While coffee is more popular, hot brewed black tea is enjoyed both with meals and as a refreshment by much of the population. Iced tea is consumed throughout similarly. In the Southern states sweet tea, sweetened with large amounts of sugar or an artificial sweetener and chilled is the fashion. Outside the South, "Sweet Tea" is sometimes found in restaurants or in the home, but primarily because of a culture migration and commercialization.

The American speciality tea market has quadrupled in the years from 1993-2008, now being worth $6.8 billion a year.[36]