Customer Reviews

Tea: The Drink that Changed the World

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If you're new to the topic of tea than Tea: The Drink that Changed the World by Laura Martin is the book for you. Beyond the expected coverage of how tea is consumed around the world the book includes a terrific load of basic information on the plant itself, how it is cultivated, managed, and harvested.

I'm well aware of the role tea has had in western history, especially in England and the U.S. I found the author's treatment of the role tea plays in virtually every major culture around the world very interesting. While not a long book, the coverage appears to me to be complete.

I found the rather extensive appendices at the end of the book to be particularly helpful. Tea and Health, Tea with Food, and Choice Teas from Around the World were very informative.

This book is loaded with great information.

At worst, the author is misinformed. She makes her first big mistake early in the book, by referring to the oxidation process as "fermentation." Those two processes are very different. There's really not much to learn from this book for anyone who knows anything about tea. I was hoping for a lively history of the tea trade. Now I'm bummed that I spent money on this book. Note: The author is not a tea specialist. Apparently she writes articles for home and garden magazines.

This is a great book, the little I have read thus far! It arrived on time and in excellent condition. I love history in general, but it's nice to be able to find out where or how things such as tea came to be, especially since I am in the process of opening a cafe-bakery! Anyone who loves tea will love this book! I would highly recommend this seller!

Laura C. Martin gave the reader a good account of the history on tea and its intimacy with the history of man kind.

I was surprised with the brutality exercised by the British over the Chinese and Indians in order to profit from trading in tea and satisfying the social demand of the British. I have always viewed the British as benevolent and environmental conscious but this book changed that.

Some astounding historical events:
1. The European used tobacco and opium to trade with the Chinese for tea!

2. In 1830, the Chinese imported over 2.5 million pounds of Indian opium; controlled by the British!

3. From 1830 to 1840, the Chinese traded 366 tones of silver to the British, primarily for opium grown in India but controlled by the British.

4. When the Chinese captured and destroyed chests of opium worth nine million mexican silver dollars (one Mexican silver dollars was worth 2.5 pound in mid-nineteenth centry, which is about 169 pounds, or 355 US dollars today), the British sent warships to Canton , where they quickly and efficiently destroyed the Chinese army. The result was the Treaty of Nanking, signed on august 29, 1842. In addition, England was awarded "most favoured nation" status in China. The Chinses were forced to pay for the lost opium and the cost of the war! {However, who started it??"}

5. The British was far from satisfied with the Treaty of Nanking and were impatient to legalise opium, The result was a second Opium War in 1856. Again, the British won easily, and the Chinese legalise opium, and England continued to export Indian opium to China until 1911.

6. The British controlled tea plantations in Assam during the nineteenth century but the conditions on the plantations were devastatingly difficult for the worker. There was rarely enough food and the water supply was polluted. and diseases such as malaria, fevers, diarrhea, dysentery, and cholera were rampant.

7. The British paid for coolie to transport tea from Bengal to Assam and paid for each coolie who delivered the tea alive. "Alive" did not equate "healthy" and in some years, over hald the coolies died in transit, while countless numbers arrived so weak that the died within the year, mostly from cholera. They were treated as just another part of the financial equation calculated by the Assam Company. About 30% of the recruits were women and children. {Now the British feel child labour is deplorable!}

8. Tea was highly taxed; five shilling per pound - equal to thirty -two British pounds today!

The above is only some extracts from the book. You will have to read the book yourself to enjoy other historical events!

In addition, readers were also introduced to the different methods of producing tea and serving tea.

you will read and learn not only about tea, but about world history too.
very interesting, not so long... you wish it could least some pages longer... but it contains different of topics, very complet book,