“As long as it’s hot and wet and goes down the right way, that’s all that matters”
Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York on tea

Black tea becomes the rage among the Yankees
Black tea being introduced to American colonists by the Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant in 1650, by the time the English captured the colony of New Amsterdam from the Dutch (as New York was then called) in 1674, they found that the colonists consumed more tea than all of England together. The Yankees had found Black tea, a necessity of life.
The English introduced Black tea to Boston in 1670, but it was not readily available there until the 1690. By 1720 Black tea was a generally accepted staple of trade between the Colony and the Mother country.

Black tea trading in the New World had been a monopoly of the British East India Company, which transshipped its Black tea imports from England to American ports. Occasional smuggling of Black Tea from the ports of Holland by Dutch East India Company failed to dent the Black tea monopoly of the English. In 1773, American colonists commenced protests against continued imposition of high taxes on Black tea enforced by Townshend Acts of the mother country in 1767. England having fought a couple of wars against the French & the Indians was running short of monetary resources. The English argument was that the wars had been fought for the benefit of colonists.

Boston Tea Party or the Yankees of 1973
With the destruction of whole shipments of Black tea in Boston harbor that triggered the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the Americans couldn’t be contained by the English. Had the habit of Black tea not spread to America during the 18th century, in all probability the establishment of independent USA, at best would have been taken few more decades, & at worst another century (depending in whose pavilion you are sipping Black tea), since it was not till 1947 India, the producer of Indian Black tea & then again in 1948 that Ceylon, the beautiful ancient tropical island of world famous high quality Ceylon Tea (Black Ceylon Tea) were granted independence by Britain.
Henry C. Watson in his historical classic titled “Boston Tea Party or the Yankees of 1973” narrates that “No event excites more interest among Americans than the destruction of the tea in Boston harbor. Then and there, the unconquerable resolution of freemen was first made apparent to the obstinate oppressors of our infant country…….The men who threw the tea into Boston harbor were patriots united by a sense that union was necessary for the salvation of liberty; and they were attracted to each other by the same influence during the bloody struggle which succeeded”. Cheers to the patriots, let’s have a cup of Black tea.

Yankees enter the Black tea trade.
Though the colonies were wrested from the mother country & the independence was declared in 1776, with British battle ships still in New York harbor, it took another 8 years for the new country to engage in direct trade with China. In view of an absence of a Chinese market for American products & enormity of the capital investment required, trading expeditions to China was adventurous even prior to setting the sails off. But the Yankees wouldn’t take a step back. The first American ship to enter Chinese waters was the Empress of China & that was in1784. The vessel brought in Black tea, silk, China & spices. American Ginseng, Hawaiian sandalwood proved to be poor trading articles at Canton for trade in exchange for Black tea, Nankeen (a coarse, strong cloth) & Chinese Silk. Still more, Chinese cotton being cheap, there was no demand for American cotton either.

Yankees smuggle Turkish Opium to China to trade with Black tea
To make up the deficit of trade balance, the American traders engaged in the opium trade. In 1812 John Cushing, in the employment of his uncle’s James & Thomas Perkins Company, Boston made a fortune from smuggling Turkish opium to Canton. Ernest R. May & John King in their academic work titled “America’s China Trade in Historical Perspective narrates: Perkins & Co. was the first American “branch house” in Canton. Other U. S. trading companies followed, John Jacob Astor’s among them. For Perkins, Astor, & others, the China trade was of key importance. These firms also often had representations in London. The Perkins firm dealt in opium, carrying it from Turkey to China. ISBN 0471385034,
Then again Axel Madsen in his compelling biography “John Jacob Astor: America’s First Multimillionaire” narrates: In 1817, the Astor ship Seneca reached Canton with a cargo that included 5.7 metric tons of opium, also picked up in Smyrna. During the next two years the Astor vessels Boxer, Alexander, William & John, & Peddler carried opium cargoes to Canton. ISBN 0471385034,

Black tea, Spanish Dollars & triangular trade
By & large, Black tea was the prime commodity bought from China by the Americans through the end of the 19th century. During the period between 1822 & 1860, import of Black Tea expanded from approximately 36% of the total imports to 65%.

In spite of the California Gold Rush (1848–1855) during the early nineteenth century, the United States could hardly afford to pay at Canton with silver or gold bullion. Ernest R. May, John King Fairbank in their academic work “America’s China Trade in Historical Perspective” narrates: To finance the purchase of tea from China, American merchants engaged in s triangular trade. They shipped American produce to Europe or South America. The proceeds in Spanish dollars were then transmitted to China to finance the trade of tea. Their ships could also earn Spanish dollars by carrying goods between European ports. On the third leg of the triangle, tea was shipped from Canton to America. The actual specie had to be transported to China because of the absence of any banking facilities other than those provided by merchant’s own operations.

Yankees use Advance Marketing Techniques in buying Black tea
From the very beginning, the Americans have been right on top with the drive to run more than an extra mile & display of talent for innovation in commerce. Once again, American traders in China innovated with advanced marketing techniques. Expert Black tea tasters selected teas for export on the basis of color, flavor, bouquet, & body; merchants planned their purchases carefully. Black tea was packed in moisture-free chests for shipment to the United States.

Black tea with Clipper, such a lovely face, such lovely lines, such moves
The nineteenth century Black tea consumers believed fresher and earlier-picked the tea, the better. By 1834, British East India Company having lost its trading monopolies, Black tea had become freely traded item. The need for faster ships emerged. A new type of sail ship was built: many tall masts, many clouds of sails, a narrow hull that was deeper at the rear than at the front made the sleek ships fast on the waves. The elegant sleek ships, swift on the waves, came to be known as clippers with the view of the way they “clipped off” the miles. In the hunt for fresh Black tea, Clipper races became the catch word among the consumers & the deed among the sailors with the rivalry among the ships, bravery of the sailors catching the imagination of the consumers of Black tea. As if romancing the waves & the glamour of racing in high seas all the way from farthest of orient to the New World wouldn’t do, the sailors rose to the occasion in terms of load & balance of the ships. The stability & balance of the ships in the high seas were achieved by way of expert loading & packing of wooden chests of Black tea that was converted into a craft on his own right. Chests were incredibly tightly packed in tiers, hammered into the frozen mode. Freeze, nobody move. It’s Black tea time with Beatles.

They slipped out of their Beatle suits and into some comfortable sportswear, ordered up a goodly supply of Coke, tea and booze, and began to unwind.
Jean Parker Shepherd (Shep) (1921 -1999): Playboy’s interview with the Beatles in 1964