Note: In Adolpho Busch's time, a glass of beer was between 4 to 6 ounces, not the 16-20 ounce monstrosities we sport today. Admittedly, that is still upwards of 10 beers in a day, but I think we all know at least one alcoholic who would not be phased by the challenge.
If something's regional, how can one practice over another be considered unusual?
Easy. More regions have that practice.
The question is, do more regions have iced coffee so that you can expect to get one in short order at a coffee shop, or do more regions have folks that look at you askance when you ask for one, especially in the morning?
Maybe someone living out West can tell me.
A side note, I really like coffee places that add the milk and sugar for you.
Usually the South has iced drinks, and/or tea, and the North has hot drinks and/or coffee. l love the old wives/historian's tale that the US went to coffee from tea during the Revolution and never went back.
P.S. I've seen Adolphus Busch's tomb in St. Louis. Pretty shmancy, colored marbles, fancy ironwork, gilding...the mausolem that beer built.
Erin: right, that's why I surprised why DC..not quite a Southern city, but closer to that...doesn't think of iced coffee as quite normal, but land of ice and snow New England does.
The people in New England need that extra push to reach that cold personality that they vie for. =D
Damn!
That's what Andy, my pal who moved back to Atlanta where he went to school, says. He finds people generally cranky and a-holeish around these parts.
Iced coffee is huge in Japan, but in through most of the States, I think it's seen as a specialty beverage, as opposed to a mainstay.
Erin's comment about American coffee vs. tea drinking was amusing. When I lived in Britain for a few years, all of the Brits were constantly inviting me to their house for coffee (not tea). This was a special event for them. They usually didn't drink coffee but knew Yanks did and wanted to be hospitable. Oddly enough, I'm more of a tea drinker, but I didn't want to be impolite . . . my English heritage I suppose.