Tea at the Crown and Three Loaves

For decades now we have been importing the world famous Boston Harbour Tea. Thought by many to be just a Boston souvenir shop trinket, customers are quickly realizing  that it happens to be a very tasty tea blend! We get so many calls from customers with the same stories.  They grabbed a pack of Boston Harbour Teabags as they were bolting for their plane back home or were looking for that perfect memento to remember their trip to Beantown! When they got home and brewed some up, they realized that the custom Darjeeling and Ceylon tea blend is out of this world!  So they had to call us and get some more for everyday use.  So, what started as a tea brand that we primarily sold to places like the Old North Church, USS Constitution Museum, Old South Meeting House and the push carts at Quincy Market, has quickly become one of our most popular teas.

One of the products in the Boston Harbour Tea range is a "tea chest" with teabags inside. We are in the process of creating a more attractive presentation for this "tea chest" and in the process, have had to re-create the trademark logo and images, which is depicted at the top of this page. When our graphic designer was drawing the image, he reached out and asked "what exactly are these items in the logo? They appear to be a crown surrounded by three hanging objects" Well, we were unsure of the exact nature of these items on this end, so he took to the Internet to try and get some clarity. Here is what he discovered:

"Established in 1650, the 'Tea House' on Church Street, London is recognizable by the sign of  'The Crown and Three Sugar Loaves' which hangs over its door. This store was the first retail shop to sell tea in London in the 17th Century and sent the tea to America that disguised rebels threw into the harbor during the famous 'Boston Tea Party' of 1774. The three metal sugar loaves surmounted by a crown which hang outside the shop at upper left was the original 'logo' which informed consumers that tea was sold inside." 

But what is a "sugar loaf?" 

"A Sugar Loaf is a conical block of refined sugar, the form in which it was traditionally exported from the Caribbean and Brazil from the 17th century to the 19th century."

So it appears that the symbol is of a royal crown and three sugar loaves. We were unaware of the packaging of sugar in this type of shape, but it turns out that this is the way it was exported years ago. The company that owned the "Tea House" was Davison Newman & Company.  Besides tea, they imported various other commodities and had stakes in the West Indies Sugar Trade.  We have listed some links to the original street shop sign as well as some information about sugar.  This is very interesting history indeed!  We are glad to be able to continue the tradition of the Crown and Three Loaves today with our Boston Harbour Tea products.

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/HN5202-001/Hulton-Archive

http://www.oldandinteresting.com/sugar-nippers.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugarloaf