(Just a quick disclosure to my family; I'm actually doing this as a final paper for a class, which is my excuse for the length and time between posts... Some of the links provided will be sending you to the same place more than once, but others will be to videos or silly things that I figured you might like, so feel free to click anything, or nothing, or everything.)
(I should also note to my professor that because this is being posted to my personal blog I will be keeping with that format. Thus every statement is targeted toward my parents. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it.)
Hey dad,
You know, I've never asked you if you drink tea, hell I don't even think I've seen you drink tea. I know mum likes to drink some tea here and there to get to sleep, and I'm sure Sara likes tea, I mean who doesn't? Tea has definitely had an impact on my life though. I remember when I was in high school my love for Captain Picard had me having an Earl Grey tea to calm my nerves while basking in my unhealthy interest in Star Trek, and coping with being an angsty teenager.
This man is definitely next to you on my list of reasons
I'd be fine with going bald
My years spent studying Chinese certainly offered me an opportunity to drown in tea on an almost daily basis (never did though, unfortunately for everyone else). Actually, I remember when I bought my tea set in Shanghai (which has since become an inventive way to serve sake) I almost literally drowned in tea. They scheduled a tea testing tea ceremony for us, where in an overly ritualistic way someone serves you different kinds of warm liquids that taste the same and then tries to convince you that they taste different. And not only that but they pour out the first batch they make like it's poisoned or something.
But like all people I change my tastes and interests over time and have grown to hate warm drinks, and since iced tea tastes like a bucket of sugar was poured into a cup of mushed ants and prune juice, I've limited my life to water, and apple cider, and iced coffee.
And speaking of coffee, British people playing french people in space, and tea culture; did you know that without coffee you wouldn't have your tea the way you like it? Although I don't assume you like tea the way the British do, seeing as how dairy products agree with you and me about as well as two male beta fish in the same tank, but let's just assume that you like to pour milk in your tea and add a little sugar so that you don't have to taste the tea at all. Having that thought in mind will help me out a lot here so please forget the stomach aches and bear with me.
Now you may not have noticed, but I made a pretty bold claim there, that coffee drinkers are the only reason tea drinkers exist in the world influenced by British Imperialism. This may be exaggerated, but apparently when the Dutch and Portuguese were sailing around with, trading with, and (in the case of the Portuguese) converting the Japanese, they happened to bring back to Europe good old tea. And who bought that tea? Well British Coffee houses of course, it was untaxed, and Americans aren't the only people who hate taxes, which made it a big hit in England, until it was taxed, which made it a great hit to smuggle in England, because everything's better when it's illegal AND untaxed. And so The British were introduced to tea through coffee. It eventually became the heart of much snobbery and class in British culture and the world could never be the same.
But what's with the milk?
But what's with the milk?
Well that's a tough question. Looking this up on google for ten minutes will give you several explanations:
1: Manchurians ruled China at the time, and because they like milk tea (Horse milk tea specifically, is quite delicious) The British thought this was the noble thing to do.
2: China cups would break when hot tea was added to them and so instead of buying better cups the British would add some milk which just happened to be just as good.
3: Milk prevents staining of teacups
4: ????
5: They just do it that way, okay?
To be honest the British weren't the first to add milk to tea, but in my opinion their use of milk in their tea culture has had more of an impact on the tea world than previous introductions, which I'll explain later.
But to answer the question my own way, I would speculate that it has to do with taste. Coffee and tea, particularly black tea and dark roasted coffee, have strong tastes, and I don't know if you're familiar with food in the British Isles but, lets just say fine dining uses French words for a reason.
Milk counteracts these flavorings and I'll admit makes tea quite palatable, and the British were for a time particularly fond of black tea, which was much stronger than green tea. Of course I give no historical basis for this claim and would argue that it's likely that all of the explanations are true.
However I do have an explanation for the preference for black tea, and it's due to something called supply and demand.
Eventually the British realized they should capitalize on tea. Thus the East India Trading company was given its monopoly on the tea trade and relations between the port of Canton (not the town in NY) and the British began. dun Dun DUUNNN.
Why did I have to be all ominous with that? Well because like all good things trade brings conflict and war. And when the British and Chinese trade, it brings opium and war. You know, the good things. Since war is kind of depressing, here's a picture to make you feel better.
Okay on second thought a picture of Chinese people
smoking opium isn't comforting either...
So the British owned india at the time and thus capitalized on opium. Opium was great to trade because being a highly addictive substance it could easily become a highly valued product. In fact, the British soon found that selling opium could afford them porcelain (or however you spell it) and silk and tea.
Now I don't remember you ever running a country, but you've been in a leadership position or two in your life so I'm going to assume you know what happens when the people under you start abusing addictive substances. It's a problem. And the emperor of China thought so too when he found out that thanks to opium British silver was being back traded to the British merchants.
Let me explain how this works:
The British buy fabric and cups and things that British people like with silver. The Chinese take this silver and think "Wow I have silver I'm gonna be rich" but then your friendly neighborhood drug dealer, supplied by the East India Trading Company, comes along and says "Hey rich Chinese man! I have the best thing for your silver, Opium!" And so the Chinese man buys the opium and our friendly British merchant gets all the things the British like AND the money he paid for them.
That is a serious problem, especially with opioids, which pretty much make people useless.
China is big, and largely self sufficient, and so they really had no need for much of what Europeans had to offer.
Anyway the Chinese government had enough of opium and confiscated a ridiculous amount of it.
And because the British don't like that they considered the confiscated opium to be stolen goods, and decided to file a formal complaint, titled Gunboat Diplomacy, also known as "how you start the First Opium War."
So after pretty much slaughtering a bunch of Chinese people the Treaty of Nanking was born, opening five ports to trade and giving Hong Kong to Britain.
And this is where things get serious.
(the following information was collected almost exclusively from this book, a surprisingly good read, check it out if you're interested. Anything from a source outside of this one will be hyperlinked, several links following here are not citations)
"Not smiling for cameras is cool,
so is stealing from the Chinese"
-Robert Fortune
Robert Fortune was a Scottish Botanist (who happens to share a birthday with me, aren't we cool) who, after the Treaty of Nanking, was paid to travel to China and collect samples of tea and other plants and things.
There are just two problems with that; China was still closed to foreigners, and tea was only to be given to foreigners after being packaged for use.
But when did rules, diplomatic consequences, and treaties ever stop the British from getting what they wanted? Well the answer is whenever those treaties got them what they wanted, so, never.
It was decided that China had a monopoly on tea for far too long, and that if they could grow tea in India they would no longer be dependent on China.
So the East India Trading Company hired a Scotsman to put on his best yellow-face and brush up on his Chinese to collect as many specimens of tea and whatever plants he desired and travel through China.
One of these things is not like the other
I'm not kidding about the yellow face either. Though he stood about 30cm above most people he met, looked white as ever, and could barely speak Chinese without a heavy accent.. he somehow passed as a 'Mandarin' from the northern provinces where everyone's taller. I'm not joking that is literally the explanation from the book, not an exact quote, but you get the point.
Okay now let me tell you something, this is what happens when you go to China today and aren't Chinese. I don't see how on earth this guy could do what he did and pass as a Chinese person. But he did, or at least he got away with it more than once. He did have some close calls though, and his servants liked to pocket a coin or thirty from him whenever they could because guanxi or whatever.
So bewilderment aside, he actually did a lot during his 'expeditions'. During the time period in question, the British were in a heated debate as to the creation of black tea and the nature of right an wrong in the universe. Is it the same plant or two different plants? Should we actually call it red tea (红茶) like the Chinese do? Which Doctor is the best?
(In case you were wondering)
Well this highly debated question as to the preparation of tea types was one of the issues Fortune was sent to solve. His findings were actually for some reason controversial. Black tea and Green tea come from the same plant. The difference between the two comes down to the fermentation process. Black teas are left out in the sun longer than green teas, and then smoked to bring out their flavor.
He also discovered something that answers another question I put before you:
Why did the British prefer black tea?
Earlier I put this answer up to supply and demand, because originally they didn't. Green tea was not only a favorite of the Chinese, but enjoyed by the British as well. The British did enjoy black teas, and they certainly settled their tea culture around black teas. But Robert Fortune could be said to be the catalyst that guaranteed this transition. Why is that? Because of the colors of fingers.
Now let me explain, colored fingers are nothing to be ashamed of on an average day. Sometimes while drawing stick figures I get a little marker on my hands just like the rest of us. But blue fingers on workmen preparing green teas could mean only two things, one they happened to be painters, or two, they were dying the tea.
The Chinese soon found after decades of trading with westerners that you can solidify a sale of green tea if it was greener than other teas. So, as long as no one noticed, why not dye the tea and make more money?
It's a great business policy, even our president agrees.
Probably not the best joke...
So what were they dying it with that caught our buddy Robert with his bridges down?
Also known as potassium ferrocyanide
So guy was sent to steal something and discovers hardcore fraud and what was potentially a form of chemical warfare (if you wanted to take it that far). This was big news and certainly pushed the British into their preference for black teas. Green tea's reputation was blasted, and milk and sugar found their way into the British teacup more than ever.
-------------------------------------------------
During these escapades Robert had sent some 20,000 plants to India using the Wardian case (an earlier version of the modern terrarium, which is explained in the book, but here's a link if you're interested). Had the officers along the smuggling line been competent, the Indian tea market and culture today would surely be a much larger industry, Some 90% or so of his batch was ruined by an officer opening and watering the plants kept in the cases. The plants in a Wardian case, being a closed system, would be able to survive by breathing in their own oxygen released from their own chlorophyll, and they wouldn't need watering because they would recycle the water they had already used. Essentially the officer who ordered the cases be opened was drowning the plants as they went along on their journey.
Regardless of this incompetency, Robert's contribution massively extended the tea industry in India and undoubtedly contributed to the modern tea culture in the western world.
Fortune's expeditions, occurring in the years between the Opium Wars, greatly enhanced the Western World's understanding of Botany, and actually was a great test of the newly invented Wardian cases, which revolutionized the transportation of plants at the time. Botanical science once relied on sketches drawn by a scientist or deceased specimens, a wholly unreliable methodology as a scientist could easily change the look of an entire species with a poor drawing and a deceased specimen lacks much of the properties that make it valuable to research.
I'd have to say this man did a lot for science, and is credited with the "discovery" of well over 100 species, and has at least 13 plants named after him. As a person deeply rooted in a scientific background, particularly interested in botany, it is dear to me to discuss great adventures in the fields I am interested in. I somehow got lucky in getting the opportunity to learn about tea in this context. and I hope you enjoyed the journey as well.
Eventually the British began to demand that China open its borders to the British, legalize opium, and a few other things that lead to the Second Opium war, involving France, Russia, and the United States in the conflict. This war created the Treaty of Tianjin, which opened up China to foreign influence and resulted in what the Chinese now consider the beginning of modern China, which as we all know eventually resulted in the formation of Taiwan after the Communist revolution.
But wait, there's more! (Thank you, Dr. Loucks)
This project was focused primarily on the origins of bubble tea. I decided that because a large influence on Taiwan's culture had to do with the colonization of Hong Kong by the British. I determined that the concept of bubble tea, being made utilizing with milk and tapioca, must have had a large influence from British tea culture. It's hard to say with confidence that this is so, because no one really knows the true origins of the first cup of tea or the first time someone added milk to the widely adored beverage. So I ended up researching the history of British and Chinese relations regarding the tea trade.
I did this in collaboration with two other students in my class. If you're interested in reading more, click here
Until next time!
Love,
-Alexander
