Vol. 10, Issue 01 January 2010 
A Very Brief History of the Tea Plant – Part 2
Feature
The Dutch and the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in China and they brought tea back with them to Europe and to the New World. During the early days of European trade and conquest in Asia, tea was an important factor throughout. To satisfy the foreign demand, the Chinese developed a special type [...]
By Warren Parsons
The Dutch and the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in China and they brought tea back with them to Europe and to the New World. During the early days of European trade and conquest in Asia, tea was an important factor throughout. To satisfy the foreign demand, the Chinese developed a special type of dark tea that could withstand the long voyage to Europe. This durable tea was black tea, and when it arrived in Europe, people became addicted. The Dutch also brought tea in 1670 to New Amsterdam and the English to their Massachusetts colony. This set off an insatiable desire for more and more tea, and more and more trade. All the major European nations were vying for the lucrative tea trade from China. In the end, England succeeded in securing a monopoly in the Chinese market.
The British East India company, operating just outside of Canton (present day Guangzhou), dictated the supply and price of nearly all the tea that left China. This not only angered other European nations but also Britain’s own colonies. In 1773, during the infamous Boston Tea Party, dozens of American revolutionaries dumped hundreds of pounds of tea from the decks of newly arrived British trade ships. This was one of many signs of protest against England’s colonial power and it set off a series of events that led to America’s Declaration of Independence.
War, however, did not end the English tea monopoly, which lasted until 1834, well after the American Revolution. Without full control and with competition from other Europeans powers, England looked elsewhere for a strategic advantage. They found their leverage in India with the production and sale of opium. Against the demands of the Chinese emperor, England continued to trade large quantities of opium into China in exchange for tea. This led to the Opium Wars from 1839 to 1842. Embarrassed, China gave into England’s trade demands, and furthermore gave England a permanent lease on a small island at the end of the Pearl River called Hong Kong.
Even with a stronger hold on trade, England still lacked control over production. For some time it had been known that tea grew wild in India, but the English viewed this as an inferior species and were reluctant to cultivate it. Eventually, in the 1848, a Scottish businessman clandestinely entered Fujian province and returned to India with tea plants, seeds, and 80 Chinese tea experts. With this newly found tea knowledge, tea was successfully cultivated in Darjeeling in northern India from Chinese trees. Additionally, at around the same time, the native tea plants in India were found to be a different strain of the same plant and, after years of unsuccessful production and cultivation, tea was finally produced in the Assam region. From here the rest is history, with the newly cultivated Assam bushes and the production techniques developed by the British, tea gardens spread throughout Assam, southern India, and into Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1875. England, Europe and the world now had almost unlimited access to all the black tea they needed. All that was left was the invention of the tea bag in favor of the cumbersome teaspoon, and the replacement of afternoon tea with tea anytime.
Writer’s Note:
The writing of this article is relevant for a couple of reasons. #1. Many readers of the Gwangju News live in Jeollanam-do, which produces much of the tea in South Korea. #2. One of Korea’s most important advocates of tea and the Korean tea ceremony, the venerable Cho Eui, was born in Muan. He spent much his life at various temples around Jeollanam-do and wrote arguably the most important Korean book about tea. Fortunately this book, entitled “Dongdasong,” was published in English for the first time this past summer. I have included a passage from the work with this article. Enjoy and drink tea.
By Warren Parsons
