4 - Sugar and Empire: Tea’s ‘Inseparable Companion’

Summary

Abstract

Sugar in the seventeenth century is often referred to as the common denominator which enabled European consumption of coffee, tea, and chocolate. I propose that ‘un-bundling’ these combinations provides greater understanding of the political economy and cultural context in which sugar was consumed. Unbundled from its beverage companions, I assess the value of sugar to the economy of England and France. An exploration of sugar's manifold modes of consumption, trading patterns and production also yields an insight into the connection between English concepts of cultural identity and political economy and the ways in which they intersected in this crucial period of imperialism.

Key words: sugar, tea, Atlantic colonies, early modern, imperialism

Unlike tea and coffee, sugar was not a novelty in the middle of the seventeenth century. Sugar had been used in medicines, and as a luxury good for social display since Crusaders returned from the Holy Land. From the middle of the seventeenth century, however, it was consumed as a small luxury that had become more affordable when production began in the Atlantic colonies. Colonial production also meant that sugar was not considered exotic or foreign, like coffee or tea, but was viewed as a ‘native’ good by contemporary observers. Increased availability meant that sugar was no longer a status good, but was used more regularly, in a variety of new foods and drinks, by a widening sector of society.

Although we still think of the English as synonymous with ‘tea’ (grown of course everywhere but in England), early modern English consumers were more regularly noted for their ‘sweet tooth’, as even the contradictory statement from French traveller Henri Misson made clear in 1689: ‘I know not what can have occasioned the Report or Opinion so common in France, that the English put Sugar in every Thing that they eat.’ The presumption that the English consumer preferred sweetness when compared to their French counterparts was a common trope in this period, and tea was often cited as an example of this habit. Tea consumption was recognised by British commentators in the middle of the eighteenth century as a universal practice, permeating all levels of society: ‘Sugar, the inseparable Companion of Tea, came to be the Possession of the very poorest Housewife.’