Empire of tea : the Asian leaf that conquered the world / Markman Ellis, Richard Coulton, Matthew Mauger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ellis, Markman, author.

Mauger, Matthew, author.

Coulton, Richard (Richard Xavier), author.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tea--Great Britain--History.

Tea.

Tea--History.

History.

Tea trade--Great Britain--History.

Tea trade.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

326 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London, UK : Reaktion Books, 2015.

Summary:

Tea has a rich and well-documented past. The beverage originated in Asia long before making its way to seventeenth-century London, where it became an exotic, highly sought after commodity. Over the subsequent two centuries, tea's powerful psychoactive properties seduced British society, becoming popular across the nation from castle to cottage. Now the world's most popular drink, tea was one of the first truly global products to find a mass market, with tea drinking now stereotypically associated with British identity. Imported by the East India Company in increasing quantities across the eighteenth century, tea inaugurated the first regular exchange between China and Britain, both commercial and cultural. While European scientists struggled to make sense of its natural history and medicinal properties, the delicate flavour profile and hot preparation of tea inspired poets, artists and satirists. Becoming central to everyday life, tea was embroiled in controversy, from the gossip of the domestic tea table to the civil disorder occasioned by smuggling, and the political scandal of the Boston Tea Party to the violent conflict of the Anglo- Chinese Opium War. Such stories shaped the contexts for the imperial tea industry that later developed across India and Sri Lanka.

Contents:

1 Early European Encounters with Tea 14

2 Establishing the Taste for Tea in Britain 31

3 The Tea Trade with China 53

4 The Elevation of Tea 73

5 The Natural Philosophy of Tea 93

6 The Market for Tea in Britain 115

7 The British Way of Tea 139

8 Smuggling and Taxation 161

9 The Democratization of Tea Drinking 179

10 Tea in the Politics of Empire 202

11 The National Drink of Victorian Britain 221

13 Twentieth-century Tea 247.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

1780234406

9781780234403

OCLC:

903002235

Publisher Number:

99963467371