The popularization of tea

By the 1730s, tea had become the standard drink in England, with London merchants developing an active and prosperous market for it. Naturally, those same merchants would seek to expand into the colonies to find new customers.

Initially, early Americans were not quite sold on the new beverage. Colonial merchants were pushed into buying large amounts of tea, but had trouble finding customers. In addition to the newness of tea, Americans were also put off by its price. But, with more tea coming to American shores, the price of tea fell dramatically by the early 1740s, which finally coerced its citizens to consume it.

Tea consumption grew dramatically during the first half of the 18th century. In 1700, the East India Tea Company exported about 2,000 pounds of tea to the American Colonies. By 1750, it had risen to over 650,000 pounds — more than was exported to Ireland. New York received the most tea, at over 170,000 pounds, which was more than Maryland, Virginia, Georgia and the Carolinas, combined.

It still took effort, during this time, to convince average Americans to drink tea and merchants started using newspaper ads in the 1720s to help sell it. Tea was sold by retail stores and individuals, who saw it as close to a liquid asset. Many individuals would purchase a large supply of it for cash or credit, to sell to neighbors and other customers.

This growth of tea consumption also led to a black market. Competition between colonies led to continued low prices and that led to more inter-colony trade in tea, versus importing from Britain or the East India Company.

In the 1730s, Pennsylvania saw increased tea drinking, but did not have increased importation from England. They were purchasing more from other colonies (likely New York and New England) from legal and illegal (smuggling) sources.

This type of activity continued the price collapses. In the 1720s a pound of tea would cost about 50 shillings. By the mid-1730s, it had dropped to 10 shillings. Merchants in New York were regularly selling tea in Philadelphia, which led to oversupplies there and suppressed prices in the Philadelphia tea market.

The drops in the prices of tea encouraged more tea drinking. Initial American tea consumers were from the wealthier strata of society.

It took money to afford tea and the assorted teaware — pots, cups, strainers and other items that were often made of porcelain or silver. These wealthy consumers viewed tea as a pursuit for their class and made the appropriate commitments necessary in tea, tea items and furniture.

However, as prices dropped, working people were also drinking more tea. It was seen partly as an aspirational luxury, something they could enjoy that made them similar to those with wealth.

Along with the rise in tea consumption, there was also a rise in the consumption of sugar, as the former was seldom drunk without the latter. Those in the upper classes reacted badly to how tea was spread

ing among the lower social classes and social critics took opposition against it.

There were an assortment of moral arguments made against tea, including that the working classes were wasting their money on such luxuries.

In 1711, Cotton Mather argued against working solely for the purpose of purchasing goods, partly as an argument against laborers drinking tea.

John Wesley argued that the poor could overcome poverty if they learned to save the money they spent on tea and sugar, which could be a considerable part of working-class incomes.

Some also argued that tea would make women wild and men effeminate. There were a number of tracts, paintings and political cartoons from the period reflecting thi s view.

Others called tea a narcotic and compared it to opium (both coming from China certainly helped to push that xenophobic view). Jonas Hanway, well known for his writings against tea, referred to it as “the Chinese drug.”

Ultimately, tea was feared by many to have a corrupting influence on the morals and work ethics of Americans.

However, the growth in tea drinking continued and ultimately had significant effects on commerce and politics in a developing America. This eventually turned into the Boston Tea Party, which was about tea, as well as taxes.