FROM COWBOYS TO SOCIETY DAMES: TEA THAT PACKED A PUNCH by Marisa Masterson

As I write this, I just learned we have a National Iced Tea Day. Okay, so I forgot to celebrate, but June 10th is actually set aside to commemorate iced tea. This sent my mind into motion. What is the history of tea drinking in the United States?


With the American Revolution, many colonists turned away from drinking tea. In fact there was a ditty from that time about it--

FAREWELL the Tea-board with your gaudy attire,Ye cups and ye saucers that I did admire;To my cream pot and tongs I now bid adieu;That pleasure’s all fled that I once found in you.…No more shall my teapot so generous beIn filling the cups with this pernicious tea,For I’ll fill it with water and rink out the same,Before I lose Liberty that dearest name…’ (10)
(https://destinationtea.com/teastory/)

It's because of this that we have the variety of herbal teas today. Colonists started drinking teas made from local plants rather than the imported tea.

If coffee was indeed America's choice for hot drinks, how was tea consumed? Through research, I was stunned to find out that punch is the the key word. Named that because these tea beverages packed a punch. One type of punch served had been called the Regent's Punch. After the Revolution, it went by more patriotic names such as Charleston's St. Cecilia Punch. Strained green tea and liquor along with sugar made up the drink.

Here's one example of a tea punch from the 1839 The Kentucky Housewife cookbook--

“Tea Punch – Make a pint and a half of very strong tea in the usual manner; strain it, and pour it boiling (hot) on one pound and a quarter of loaf sugar. (That’s 2 1/2 cups white sugar) Add half a pint of rich sweet cream, and then stir in gradually a bottle of claret or of champaign (sic). You may heat it to the boiling point, and serve it so, or you may send it round entirely cold, in glass cups.” (https://whatscookingamerica.net/History/IcedTeaHistory.htm)

For a cowboy, a special type of tea punch was served. A tea was brewed from peyote leaves. Then tequila was added. Saloons in the west served this and called it Cactus Wine. (https://www.thewildwest.org/cowboys/wildwestwesternfacts/270-oldwestsaloon)

Not all tea punches carried this same alcoholic kick. During prohibition, tea punch was flavored with fruit juice instead of liquor. Probably that made it much like our raspberry or peach teas you can buy at the store.













In case you'd like to try a non-alcoholic tea recipe, here's the oldest southern sweet tea recipe in print--

“Ice Tea. – After scalding the teapot, put into it one quart of boiling water and two teaspoonfuls green tea.  If wanted for supper, do this at breakfast.  At dinner time, strain, without stirring, through a tea strainer into a pitcher.  Let it stand till tea time and pour into decanters, leaving the sediment in the bottom of the pitcher.  Fill the goblets with ice, put two teaspoonfuls granulated sugar in each, and pour the tea over the ice and sugar.  A squeeze of lemon will make this delicious and healthful, as it will correct the astringent tendency.” (https://whatscookingamerica.net/History/IcedTeaHistory.htm)

What will this teacher do when she is faced with a past she has hidden? Star-crossed lovers have a second chance when they're drawn into a woman's mysterious disappearance.

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The Iceman Cometh then Refrigeration Did Him In

In those olden, golden days, the iceman cometh, but refrigeration did him in. 

Southern Belles needed the frozen delicacy to cool their sweet tea. I still call them iceboxes, and the grandsugars always do a second take before remembering what Grami calls the refrigerator.

The Iceman Cometh, a popular play written in 1939 by Gene O’Neill, referenced a time long gone in today’s society. Frozen water became a business in 1806. By the ’20s its delivery had spread as far south as Dallas, Texas. Even into the ’40s, refrigeration wasn’t wide spread, so the cutting and storing of big blocks of ice in the winter then reselling it in warmer weather remained big business.

In the north, freezing winter temperatures produced ample ice. Harvesting was simple enough; cut big blocks from frozen lakes, streams, or brooks using handsaws, pick up and stack them with special hooks that looked like sharp tongs, load them onto wagons and haul to specially built ice houses.

Those buildings, usually constructed from logs that offered excellent insulation, might have earth piled five to six feet high against their exterior walls for additional protection. Sawdust provided an extra layer as well, at the ice houses and on delivery wagons, too, in order to keep the blocks from melting.

Each morning the iceman would load his wagon and leave out in the cool of early morning to sell their wares. Not every house had an icebox, usually made from wood with a metal box inside the box to hold the blocks which cooled whatever the housewife wanted to keep in it, and they were all different sizes. The iceman carried a pick to make the block fit.

Only the more well-to-do could afford the five to ten cents per day to have the blocks brought to their homes. Ladies chipped off a little through the day for their lemonade or Southern sweet tea, and emptying the drip pan kept under the iceboxes became a common chore for the children. By the 1850s, plant manufactured ice rivaled the harvesting.

When Mister O’Neill named his play, The Iceman Cometh, everyone knew what he referred to whether they could afford for that iceman to visit their house or not.

Bio: Caryl McAdoo is all about loving God! She currently writes four series: the historical Christian ‘Texas Romance’; a contemporary ‘Red River Romance’; The Generations, her Biblical fiction, and the newest Days of Dread Trilogy for mid-grade readers. Known as the Singing Pray-er, she loves praising with new songs the Lord gives her and prays her story gives God glory! In 2008, she and her high school sweetheart-husband Ron moved from the DFW area—home for fifty-plus years—to the woods of Red River County. Caryl counts four children and sixteen grandsugars life’s biggest blessings believing all good things come from God. Besides glorifying Him, she hopes each title will also minister His love, mercy, and grace to its readers. Caryl and Ron live in Clarksville, the county seat, in the far northeast corner of the Lone Star State with two grandsons.

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