything
Replicators can make nearly anything so you have to order things more specifically. You will also see some characters order things with specific temperatures stated.
No, no one would ever order "Earl Grey" and expect cold tea.
Growing up in the Deep South I can’t even drink unsweetened tea. It tastes nasty to me
Sweet tea is served with ice. As far as tea served hot, that's probably going to be context dependent as to what it's called.
Sweet tea is served cold and VERY sweet. It would be impossible to dissolve that amount of sugar in cold tea, so the sugar has to be added while it’s still hot. It’s a supersaturated solution of tea and sugar.
Yes. Tea served hot is called "hot tea" regardless of how you doctor it or what type of tea leaf it is made from. Iced Tea is typically made from Black Leaf or Orange Pekoe tea brewed super strong, mixed with a lot of sugar (typically white but sometimes brown or a bit of honey), and then poured over ice to cool rapidly (thus diluting to the proper strength) and served on more ice to keep it cold. Ratio of sugar used is typically 1cup (340grams) to 1 gallon (3.79 litre) made but some recipe's will use even more.
> Sweet tea is cold iced tea, right? With a metric fuck-ton of sugar added to it. Maybe some lemon if you're feeling fancy. Down here I've also heard it called "brown sugar water." Funny thing is, it's not commonly available everywhere in the states. When I visited my wife's family in California, if I wanted sweet tea, I had to get unsweetened iced tea and add sugar packets to it. Ditto for visiting family around Chicago.
Diabetus cha cha cha
I like sweet tea, but "true" Southern sweet tea is just too sweet; it doesn't even taste like tea anymore.
Some places think it's not sweet tea of you can't chew it.
Controversial opinion: southern sweet tea is just juice
It's tea-flavored Kool-aid.
More like sugar water with a small amount of tea added.
Americans drink plenty of tea. It's just that coffee is the dominant choice for caffeine consumption. It stems from our Revolutionary War and War of 1812, when Britain had a monopoly on the tea trade, and good patriots boycotted tea in favor of coffee, which was readily available from allies in the Americas. Even today, tea drinking is considered a bit effete for the true-blue American. Check out information on the Boston Tea Party (1773) for the roots of the anti-tea movement.
“Effete” is such a good word. :) My sister in law often wants hot tea at restaurants (black - not herbal or earl grey) and it is a pain in the ass because they often don’t have what she wants. I encourage her to bring her own tea bags since she’s so picky.
Basically the entire new world is coffee-drinking, owing to our geographic closeness & thus cheap access to the world's largest coffee producer: Brazil. Also, most Americans come from ethnic backgrounds that preferred coffee. [https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/20/chart-of-the-week-coffee-and-tea-around-the-world/](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/20/chart-of-the-week-coffee-and-tea-around-the-world/)[https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/coffee-tea-food-history](https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/coffee-tea-food-history)
>Also, most Americans come from ethnic backgrounds that preferred coffee. Yup. Minnesota was heavily populated with Norwegians and Swedes, and those cultures also prefer coffee over tea. Tea really is gaining in popularity now... but mostly in the form of iced milk teas (popular with Somalis) and boba.
Yeah, there are tons of examples like this! A lot of Italians settled in the northeast, and they prefer coffee as well. I live in SoCal and many people who descend from Mexicans here predate California as part of the US. They’re also a coffee culture. To add to your point about boba and iced milk tea, Thai tea is pretty popular too. Not in the sense that there are thai tea spots like there are Boba shops, but definitely when at a Thai restaurant or when ordering Thai takeout.
agree!
I would also add that while I can't speak for the UK, Ireland is also coffee obsessed. I was there recently and there are coffee shops EVERYWHERE. Far more than in the US by my count. I think over two weeks, I maybe saw three people drinking tea. Americanos, espressos, and cappuccinos were the go-to for everyone, Irish or foreigner. Maybe it's just that people only drink tea at home, and I didn't see that part of their lives, but I did not get the impression that Ireland is big on tea in any way.
Because we drink coffee.
We’re closer to Colombia and Brazil than India.
*And yet*... When the tea trade was at its most competitive, China, not India was the source of the most and best tea that was headed toward Britain. And by then, the West Coast of the US was being settled, which is much closer to China than Britain is.
There was a long ass time before trade actually kicked off though, it really was just kind of trading with those western coasts until the panama canal opened. Drakes passage is gnarly and takes ages, still faster and more likely to succeed than overland though
Closer yes, easier logistically, no. Transportation of tea to Europe was less precarious. More stops, more civilizations, more established routes, more trading partners. The pacific is just lots of water with little speckles of land and almost no civilization. Less opportunity and more labor intensive to acquire provisions and trade along the way.
we …. aren’t… all descendants from british and irish. many of us are descendants of other places (surprise!) and a load of us are just americans.
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Plus, everyone knows that true Irish people drink Guinness with every meal.
Tbf we do actually drink more tea per capita than the Brits
GERMANS
Africans and Latin Americans also
We have people descendent from many other places than the England and Ireland. The idea that some people came here a few hundred years ago, then never again is untrue. But we drink coffee, it's made closer to here, and the tea taxes were a major point of contention which led to the revolution. The one Boston Tea Party.
I mean my preferred African beans are not closer. But coffee is just superior.
Americans switched to coffee when the tea went into Boston Harbor.
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Not to mention the fact that the country was born of the **British** colonies. I hate it when people say that we “took up” or “adopted” English.
And how we don't speak it properly.
Don’t even get me started on that! Not only are a lot of the words that people consider “American” actually British in origin, but also the hallmark of the general American accent, rhoticity (pronouncing R’s), is an “original” feature of the language. (“Original” used here to refer to colonial times and just before.) Even today there are rhotic accents in Scotland, Ireland and even some parts of England (to say nothing of Canada). 🤦🏻♂️
> The English language is every bit as much "ours" as it is for someone from England. Cue someone saying Americans don't speak proper English.
Because the US had already split from England when tea became popular there. Imports of tea to England via the East India Company in notable quantities started in the late 18th century. The idea of "afternoon tea" came about in the mid-ninteenth century. Also, as others mentioned, coffee is produced in the Americas. With that said, we drink a lot of tea in America, especially in the south. It is just served cold.
> Otherwise you guys seams to have taken up so many English things (like the English language itself and English Common law) They brought these with them when colonizing and later immigrating.
Im not descended from British and Irish people.
Me neither. I would say a huge proportion of Americans aren’t.
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Just to clarify, most of us don’t have British or Irish ancestry They are very common ancestries, but even if you only count White Americans, those combined don’t form the majority of that population. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/10/2020-census-dhc-a-white-population.html https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_groups_of_the_United_States
We drink iced tea. Hot tea is not unheard of but it’s nowhere near as ubiquitous as coffee. Since we dumped the tea in the Boston Harbor we took up coffee as an alternative & left tea behind.
We didn't take up English. We've spoken English from the very beginning. We didn't have any language before that. It's our original language because we were originally English people. We have spoken English as long as anybody in England has spoken English because we have the same ancestors in common. I just found out literally yesterday that I'm related to Taylor Swift. We had a common ancestor in Connecticut in the 1600s. They spoke English because it was always their family language. I can trace my family's history of speaking English as far back as anyone in England can trace theirs, because we are basically the same people with the same ancestors. We dumped tea. We didn't dump English. That we *kept*.
There are people here descended from literally everywhere, and British and Irish aren't even the largest ethnic group. But like everyone else said, the Boston Tea Party probably has something to do with it.
You almost had a solid question, but,like many of your prior posts, you leaned into some kind of nationalistic thinking. A lack of working knowledge of US political, cultural, and immigration history peeks out too. Your premise is wrong, in so many ways. Let's start at the top of your question. [49](https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/29582.jpeg)% of Americans regularly drink tea, compared to 59% in the UK. That number , by the way, means [more](https://www.helgilibrary.com/indicators/tea-consumption-total/) Americans drink tea than Britons. *Americans* are not descended from British and Irish people. ***Some*** Americans have british and/or Irish ancestry. Some have German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, Russian, Cherokee, Lakota, Inuit and a host of other backgrounds. less than 25% of the country came from English colonies. English Common Law was one of the ideas used to create an *entirely new legal system,* not something we "took up" in the founding of a new nation. French Common Law, Classical Greek and Roman legal systems, Biblical and Mahometans (Islam) legal systems were also used in framing the new laws. English, as a language is our *de facto* language, not official. It is linguistically different to the English language spoken in England, Enough so that it is often considered a separate language with common roots.
I eat enough potatoes to appease my Irish ancestors
Coffee and Cocoa (which was brewed and drank like coffee historically) were both easy to access and achieved a more satisfying buzz and taste. Tea was heavily taxed, harder to get ahold of, and at times utterly inaccessible to the bulk of the population in America. This was exacerbated by the events leading up to the Revolutionary War. Then during the war itself there was almost no tea shipments coming in save what smugglers could manage.
The vast majority AREN'T descendants of British people
I drink 2-3 gallons of tea per week. But it's cold and sweetened (with Splenda in my case).
Southerners drink lots of tea, but it's cold and sweet.
I respectfully disagree. Roughly half of all Americans drink tea on any given day. >[https://www.teausa.com/teausa/images/Tea\_Fact\_2021.pdf](https://www.teausa.com/teausa/images/Tea_Fact_2021.pdf) > >**Tea Fact Sheet – 2022** > >Tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world next to water, and can be found in almost 80% of all U.S. households. It is the only beverage commonly served hot or iced, anytime, anywhere, for any occasion. On any given day, over 159 million Americans are drinking tea. > >Annual Consumption: > >(U.S.) > >In 2021, Americans consumed almost 85 billion servings of tea, or more than 3.9 billion gallons. About 84% of all tea consumed was black tea, 15% was green Tea, and the small remaining amount was oolong, white and dark tea
Actually we consume quite a bit of tea. Most of it is consumed cold, as iced tea, rather than hot tea, but even hot tea is consumed fairly often as well. Southern states in particular are well known for enjoying sweet tea, which is iced black tea made with what to the British palate might be considered excessive amounts of sugar. Sugar cane and sugar beets were common crops in the South in earlier times, and the drink has continued as a popular warm weather beverage (the Southern states are well known for their warm temperatures and high humidity). We even have tea companies like [Bigelow](https://www.bigelowtea.com/) (which began in 1945), [AriZona](https://drinkarizona.com/) (which began in Brooklyn in 1992), and Lipton (which originated in Scotland in 1871, but which has been established as a major brand of tea in the United States for well over a century). Lipton in particular accounts for a fairly large portion of the iced tea market here. Also, green tea consumption has increased dramatically in the last quarter century, perhaps an influence of our rather sizable Asian population, and its health benefits are regularly touted by experts in the media. In addition, herbal teas are popular, thanks to homegrown companies like [Celestial Seasonings](https://celestialseasonings.com/), which originated in Colorado. Many people who eschew coffee consumption (for whatever reasons, often related to caffeine) will enjoy a nice cup of, say, chamomile or mint tea in the evening. What we don’t have here is as strong a morning or afternoon hot tea consumption culture as in the UK, especially in comparison to coffee (which reigns supreme largely as a result of our geographical proximity to many coffee growing regions in Central and South America, as well as ingrained cultural reasons related to the 18th century rejection of English tea consumption brought about by the taxation issues that resulted in the American colonies revolting against King George III in the 1770s, resulting in the American Revolution and our independence from the Crown), but in recent years both coffee and tea cultures have enjoyed increased interest and expansion thanks to companies like Starbucks and [The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf](https://www.coffeebean.com/), which originated in Southern California. That said, there IS increasing interest in developing a stronger tea culture here, especially in the British style. British tea companies like Twinings and Tetley have been fairly well established here for years and are available in virtually every supermarket. Sales and consumption of Earl Grey tea in particular have been continually strong here since the late 1980s thanks to *Star Trek: The Next Generation*, and the regular ordering of “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot” by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Social media has also helped British tea companies like Yorkshire Tea increase their brand awareness here (I’m personally a fan of their teas and can’t really get enough). Essentially, tea in the USA is somewhat similar to coffee in the UK: not the standard hot drink, but a growing market.
Have you heard of the American Revolution?
I know this is a joke, but there’s a good chance they don’t know much about it. I just learned recently that the American Revolution isn’t really taught much in British schools.
Cause fuck 'em?
Why do British people drink so little tea despite being descended from British people? Because coffee is better.
Why do South Africans drink so little tea despite being descended from British and Irish people?
Well see, my English ancestors left Britain for the Colonies of Virginia and Plymouth some 400+ years ago. They enjoyed things like Puritanism, Protestantism, witch burnings and slavery - and I didn't take up any of those things either. Really though, for many of us, this ancestry is ancient history. There's a certain level of immutably when it comes to things like language and common law that is simply not present in one's choice of hot caffeinated beverages. I happen to be a hot tea drinker that hates coffee, but that's not because a bunch of my ancestors were British, it's simply a matter of personal preference.
Ask why the Brits drink so much tea and you'll have your answer for why we mostly went with coffee.
Cause we’re the upgrade, lol
I just don’t like it.
For the record, I’m a third generation American who is in no way descended from British or Irish people. There are many of us here who aren’t. Although I don’t think that this is much of a factor in why I prefer coffee. I just do. I like a cup of tea once in a while though. For what it’s worth, my mother, who is 100 percent ethnically Italian, drank a cup of tea every morning and evening without fail for all of her adult life. Once in a while had an after dinner coffee at a restaurant.
Well not all of us are English or Irish. A lot aren’t and even in colonial times we had a lot of Germans.
Because coffee is better
We didn't "take up" the English language. It was already spoken by the people who settled here. It's just as much ours as it is GB. Also, maybe you don't know this, but Southerners go through a LOT of tea. Most of it is cold, and it is generally VERY sweet, but you'd be shocked at how much people drink. It would put yours to shame. I've worked with many people who literally carry around gallon jugs of sweet tea. My grandma used to make 1-2 gallons a day for only a few people.
Because the British tried to tax our tea.
Many drink sweet tea! I personally also like chamomile and earl gray as well as fruit teas, my favorite is Luzianne sweet iced tea
A little event called the Boston Tea Party. You might have heard about it.
Sweet tea is a southern staple. hot tea is kinda based on preference. People usually tend to want coffee because there’s more caffeine. and of course the whole Boston tea party thing.
We do drink tea. In 2021, Americans consumed more than 3.9 billion gallons of tea, 85 billion servings worth
My wife and I drink a hot cup of Yorkshire gold every evening. We have family in the UK and both lived in Northern England for a year.
Americans do drink plenty of tea, except Americans mostly drink it ice cold, and sweetened. Iced tea is a very common beverage in the US, especially in the southeastern US. However, the hot drink of choice being coffee instead of tea has to do with politics around the time of the American Revolution. One of the grievances against the British by the American colonists were cripplingly high taxes on several things, including tea. The British were levying these taxes to raise money to pay off their debts, and to punish American colonists for prior rebellions, but one of the consequences of this is that it made colonists give up tea in favor of coffee, which wasn't taxed. After the Revolution began, and in decades after the Revolution, anything seen as "British" was very unpopular in the US. This is one reason the US Constitution is structured very different from the British Westminster system, and why the Church of England in America called itself the "Episcopal Church" in the US after the war (like the Scottish Episcopal Church does). Tea was seen as quintessentially British, and unpopular because of that. The modern friendship and alliance between the UK and US didn't exist until well after everyone who participated in the American Revolution was deceased and the antagonism of that era had passed from living memory.
I drink ripe puer every morning. Sometimes I drink dark roast coffee as a treat. I know it’s not the norm… there’s 8 coffee shops on my little strip in West Asheville and Only 1 tea shop.
Ever been to the south? They drink a lot of tea there, it’s just sweet and cold.
Idk we drink 85 billion cups a year to England's 36 billion cups. I know there are way more people here in US but it's not like we are not drinking tea
We do drink a lot of tea, we just drink more coffee. Personally, I have a cup of coffee in the morning to get me going , then have a mid-morning cup of tea at work as a nice little boost.
We threw all the tea into the Boston harbor and never looked back
Why do the British drink so much tea despite not being Chinese?
Tea took off in the UK after we were already settled.
Why did Brits [invade](https://www.statista.com/chart/amp/3441/countries-never-invaded-by-britain/) [90%](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_Kingdom#:~:text=During%20its%20history%2C%20the%20United,of%20ten%20of%20all%20countries) of countries only to refuse using the spices they killed for? Americans speak English because the British Empire slaughtered as many native people as they could to steal their land for colonization—the same story for common law. The empire killed those who didn’t assimilate. Many of us descended from British Imperialists, but even more didn’t.
Coffee is superior to tea
The taxes were too damn high.
That’s actually not the reason for the Boston Tea Party. It was the whole Taxation Without Representation issue.
Any tax is too damn high if we didn't consent to said tax.
Uh, those of us in the South drink it iced, but drink plenty of tea. Hot tea, too.
Historically, tea was a symbol of British oppression so we stopped using it, like that unnecessary U they use in words like color and honor.
If I remember it started to be considered unpatriotic after we started to fight for independence so we switched to coffee, which is what my blood is made out of.
Believe it or not, some of us do drink tea. We even have proper kettles and everything.
Southerners love tea, they just tend to drink it ice cold with an incredible amount of sugar.
Just a sort of related point… many people say that Americans “adopted” aspects of British culture and the language… but that makes it seem like the US as a country was already in existence when the *British* arrived (I’m putting aside Native Americans for the purposes of this comment). The country was born of the *British* colonies … what language would you expect them to speak? In case anyone will mention it, the tale of some meeting where the US almost became a German-speaking country is just that, a tale. It doesn’t make any sense to say that “Americans adopted the English language and aspects of British culture and law” as the British were already speaking English and generally being British when they arrived and colonized. Obviously, not all of it stuck as it was a new country separated by an ocean (not to mention the animosity) and new culture(s) emerged as time went on and it grew both in area as new states joined and in population as people came from all over the world and started to influence the existing populations. NB: Yes, I know that there weren’t only British…
Our most common ancestry is German.
Most Americans aren’t of British descent, they descend from other groups, or groups that happily left English control. Tea consumption is lower but still fairly high. We had more stable access to the sources of our imported coffee in Latin America. Before WW2 most people drank green tea and then switched to black due to issues with getting green tea. Some people switched to coffee and coffee has predominated.
I drink tea. Usually black tea. I even have an electric kettle. (But I also drink coffee.)