With tea consumption being as important as it was, how did the Americans obtain it during the war? Were there significant sources of tea outside of British holdings, or did smuggling cover American demands well enough? Or did we rely on some kind of homegrown version?
Mostly asking out of curiosity, and wondering if there has been any historical treatment of the issue.
I cannot find a source for this, but I have heard that apparently in the immediate aftermath, American grown 'Liberty Tea' became a thing. From what I recall reading it was terrible and soon after there was a shift to coffee. Also, most Revolution sympathizers began to express that continued consumption of tea was unpatriotic and justified the switch to tea. I would imagine that this was also created by necessity, given that coffee would have been more accessible.
On the switch to coffee, there is a significant treatment of the issue in historiography.