Colonial Caffeine: A Historic Love Affair

Joseph Van Aken's "An English Family at Tea" c.1720

What is your favorite beverage? A tall glass of sweet tea alongside your favorite page turner? Your morning shot of espresso paired with a buttery croissant? Hot cocoa on an icy winter day? It is marvelous to consider how tea, coffee, and chocolate greatly influenced American history. Colonists preferred these exotic beverages to beer, wine, and questionable water. But who could imagine the introduction of caffeine would stimulate revolution? 

Tea

Tea, originating in China, became especially popular in England. Prior to consumption by all social classes, tea became a status symbol for English gentry. In fact, a new type of portrait painting called “the conversation piece” emerged in eighteenth century England. Conversation pieces depicted wealthy families or friend groups engaging in everyday activities, most popularly teatime. Similarly, tea was enjoyed in the thirteen colonies by those who could afford it. Tea parties presented a rare opportunity for women to socialize alongside men. Women, however, were not the only ones to gain a sense of liberation through tea. In 1773, a group of colonists protested the burdensome tea tax imposed on them by the indebted crown, in what famously became known as the Boston Tea Party. Around the same time, southern colonists were cultivating tea plants to decrease reliance on imports. 

Coffee 

Coffee, originating in the Middle East, caused the proliferation of coffeehouses across Europe. In the thirteen colonies, coffeehouses served as high-spirited venues, exclusive to males of all classes. They were forums for thoughtful conversation, the cultivation of new ideas, press circulation, merchant transactions, political debate, and whispers of revolution. After the Boston Tea Party, the colonists opted for coffee instead of tea. In 1824, Thomas Jefferson deemed coffee “the favorite drink of the civilized world.”

Chocolate

After the Aztecs introduced Hernan Cortez to a spicy chocolate beverage, cacahuatl, it is believed he returned to Spain with cacao seeds. Chocolate, although initially kept secret by Spanish aristocracy, eventually spread across Europe. Chocolate arrived in England around the same time it arrived in the thirteen colonies. Martha Washington was an avid chocolate drinker. During the Revolutionary War, her husband provided chocolate rations to his soldiers as it boosted both energy and morale. 

If touring with us in Savannah, be sure to stop by The Paris Market and Chocolate By Adam Turoni! If you are touring with us in St. Augustine, we recommend stopping by Sweetwater Coffee Bar and Gallery, as well as Claude’s Chocolate!   

Sources:

Jefferson to Edmund Rogers, February 14, 1824, Tucker-Coleman Papers: Series 2 Thomas Jefferson Correspondence, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary. Recipient's copy available online at the William & Mary Digital Archive. Transcription available at Founders Online.

Olmert, Mike. “Coffeehouses Free, yes, from debauchery and vice, but hotbeds of sedition.” The Colonial Williamsburg Journal, Spring 2001.

Chen, Ching-Jung. “Tea Parties in Early Georgian Conversation Pieces.” The British Art Journal, vol. 10, no. 1, 2009, pp. 30–39. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41614859. 

Theobald, Mary M. “A Cup of Hot Chocolate, S’good for What Ails Ya.” The Colonial Williamsburg Journal, Winter 2012.

King, Melanie. Tea, Coffee, & Chocolate: How we fell in love with caffeine. Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, 2015.