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How Ordering Tea is Different in Japan
For one, it’s not a stealth way of feeding a sugar addiction
“Can we have two iced teas?”
Before Covid, we were at an American diner somewhere in Connecticut, in the middle of one of the hottest days in August. My dad and I had just finished moving me into my new apartment, and we were both thirsty and tired from the back-and-forth carrying of boxes.
Relieved to finally sit down and get a cold drink, we ordered the first thing on the menu that wasn’t water. What arrived at our table didn’t look terribly different from what we’d get in Japan — maybe the cup was a bit bigger — but we were glad to finally get something ice cold to drink.
My dad took the first sip, “Oh my God: What is this?”
“What? What’s wrong with it?” I set my cup down, afraid to drink it now.
“This tea, it’s so… sweet.”
An iced tea in the United States
It was very strange to us that an iced tea would be served sweetened. What we understood as a traditionally bitter drink that’s known for its health…
