'Black Powder Musket Coffee Company' found in 250-year-old Revolutionary War records
The Boston Tea Party was a front.
By R.J. Williams
Historians have uncovered printed and hand-written evidence of America's early interest in coffee dating to the American Revolution, and in a surprise to many, its purveyors were skilled soldiers, supporters of private firearm ownership, and savvy merchants.
"It's important to note what we have and have not found," says Columbia University historian and professor Mike Eavelli. "We did find newspaper articles, letters, and journal entries that indicated a likely tie between merchants who called themselves the Black Powder Musket Coffee Mercantile and the men who actually threw the tea overboard into the Boston Harbor.”
“In other words, the descriptions were so similar that we think they were the same band of men. It changes what we know: the Tea Party wasn't just an effort to inform the Brits that they weren't wanted. It was also an effort to boost coffee sales and dominate the budding American hot-drink market. It was very forward-thinking, actually. Water wasn't the onl…
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