When did iced tea become the standard at conferences and such?

[Acsenray]

@puzzlegal

At every conference that puts ice tea on the table (and most others) someone comes by around dessert serving coffee, and if you ask you can get hot tea or decaf instead of the coffee.

Yes, after the meal. Hot coffee and hot tea are not commonly served before or during the meal.

@Wendell_Wagner

Iced tea was served at my home, often at other people’s homes, at school banquets, and at restaurants. I wasn’t at many restaurants because we couldn’t afford to eat out often. I didn’t go to conferences (or even exactly know what they were).

Were you served a glass automatically, without your being asked if you wanted it?

[Wendell_Wagner]

We were always asked what we wanted, even if it was just water.

[Banquet_Bear]

…I would suspect it would be a combination of a regional thing and a trend. I was in the conference industry (in NZ) for fifteen years. We would always be looking out for things that were happening overseas and adopting innovations to try and get ahead of the market. We were on of the first venues to replace carafes of iced water with bottles of mineral water. Now imagine what happens when bottled water businesses in the local supply chain find out one of the conference centres is buying massive amounts of bottled water: they want a piece of that action so they target the other conference centres in that market. Or imagine what happens when clients talk about how much more they prefer bottled water. Eventually most of the venues switched to bottled water. (which is what actually happened)

Another venue started putting out bowls of fruit on the registration table, we started doing the same. Its a very competitive market, and if another venue is doing something that you consider “puts them ahead in the game” then you do what you can to match it.

Of course none of this answers the question **when **it became the new standard. But if you can figure out when you started to notice it happening at many different venues it would probably be about a year before that. And Iced Tea is barely served here in NZ They sell the Lipton’s bottled range and similar products, but it isn’t something you would typically see in a cafe or restaurant.

[Saturn_Dreams]

I’ve been to several conferences and conventions in North America, Europe and Asia and I can unequivocally say that iced tea has never been served as a beverage. Coffee, hot tea, bottled water, juices, soda and even wine at a French event on several occasions (until they cut back expenses), but NEVER iced tea. Unless you want to count the cold green tea they serve in Japan as iced tea…

[Acsenray]

@Saturn_Dreams

I’ve been to several conferences and conventions in North America, Europe and Asia and I can unequivocally say that iced tea has never been served as a beverage. Coffee, hot tea, bottled water, juices, soda and even wine at a French event on several occasions (until they cut back expenses), but NEVER iced tea. Unless you want to count the cold green tea they serve in Japan as iced tea…

Where in North America?

[Saturn_Dreams]

@Acsenray

Where in North America?

East coast and west. Namely, California, Washington, Vancouver, Florida, New York, Boston, Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec. These are just examples not an inclusive list.

[Voyager]

@Banquet_Bear

…I would suspect it would be a combination of a regional thing and a trend. I was in the conference industry (in NZ) for fifteen years. We would always be looking out for things that were happening overseas and adopting innovations to try and get ahead of the market. We were on of the first venues to replace carafes of iced water with bottles of mineral water. Now imagine what happens when bottled water businesses in the local supply chain find out one of the conference centres is buying massive amounts of bottled water: they want a piece of that action so they target the other conference centres in that market. Or imagine what happens when clients talk about how much more they prefer bottled water. Eventually most of the venues switched to bottled water. (which is what actually happened)

We served bottled water at our conference for a few years, but found that it was cheaper to have water stations and to give each attendee a water bottle. Those we could buy on our own, and not get charged the standard inflated venue catering fees.
Which are perfectly justified, I know.

[Ludovic]

I’ve never seen iced tea served at a conference table. In Orlando, the most I’ve seen is a huge buffet-style container with a finger-operated bung switch at a central table. And I’m not 100% sure if this was iced tea and water or just a container for water.

[Acsenray]

@Saturn_Dreams

East coast and west. Namely, California, Washington, Vancouver, Florida, New York, Boston, Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec. These are just examples not an inclusive list.

So this might be a specific to Washington, D.C., then. Interesting …

[bump]

@Mr_Downtown

Late 1990s, though certainly it varied from region to region and even venue to venue. I noted the nationwide spread with perhaps more interest than most people.

I grew up in Texas, and found it odd that northerners in the mid-1980s still treated iced tea as some exotic specialty. Waiters would tell me it was seasonal, as if teabags were migratory. On more than one occasion, I had to order hot tea and a glass of ice.

Interestingly, since 2005 I’ve watched sparkling water make a similar rollout, from being something you could only get a few places in New York City and California to being available in 7-Elevens (at least in most big cities), with two dozen variants now sold in most supermarkets.

Huh? Bottled sparkling mineral water has been pretty common in local supermarkets since the 1980s, at least in big city Texas. And Ozarka has made their own variants in 2 liter bottles (and smaller) for nearly as long.

[doreen]

@bump

Huh? Bottled sparkling mineral water has been pretty common in local supermarkets since the 1980s, at least in big city Texas. And Ozarka has made their own variants in 2 liter bottles (and smaller) for nearly as long.

I think that depends on exactly what you mean by sparkling water being available. I’m pretty sure I could buy large bottles of Perrier or San Pellingrino at the supermarket in the 80s- but I couldn’t buy a single serving bottle in a bodega or convenience store. I don’t even remember single-serving bottles of non-sparkling water being all that common in the 80s. (although there were absolutely gallon ( or larger) jugs in supermarkets.