“For all the Tea in China.”
You have heard this expression, yes? As in, I wouldn’t do that for all the tea in China. It’s almost like saying, “You couldn’t pay me enough to do that.”
Well, over the centuries, China, indeed, has been a huge grower of tea plants and producer of tea.
My question to you is have you read the book by this name?
It is called, For All the Tea in China; How England Stole the World’s Favorite Drink and Changed History. The author is Sarah Rose.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it, but please know I am an avid tea drinker. (Insert smiley face here... with cup of tea attached to the smiley face... if such an emoji is available!) When I say, “I’m livin’ on leaves,” I mean it. Tea is with me alllllllll day. Others of you, I know, are livin’ on beans, as in coffee beans. For me, it is a definite, “Hold the beans!”
Yes, I love tea, and I loved reading this book. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the British East India Company was losing its hold on the tea trade from China and daringly sent a Scottish botanist named Robert Fortune to steal tea plants from China so they could be grown in British plantations in India. Fortune’s travels were filled with danger and some remarkable discoveries. I am most grateful for his perseverance, even if his efforts were not always on the up and up.
Fast forward a bunch of decades. Let me share a few memories of a trip I took to China.
Would you make a tea plantation one of your only stops if you visited China? As I said, I am an avid tea drinker. Besides, it was a very short visit, so other tourist destinations had to step aside. FYI, my other stop was a series of terraced rice fields.
Seeing tea plants, which were carefully manicured in row upon terraced row on a steep hillside, was a dream of a lifetime. The dream became a miracle when, after seeing careful demonstration of technique, I was able to pinch off fresh green leaf tips, in very labor-intensive fashion, to fill a small sac. There I stood, on what only could be described as extremely difficult land to farm, surrounded by terraced steps of tea plants. I mean, we are talking MAJOR INCLINE! Matterhorn! Terraced by rocks put in place by hand, I am certain.
With my sac filled with fresh tea leaves, I next learned how to heat and roll the leaves to make dried tea as I know it. From there, it was over to a dining table to see how white, green, oolong, and black teas are each prepared for one’s tea cup, how long each tea is seeped several times over, how the tea is strained, and how the process is repeated for different types of teas at different temperatures. I was honored to learn even the little bit I learned. I became more enamored than ever with tea – the plant, a type of Camelia, the beverage, and the many centuries of connection to human and family ceremonies, rituals, lifetimes, and lives. If Botanist Robert Fortune had needed a partner in crime, I might have volunteered! Cheers to tea and to this wonderful book.