It is often assumed tea is an Indian drink in origin. It is definitely not. It is Chinese. If you want to read best short non academic account of emergence of ' tea' I reccomend whole heartedly the second chapter of Amitav Ghosh's latest book 'Smoke and Ashes: Opium's hidden histories'. In 15 pages or so he briefly points to the most extraordinary features of tea drinking evolution.The tax duty 75% plus on tea imports to Britain paid for the running of the British state.1/10 of all Britain's revenues in 18 an19th centuries from tax on tea. Paying for the tea to Chinese used new Spanish American sourced Silver. When that became too expensive they resorted to Opium as form of currency. That is whole other story! Tea drinking only became popular in India after advertising campaigns in the 1940's! British planters used Chinese growers and plants to create Assam tea industry. Amazing! For those who wish to find out more of this unexpected history easy to follow the footnotes. 'Thirst for Empire: how tea shaped modern world' and 'Tea War'. China rivalries nothing new! The other point worth noting is that before Tea importing became essential to British way of life, they relied almost entirely on Beer. From childhood all the way through alcoholic consumption was vast, daily and ubiquitous until replaced by tea. Engagingly written book thoroughly researched .
