Chinese Tea in Early America

The Massachusetts Historical Society will host “Physicians advise the use of it: Chinese Tea in Early America,” a program with Yiyun Huang, University of Tennessee, Knoxville with comment by Rebecca Tannenbaum, Yale University, set for Tuesday, January 10th.

This program will look at how and why early Americans came to believe Chinese tea had healing powers. Huang argues that eighteenth-century colonial merchants and libraries paved the way for this popular belief by establishing intellectual and market-oriented pathways.

These pathways facilitated the cultural transfer of Chinese ideas about tea’s medicinal properties. The transfer of these ideas made Chinese tea popular in North America among a cross-section of colonial society.

This program will be held both in-person and virtually. The in-person reception will begin at 4:30 pm, with the program beginning at 5 pm. For more information or to register, click here.

Photo provided.