There is a great deal of poetry and fine
sentiment in a chest of tea.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson 

For many years, Americans associated tea with the tyranny of the British, and very little tea was consumed in the United States.  Americans had their cup of coffee instead.
    Ironically enough, it was an Englishman who was responsible for increasing tea's popularity in the States.  In the summer of 1904, Richard Blechynden, an English colonist living in Calcutta, traveled to St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.  Representing teas grown in the Far East, Blechynden hoped to popularize hot tea as a substitute for coffee in America.  Brutally hot weather conspired against Blechynden, however, and the Fair's visitors flocked to the cold refreshment stands for lemonade and Coca-Cola.  Not to be outdone, the enterprising Brit filled tall glasses with ice cubes and poured hot tea into them.  This cool refreshing drink turned into an instant sensation.  Today, 80% of all the tea drunk in America (about 200 million pounds) is made into iced tea.
    Blechyden's "invention" of iced tea was soon followed by the development of the tea bag, originally made of silk, by American Thomas Sullivan.  This made tea drinking more convenient, and when tea bags became available in the form of much cheaper paper filters, tea regained its earlier popularity in the states.  Today, the United States ranks seventh in total tea consumption in the world, behind India, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Japan, and Pakistan.  However, while the people of Qatar drink 8.2 pounds of tea per person each year- the highest rate in the world- Americans sip only .8 pounds per person, leaving the U.S. 33rd worldwide on a per capita basis. 

Source:  The Book Of Tea, John Beilenson, 1989