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| Original Title: | For All the Tea in China: Espionage, Empire and the Secret Formula of the World's Favourite Drink |
| ISBN: | 0091797063 (ISBN13: 9780091797065) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Sarah Rose
Hardcover | Pages: 288 pages Rating: 3.76 | 2874 Users | 492 Reviews
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| Title | : | For All the Tea in China: Espionage, Empire and the Secret Formula for the World's Favourite Drink |
| Author | : | Sarah Rose |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 288 pages |
| Published | : | March 5th 2009 by Hutchinson (first published March 1st 2009) |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. Cultural. China. Food and Drink. Food. Tea. Asia. India |
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Robert Fortune was a Scottish gardener, botanist, plant hunter - and industrial spy. In 1848, the East India Company engaged him to make a clandestine trip into the interior of China - territory forbidden to foreigners - to steal the closely guarded secrets of tea. For centuries, China had been the world's sole tea manufacturer. Britain purchased this fuel for its Empire by trading opium to the Chinese - a poisonous relationship Britain fought two destructive wars to sustain. The East India Company had profited lavishly as the middleman, but now it was sinking, having lost its monopoly to trade tea. Its salvation, it thought, was to establish its own plantations in the Himalayas of British India. There were just two problems: India had no tea plants worth growing, and the company wouldn't have known what to do with them if it had. Hence Robert Fortune's daring trip. The Chinese interior was off-limits and virtually unknown to the West, but that's where the finest tea was grown - the richest oolongs, soochongs and pekoes. And the Emperor aimed to keep it that way.Rating Regarding Books For All the Tea in China: Espionage, Empire and the Secret Formula for the World's Favourite Drink
Ratings: 3.76 From 2874 Users | 492 ReviewsDiscuss Regarding Books For All the Tea in China: Espionage, Empire and the Secret Formula for the World's Favourite Drink
This story of industrial espionage, is not as riveting as it could have been. I was fascinated by the technology that allowed plant cuttings to be nurtured on long sea voyages.This book should be riveting, but I found it less than interesting. I think this is so because I listened to it on audio and was unengaged by the reader. The book is read by the author, who is a fine writer, but a terrible reader: to the point of being outright distracting. Her voice is little-girlish, and she lacks flow when reading. I think I will go back and actually read this, because there is a good story in here. Perhaps it won't seem as choppy when I read the text. I strongly caution
[For All the Tea in China : How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History] by Sarah Rose is a wonderful book tracing the origins of tea since the 1800s. The journey of green and black tea from the mountains of China to the slopes of the Himalayas to the common teapots in England is outlined in detail, thanks to the memoir and copious notes taken by Robert Fortune, the man responsible for not only bringing high quality teas to England but also for bringing back many flowering
This is a book of many parts. Part history, it recounts the Imperialistic reach of the British quest for tea; part biography, it tells the story of Robert Fortune, the man who brought the tea of China to the cups of the British household and in the process perhaps perpetrated the greatest theft of property in history. The book is also a lush travelogue of the Far East with stories of beautiful mountains, pirates, Fortune assuming disguises to fool the Chinese, and the habits of Chinese
I read this in the fall of 2012. I was fascinated by the history of tea production in the mid-1800s. A must read for any tea lover.
Great story about the espionage behind the British acquisition of tea and its transplanting to India, but the writing plodded a little - perhaps imitating the meandering journeys? Worth a read, though.
Whenever one thinks of the East India company, one thinks of its gradual evolution from a small trading post in a corner of India to eventually occupying the country and ruling it in the interests of Britain. But, little does one reflect on what the Company did in China, which had far-reaching consequences for itself and the world. Prior to the 19th century, China held the secrets of how to cultivate Tea, harvest and manufacture it on mass scale for the markets around the world. The British
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