Tea was introduced to America by the Dutch in the late 1640s and quickly became an established ritual in upper-class households by the time Dutch East India Company Director Peter Stuyvesant (1612–1672) arrived in New Amsterdam in 1647 to become the city’s governor.
Just as in Europe, the wealthy were already the proud owners of collections of expensive porcelain teapots, tiny bowls and saucers, tea trays and tables, and when the British took control of the town in 1664 and renamed it New York, tea continued to play the same important social role as it did in England. The etiquette, the fine displays of teaware from China and Europe, and the method of brewing and serving tea ran parallel to the British ritual, and tea bowls were filled with the same black and green teas imported from China. With its monopoly on the trading of tea from the Orient, the British East India Company controlled the supply of tea that filled both English and American teapots.
It was only when King George III decided to impose heavy tea taxes on the American colonies with the Tea Act of 1773, as well the subsequent American tea rebellion and the War of Independence, that American tea drinking habits began to change. But early British influence is still evident today.
Once independent, the United States of America traded more directly with China. While Britain waged war with the Chinese over opium and started growing its own tea in India in 1839, American ships sailed in and out of Canton, arriving home to New York and other ports along the east coast laden with Chinese tea.
Subsequently, when British tea merchants began to mix Assam and Ceylon black teas for their everyday blends, Americans were still drinking Chinese Hyson (熙春茶) green and Bohea (武夷茶) black teas from Fujian province. Today, the habit continues with American breakfast teas blended with China Keemun (祁門紅茶) rather than with teas grown on estates established by the British in India, Sri Lanka, and East Africa.
An even stronger connection with Asia developed when, in 1859, the United States forced Japan to open its ports for trade with the west, and U.S. tea merchants added Japanese green teas to their retail lists. By 1880, 47 percent of all tea imported by American tea traders came from Japan, with the rest still being purchased in China. And so Asia’s tea habits continued their influence on American choices.
As “Afternoon Tea” became more and more popular throughout the 19th century in Britain, American women too loved the ritual of entertaining friends and neighbors to a genteel cup of tea at 4 o’clock. Tea drinking was still associated with the upper classes, particularly with feminine company, and tea parties were expected to be elegant and refined with fine porcelains, lace cloths, silver teapots and kettles, and perfect manners. Just as happened in England, books on etiquette and household management gave instructions as to how the table should be set, which foods should be served, and what style of clothing guests should wear. The American System of Cookery by Mrs. T.J. Crowen was published in 1847 in New York and suggested a summer tea table be set accordingly:
“… let the dish of ripe or stewed fruit be set. … On either side, at some little distance from it, let there be plates, with bread sliced, about the eighth of an inch in thickness; or let one dish be of hot wigs, or rusk, or tea-biscuit. Let a fine mould of butter occupy the centre of the table; let its knife be beside it; and on each side a small plate, the one with cold meat, ham, or tongue, sliced thin, (and a fork to help it;) the other with sliced cheese, or a fresh pot-cheese.”
The book also suggested that a winter tea should include,
“Oysters pickled, in the place of cold meat, or stewed in the place of fruit, or instead of the stew, a bit of broiled fish, or ham or fried oysters, with hot tea-biscuits and rusks or wigs, and stewed or preserved fruit, and fancy cakes. Grated cocoanut, with tart preserves, or currant jelly, or cranberry jam, may be served thus: grate the white meat of a cocoanut, and put it in a flat glass dish, then turn a mould of jelly upon the middle of it.”
These elaborate menu instructions show how American tea parties differed from those enjoyed in drawing rooms all over Britain. Whereas the British tea table was arranged with sandwiches, scones, an array of cakes, and occasionally a trifle or other elaborate dessert, American hostesses devised menus that included more savory dishes like Cold “Turkish” Tongue, Tomatoes Stuffed with Cress, Rolls, Crab Croquettes, Lobster Cutlets, Caviar Toast, Rolled Ham, Jellied Chicken, Cheese Toast, and Cheese Straws. These were foods that, in Britain, would have been more likely to appear on the lunch or dinner table rather than at tea time. The difference is still evident today and a modern American afternoon tea usually includes a much wider range of soups, savories, and sweet treats than is expected in the UK.
Afternoon tea in the U.S., circa 1901 (H8225 U.S. Copyright Office).
Until the recent surge of interest in speciality teas, America’s choice of teas remained very different from the brews that filled British cups. Lighter, mellower teas with sweeter, smoother notes pleased the American palate far more readily than the stronger, more robust flavors of teas from Kenya, Ceylon, and Assam. And, although America was responsible for the invention of the teabag and the consequent development of small-particle, fast-brewing, robust-flavoured CTC (crush-tear-curl) teas in the 1930s, many Americans were quite content to leave those powerful, sometimes astringent flavors to the British, while they happily sipped teas blended with mango, peach, blueberry or vanilla, as well as lightly sweetened iced tea, or chai lattes.
Today, the more blended demographic of the United States, as well as the influence of travel, education, and the availability of teas from the farthest reaches of the world, mean that American tea drinkers are now more selective, more discerning, and much more likely to connect once again with their past preference for Asian teas. For some, it is still the English-style tea party that attracts, while for others, it is the wide range of specialty teas from all over the world that excites and inspires, and tea drinkers are today more likely to choose a wonderful fragrant oolong from China or Taiwan, a delicate white from Sri Lanka, China or Malawi, a classic Chinese or Japanese green, or a subtle, complex black from China, India, Vietnam, Hawaii, or Indonesia.
American tea culture is changing but still bears the traces of its unique and colorful tea history.
Guest contributor Jane Pettigrew is a tea historian, writer, consultant, specialist working in the UK and around the world explaining and offering insight into the world of tea. She’s written 15 books and hosts regular master classes and tea tastings. You can find her at www.janepettigrew.com.
Originally published at teforia.com.
