Anew Drink Arose In The Colonial Period

Spirits Anew drink arose in the Colonial period, through the process of distillation. Which involves vaporizing and condensing a liquid to separate and purify certain components (Standage 94). Aqua vitae, a drink made from distillation began as a medicinal drink to a recreational one, but was still thought to cure illnesses. As European explorers were opening up the world’s sea routes they went to the southern tip of Africa, the Atlantic Islands, and were on their way to the Americas, this is important to the interconnectedness of the world with the sea routes opening up, it made transporting goods easier (Standage 100). Sugar, another component of making spirits was produced at the Atlantic Islands of Madeira, the Azores, and the Canaries

In the 1650’s green tea was shipped to England, then eventually black tea, but the drink was disregarded till the 1700’s. Originating in Asia, tea strengthened the trade with the East. Britain and India traded together through the British East India Company. And eventually, much like every other drink, an expensive and elite drink became the drink of the common man (Standage 176). Virtually everyone drank tea, in 1699 six tons were produced and nearly a century later it changed to eleven thousand tons (Standage 188). A problem that arises in the popularity of tea was adulterating tea. This was when people corrupted tea by putting ash, leaves, sawdust, flowers, and many more substances in the “tea”. Some of which was poisonous (Standage 188). Another conflict arose, due to Europe cutting off some tea suppliers, the price of tea went up. Britain and the American colonies began smuggling tea because it was cheaper. Which means they were not paying some of the commodity taxes. Tons of tea was sitting in London warehouses because no one was buying legal tea. The British East India Company owed the government over a million pounds and then asked the government “to intervene in their favor”. The government gladly did so with imposing the Tea Act of 1773 (Standage 204, all). This act would make the Americans pay the company a loan of 1.4 million pounds and the Americans tea has to be shipped from China strait to America. The colonist became furious and soon boycotted the British goods and refused to trade, as well as didn't pay taxes to the government in London (Standage 205). Then following these acts the notorious “Boston Tea Party” happened and all of the shipments of tea was dumped into the harbor. This was a prime example of how the trade of tea arose