Tea in America

Dutch colonists in New Amsterdam introduced tea drinking to America in the 1650s, about thirty years after they brought it to Europe. By the late seventeenth century, tea was being sold in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but its use was restricted by its very high cost. Ale and wine remained more affordable to the colonists and were more likely to be served to guests than tea. By the 1750s, however, tea drinking was an established social custom among the wealthy. Gradually, tea drinking spread throughout society and was taken up by households of modest means in rural and urban areas.