num_pages: 288
description: Although tea had been known and consumed in China and Japan for centuries it was only in the seventeenth century that Londoners first began drinking it. Over the next two hundred years its stimulating properties seduced all of British society as tea found its way into cottages and castles alike. One of the first truly global commodities and now the worlds most popular drink tea has also today come to epitomize British culture and identity.This impressively detailed book offers a rich cultural history of tea from its ancient origins in China to its spread around the world. The authors recount teas arrival in London and follow its increasing salability and import via the East India Company throughout the eighteenth century inaugurating the first regular exchangeboth commercial and culturalbetween China and Britain. They look at European scientists struggles to understand teas history and medicinal properties and they recount the ways its delicate flavor and exotic preparation have enchanted poets and artists. Exploring everything from its everyday use in social settings to the political and economic controversies it has stirredsuch as the Boston Tea Party and the First Opium Warthey offer a multilayered look at what was ultimately an imperial industry a collusionand often clashbetween the worlds greatest powers over control of a simple beverage that has become an enduring pastime.
language: English
title: Empire of Tea: The Asian Leaf that Conquered the World
publisher: Reaktion Books