Tea: Addiction, Exploitation, and Empire

by Roy Moxham

Book Overview

Tea came late to popularity in England--after its arrival in Portugal, Holland, and France--but it quickly became a national obsession. And business. Tea gardens and tea shops sprang up everywhere in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786712279
• ISBN13: 9780786712274
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Running Press Book Publishers
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Tea: A Magnanimous Perspective

I agree with the comments already posted. My love for tea began with a trip to England and France 5 years ago, then India in Jan '06. I have over 45 pounds of loose tea, and have tried over 150 different teas. Reading this book changed how i felt while drinking tea. This "took some of the fun" out of tea drinking for me. I am more aware of the economic hardships tea pickers endure, and the horrid conditions they suffered for decades. I am now getting into Fair Trade/Organic loose teas, and try to educate people/buyers at the gourmet food store i work at. If you think you know tea, read this book! It will open your eyes, and maybe push you into some action.

Engaging book

Roy Moxham's book on Tea is an absorbing read, and is peppered with very useful information and traces the history of tea. Perhaps, Moxham has started off a trend of sorts on single commodity books. His first was about salt and the great hedge of India. In that book his focus was more on the hedge, and less on salt. However in this book is focus is exclusively on tea and how it made its way to the western world. Moxham's stint as a tea-planter in Africa certainly helps him to gain keen insights into this drink, that is beloved to so many of us. A cup of tea is meant to soothe your jangled nerves, and comfort you. But, what you did not know is that this comfort drink went through a bloody and dark period when it was introduced into Great Britain. The book is rich with details, and Moxham's love for this plant comes through clearly. After reading the book, everytime I drink a cup of tea I look at the drink with a different perspective. We often forget the hard work that goes into making this comfort drink easily available to us.

The British Love Affair with Tea

Tea plantations are beautiful and the tea industry has an antiquarian charm. The author, Roy Moxham. captures some of that charm in this book -- but doesn't neglect describing the seamy side of British colonialism in India, China, Sri Lanka, and Africa. Moxham doesn't go much into botanical descriptions of tea or growing and harvesting techniques, but focuses on the history of tea consumption and production. Moxham catalogs the growing addiction of the British to tea in the 18th century and the efforts of British colonialists to grow the stuff in the 19th and 20th century. The story of tea growing in the Assam district of India is dirty indeed -- typical of colonial ventures around the world. Some of the stories of the exploitation of workers during the early days of tea growing are horrific. The author also describes briefly the principal tea dealers in England, past and present, and their marketing techniques. So addicted are Britains to the daily 'cuppa' that tea during World Wars of the Twentieth Century was considered a vital commodity. One of the more interesting sections of the book was the author's brief description of his work on a tea estate in Malawi (Nyasaland) in the 1960s. The book concludes abruptly as he finishes his first year on the estate, giving the impression that a sequel may be in the works. This is a good little book with a few illustrations and maps, a list of the various kinds of tea, and a good bibliography for those inspired to dig more deeply into the subject. Smallchief

A Thoroughly Fascinating Book

I borrowed this book from my local library to read on vacation. Once I started it, I found it hard to put down. Mr. Moxham made even the mundane parts of tea's history fascinating. I felt as if I had gone back in time and witnessed the many incidents he relayed. I particularly enjoyed how he opened and closed the book with his own experience on a tea plantatation in Africa in the early 1960s. This book was a real historical eye-opener for me on many counts, as well as entertaining and well written. If you enjoy your tea and history, I highly recommend you read this book!

5 stars as narrative history, 4 for lack of closure

this is a fascinating microhistory of tea, bookended with an unfortunately underdeveloped personal narrative. The historical content is superb and both detailed and aware of world events of the time, giving insights into trade agreements as well as growing conditions. Moxham's own year overseeing a tea plantation in Africa is embarrasingly brief in comparison, and ends the book so abruptly I searched beyond the glossary, hoping for at least an epilogue to explain the paucity. It's among some of the very good books on the historical lure of caffeinated products, and well worth picking up, provided you don't expect the boy's own adventure Moxham's opening pages seem to indicate