Boston Tea Party
I was doing my usual tea based research recently and came across a quite horrifying find!
Now I’m aware a number of ‘partys’ were had in America during the colony era but I never knew that anyone would stoop so low as to have a Tea Party!!
Now for those who don’t know. The Boston Tea Party of 1773 was an event in which a number of American ‘patriots’ boarded a ship of the East Indian company and threw all of the tea onboard into the sea!! When I read this I was literally moved to tears. To think all of that tea mercilessly dropped into the ocean left to rot in COLD dark waters, possibly being nipped at by fish with no respect for teas natural beurty and essence. Clearly something you’d expect from a land of coffee drinkers and rebels.
The Boston Tea Party has quite clearly got to be one of the most tragic events of the 18th Century.
Now although the reason for the Boston tea party’s occurence is quite inconsequential, I suppose an explanation is worth giving, however I am not the best story teller so I shall borrow a quote from a nice site you can find here
“The Boston Tea Party was a reaction to the Tea Act of 1773 that was passed by Parliament to save the British East India Company from bankruptcy. The Tea Act essentially eliminated all taxes on tea except the three pence Townshend tax. More importantly, it offered Americans tea at a lower price than that of the colonial smugglers. Hence, the British East Indian Company would be saved from bankruptcy, the colonial smugglers would be out of business, and the principle of parliamentary taxation would be upheld.”
Now I dont know about you but I don’t feel that is a good enough excuse to vandalise such a wonderful, almost omnipotent plant that provides such joy for millions of people worldwide.
I shall light a candle for the lost tea and I shall begin campaigning here in the UK for sanctions to be placed on the US for such a brutal display towards tea.
