Empire of Tea: The Asian Leaf that Conquered the World - Softcover

Ellis, Markman; Coulton, Richard; Mauger, Matthew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1780238983 ISBN 13: 9781780238982

Publisher: Reaktion Books, 2018

Synopsis

Although tea had been known and consumed in China and Japan for centuries, it was only in the seventeenth century that Londoners first began drinking it. Over the next two hundred years, its stimulating properties seduced all of British society, as tea found its way into cottages and castles alike. One of the first truly global commodities and now the world’s most popular drink, tea has also, today, come to epitomize British culture and identity.

This impressively detailed book offers a rich cultural history of tea, from its ancient origins in China to its spread around the world. The authors recount tea’s arrival in London and follow its increasing salability and import via the East India Company throughout the eighteenth century, inaugurating the first regular exchange—both commercial and cultural—between China and Britain. They look at European scientists’ struggles to understand tea’s history and medicinal properties, and they recount the ways its delicate flavor and exotic preparation have enchanted poets and artists. Exploring everything from its everyday use in social settings to the political and economic controversies it has stirred—such as the Boston Tea Party and the First Opium War—they offer a multilayered look at what was ultimately an imperial industry, a collusion—and often clash—between the world’s greatest powers over control of a simple beverage that has become an enduring pastime.

About this title

About the Author

Markman Ellis is professor of eighteenth-century studies at Queen Mary, University of London. Richard Coulton is a lecturer in the Department of English at Queen Mary, University of London. Matthew Mauger is a lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London.

Review

“Empire of Tea is a wonderfully wide-ranging and illuminating study of tea (the commodity, the drink, its rituals, its associations) that combines a long-term history of its changing place in the national, imperial, and global economy with fascinating insights into how it became embedded in British culture. Commodity histories tell us not just about our material life but reveal the dynamics of culture. Empire of Tea is one of the best.”
(John Brewer, California Institute of Technology)

“Deeply researched and elegantly written, Empire of Tea is as refreshing as its subject, transporting the reader on a voyage of discovery into the complex and often surprising history of the leaf that conquered the world.”
(Richard Hamblyn, University of London)

About this edition

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1780238983
• ISBN 13: 9781780238982
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 328