For the Tea Lovers

In the July 10, 2003, Far Eastern Economic Review, Erling Hoh writes about Green Gold: The Empire of Tea, “If you like good tea, this book should be a pleasure to consume, claiming as it does that the fragrant leaf has led to many improvements in the existence of mankind.”

In 1830, China produced virtually all the world's tea, and England exported 1,500 tonnes of opium a year to China to finance the vast amounts of tea it imported from the Middle Kingdom. In 1835, the tea plant was found growing wild in the Indian province of Assam, and a year later, the first six chests of Assam tea were delivered to Calcutta. By the turn of the century, the cheap, strong Assamese leaf had destroyed the Chinese export market.

“This is one of many fascinating tales the author tells in his world history of tea, which could have been an epic spanning centuries, continents and cultures, and more than the mere 285 pages of this book.”