Tea During The Industrial Revolution

The American colonists did the right thing by dumping the tea overboard due to the British taxing the tea. All they wanted was freedom, and this was an act of freedom to the colonists. Also, the colonists didn’t have the money to pay for all the taxed goods. Lastly, they were very polite to the British before and during the Boston Tea Party. The colonists of America did nothing wrong.

How did tea transform English society? Who were its main consumers and what were some of the new rituals that surrounded tea?

One of the largest points that the author makes is the significance of tea to the people in the colonies. While there were many who thought that tea was evil and caused health issues, the overwhelming majority of colonist were obsessed. Tea was something new and seen as a luxury item. It took a six-month voyage for the EIC to bring to the precious leaves to Boston. Once there, it was auctioned to those who could afford it. While the bourgeoisie sipped their tea and

“For all the Tea in China -How England Stole the World 's Favorite Drink and Changed History

During the late 1700s, the East India Company had a monopoly on all of the tea in the colonies. Tea was everything

Tea became a mainstream drink in Asia around 100 BCE. It then became a mainstream drink in Europe around 1610 CE.

When the tea made its way to France, it was also considered a fashionable expensive drink. In the United States the colonists favored tea until the tax imposed on it caused the Revolutionary War in 1775. (Saberi, 2010, p. 112) Turmoil and war has occurred for the diffusion of tea from China to United States.

The British hoped that the tea act would undercut the tea smuggled into britain's north american colonies.The British government led by the Prime Minister, Lord North, hoped to reassert Parliament’s right to impose direct revenue taxes on the American Colonies with the cheap tea.Never-the-less the British anticipated a good reception to the Tea Act in America, after all, the colonists would get their tea at a cost lower than ever before.Tea would be cheaper in America than Britain. Ships laden with more than half a million pounds of tea set off for the colonies shortly after the Tea Act was passed.

Tea: Tea began as a luxury drink, and then trickled down to become the beverage of the working man. The story of tea is the story of imperialism, industrialization, and world domination. According to Chinese tradition, the first cup of tea was brewed by the emperor Shen Nung. Before tea was a beverage, it was used for medicinal purposes and foodstuff. Tea became a daily drink in China around the third century A.D. As the Industrial Revolution of 18th and 19th centuries gained steam, tea provided some of the fuel. Factory workers stayed alert during long, monotonous shifts thanks to welcome tea breaks. The beverage also had unintended health benefits for rapidly growing urban areas. Chewing leaves and rubbing them on wounds were ways that tea was used for medicinal purposes.

The tea its self wasn’t made in Britain but made in China. The British East India Company had extensive dealings in China. The tea destroyed during the Boston Tea Party was described as “Bohea” type, which is known as black tea. The black tea come from the mountains in China.

What did the Tea Act Say? How did it impact the colonist and the East India Company? What is a monopoly and are they good or bad for consumers? How so?

In 1773 the Boston Tea Party occurred, a monumental step in America’s early growth, leading to eventual freedom from Britain. As the British East India Company forced a tea tax on colonists, it would be up to the citizens of America, and patriots like Samuel Adams, to stand up for their rights against the British. They organized themselves enough to partake in a rebellious act, dressing as Native Americans in the night, and destroying an incoming supply of tea. While at the time the disposal of 17 million pounds of tea (Danzer et. al 99) might have seemed a waste, this act would lead to rights for colonists and a revolution, providing America with freedom, thereby causing the Boston Tea Party to be a vital act in the country’s growth.

The origins of tea are rooted in China (Food Timeline). According to legend, the beneficial properties of tea were first discovered by the Emperor Shen Nung in the year 2737 B.C. He drank only boiled water for hygienic purposes, and one day while he drank a breeze rustled the branches of a tree and a few leaves fell into his cup. Creating the first cup of tea. It is challenging to know whether or not the emperor was real or just a part of the spiritual and cultural development of ancient China. China was not unified as an empire until the third century, so it is unlikely emperors existed back then. One thing that is known is that tea was popular in China thousands of years ago. The first written reference of tea is in the third century B.C. A famous surgeon recommended the beverage to patients to increase concentration and alertness. Tea was first written as “tu” in ancient texts. This caused a good deal of confusion because the same Chinese character was used for both tea and Chinese sow thistles. Between 206 B.C. and A.D. 220 a Han Dynasty emperor ruled that when referring to tea, the characters should be pronounced as “cha”. From here on, tracing tea’s history became easier because tea acquired its own individual character (Food Timeline).

In the MAy of 1773, parliament passed the tea act, worried about the East India Tea Company (Allison), there were many protests of the act. The boycott of tea in the colonies almost brought the East India Tea company to bankruptcy (American 13). The first ship carrying tea entered the Boston Harbor on November 28, 1773," (Boston 7). Only 18 days after the ships entered the harbor, the colonists had a plan: to show the British that they could survive on their own by an act of defiance. The Tea Party, happened on the night of December 16th, 1773 (Boston 1),It took three hours (eyewitness 9) to throw 342 chests of tea into the harbor costing around 10,000- 18,000 dollars (Boston 2). The colonists were happy with what they had done; one Joshua Wyeth said "We were merry, in an undertone, at the idea of making so large a cup of tea for the fishes " (Account 2). This was the first time colonists had taken up with themselves and decided to do something for themselves, besides simple protesting in the streets. The Boston Tea party lead to many other protests of British tea like in Maryland where colonists burned a tea ship and in New York where a tea warehouse was burned to the ground (Boston 6). The boycott of tea in the colonies was so effective that it almost brought the East India Tea company to bankruptcy (American 13). In the end, the Boston Tea party was not just important because of the impact it had on the British, but because it showed the first signs of the colonies acting together, upper and lower classes, as

During the Tang Dynasty, tea was widespread. The uprising of the tea culture brought the prosperity of literature in the Tang Dynasty because many monk-poets wrote poems about tea. Tea was very famous in the Buddhist monasteries during the Tang Dynasty. Monks drank tea as a beverage because they thought the tea can help them to stay awake, so that they could have more time to focus on their mediation. The art of serving and drinking tea in Buddhist monasteries inspired lots of Tang poets to create poems about tea.