Tea - China's Ambassador to the World

Tea grown and processed in China was a rarity in the rest of the world for the majority of history. The distances traveled by land were no further than they are today, but without massive amounts of preparation and funding, caravans were likely to fall prey to local bandits, climate that they had to adapt to, or even just getting lost in the vast deserts between China's western borders and the western world. A journey by land could last as long as a year or more if one started on the western coast of Turkey.

But this travel was done as early as the the year 200 BCE, thanks to the efforts of the Han emperor, Wu-Ti. His decrees that the empire's western borders be free from threat opened a route as far as present day Iraq and Northern India. India and China had a long history of trade, with Buddhism making its way east and Chinese silks and tea making their way west. Within the next two hundred years, Rome began to rise to power in Europe and spread its influence east to the deserts. It was inevitable that the two empires meet, even if only through trade.

Sadly, the trade ended with the fall of Rome in the 5th century. It was not restored in any meaningful way until the late 14th century expeditions of the famous Polo brothers from Venice. Even after their contact with the court of the Mongol rulers at the time, China's tea remained a rare trade good with the occasional nomadic tribe across the intervening countries. The west was tea-less.

With the age of exploration and colonization of distant parts of the world by European concerns, Chinese tea was introduced in the 1600's to Europe by Portuguese and Dutch traders looking for rare items to sell to the markets at home. The major factor in the willingness to trade in tea was the preparation by the Chinese. The hard dry blocks of black tea stood up very well to long travel, and the simple fact that tea was something new were enough to turn it into a luxury item to have if you were noble or had aspirations of moving up the social ladder.

Tea became a staple of life after the restoration of Charles II to the throne of England in1658. He took a Portuguese wife, Catarina de Bragança, who had made drinking tea into a daily event amongst her inner circle. Thanks to their influence, the practice spread quickly in through the aristocracy of England, and their Dutch trading partners. From there it was inevitable that the growing middle class copied the habit until tea had reached a greater popularity than coffee or the rare chocolate drinks being introduced to the Spanish courts of the time.

Tea did have a powerful effect in England. There was a strong movement amongst religious leaders to reduce the spread of coffee as powerful stimulant, and beer was seen as low and destructive. Tea gave a refreshing feeling and slight stimulation that was not overpowering. As tea edged out coffee houses and started to outsell beer and ale, taxes were raised to the point where the cost of a cup of tea was more than doubled by the tariffs and taxes. But the insertion of tea into English culture was complete and there was nothing that would remove it, even taxes beyond reason.