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Joseph Hawley's
Smugglers Blend™
Our rendition of a "smokey"
Russian Caravan
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China and South Asian teas
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Fully and semi-oxidized tea
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Disparate and various leaf
styles
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Earthy, robust flavor
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Dense, slightly smoky aroma
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Dark amber liquor tinged
crimson
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4 oz |
8 oz |
16 oz |
12.00
Buy |
24.00
Buy |
48.00
Buy
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Illustration courtesy of: theamericanrevolution.org
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In December 1773, a band of sixty American
patriots calling themselves the Sons of Liberty
dressed as Mohawk Indians and boarded three sailing
ships docked in Boston Harbor. These ships - the
Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver - were owned by
the British East India Company, and had arrived loaded
with cargos of tea for the colonists.
Frustrated and angry over years of taxation imposed
upon them by England for items such as tea, sugar,
glass, paper, coffee and wine, colonists rebelled in
1767 by boycotting English goods. Colonial merchants
supported this boycott, and began smuggling
‘contraband tea ’ from Holland, which imposed no tax
on the colonists.
The smuggled tea began to cut deeply into the sales of
British tea. In an attempt to empty their warehouses
in England of un-sold tea, the three ships in Boston
harbor had been sent to reclaim the colonial tea
market. The British had devised a scheme to sell this
tea at a very low cost, which would put the colonial
smugglers out of business. But, as the colonists
quickly realized, it would also make them vulnerable
once again to‘ taxation without representation’ from
England.
The time had come for the patriots to decry ‘enough ’
to the British. On December 16th, 1773 a group of over
5,000 townspeople gathered at the Old South Meeting
House to request that the three ships turn around and
return to England. When the Governor of Massachusetts
refused to do this, and demanded that the colonists
accept the shipment of tea, the patriots, led by
Samuel Adams, boarded the ships late that night and
seized all 342 chests of tea, dumping them one by one
into Boston Harbor.
This act of rebellion by the colonists, which came to
be known as the Boston Tea Party, released smoldering
feelings of resentment toward England. Pressing for
independence and self-rule, the colonists stood their
ground and fought for their freedom against England in
the Revolutionary War of 1775.
As a new nation was about to be born from these
troubled times, Major Joseph Hawley, of Pudding Lane,
Northampton, was heavily involved in hatching plans
with Samuel Adams and John Hancock for the impending
rebellion against England. Joseph Hawley was a noted
lawyer, town clerk, selectman and representative to
the General Court in Boston. As a staunch radical and
firebrand in the cause for independence, Hawley often
led the Town Meetings in Boston. It is documented that
in 1768 he brought home to Northampton two pounds of
smuggled tea: one pound for his family and one for his
cousin.
To salute the efforts of Joseph Hawley in the fight
for freedom we have created this special blend of tea.
In formulating this tea, our goal was to replicate as
best as possible the style and flavor of the tea that
was being smuggled from Holland. We have researched
existent historic documents of the Smith and Van
Berchem Tea Company formerly of Amsterdam, one of
several Dutch tea companies in operation during this
period. From these documents, we gleaned insight into
the teas they were importing from China at that time.
With the rebuke of the English traders by the
colonists following the Boston Tea Party, Dutch
traders were able to capture tea sales in New England.
Despite the fact that the Boston Tea Party was the
pivotal point that turned many colonists into staunch
coffee drinkers, tea remained popular.
Our tea blend is an historically correct rendition of
the dark, leafy tea blends that the Chinese sent to
the west from Canton during this time, and the tea
that Joseph Hawley exercised his independence to buy
and smuggle back to Northampton.
Use 1 generous teaspoon per 6 oz
of water
We recommend a 3-4 minute
steeping for our Joseph Hawley's Smugglers Blend
The water temperature should be 190˚ - 200˚ F |
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