What beverage was famously dumped into Boston Harbor as a protest against British taxation?

The beverage that was famously dumped into Boston Harbor as a protest against British taxation is tea. This act of defiance, known as the Boston Tea Party, took place on December 16, 1773. American colonists, frustrated with the Tea Act imposed by the British government—which granted the British East India Company a monopoly on tea sales and allowed it to sell tea at a lower price than local merchants—decided to protest by boarding ships and throwing 342 chests of tea into the harbor. This significant event symbolized the colonists' opposition to taxation without representation and escalated tensions that ultimately led to the American Revolution. The choice of tea as the symbol of protest was particularly poignant, as it was a popular beverage among colonists and represented British authority in their daily lives.