Historian Says 2 Green Teas Were Dumped in 1773 Boston Tea Party

1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jun 30

Bruce Richardson said the Boston Tea Party cargo included five Chinese teas—three black and two green—challenging the common image that colonial America mainly drank black tea.
Richardson, tea master at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, identified the green varieties as Hyson and Singlo, alongside black teas Bohea, Souchong and Congou.
Bohea made up most of the tea thrown into Boston Harbor, he said, because it was the era’s cheapest and most common tea, common enough to become a generic order in teapots and taverns.
Merchants favored black tea because it survived the long voyage from China better, but wealthier colonists still stored green and black tea separately in locked two-compartment caddies.
Even after boycotting British imports, many patriots kept tea-drinking rituals alive with homemade “Liberty Teas” made from dried fruit, chamomile and garden herbs.

Sources

Why did America abandon green tea, the preferred drink of revolutionaries like George Washington, for coffee and black tea?

How did brewing local herbs as 'Liberty Tea' transform from a simple boycott into a powerful act of rebellion?

As the U.S. 250th anniversary arrives, what can colonial tea protests teach us about consumer-driven political movements today?

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