Abstract: Tea, a magical oriental leaf, had played an important role in the recent period of American history. “The Boston Tea Party” led to the beginning of American Independence War. The time of “Clippers” achieved the summit of American ship building industry in the recent period. Tea had become the top trade between America and China in the recent period. Once American people had followed the trend of tea-drinking in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Europe, but were laughed by British people for American’s never identifying tea or knowing how to drink tea. Therefore, tea sold in the U.S. was mainly the low and medium grade. With the promotion and development of “Specialty Tea”, American people have become to learn how to identify and drink tea since 1980s. “The U.S. Tea Renaissance” is coming, and the trend has changed the concept of tea-drinking and tea industry in the U.S. Besides, American people has conveyed the passion of tea-drinking to the people all over the world and begun to lead a worldwide trend.

Key words: tea trade, the U.S. tea renaissance, specialty tea