History of Tea
The Opium Wars
Not only was language a problem, so was the currency. Vast
sums of money were spent on tea. To take such large amounts of
money physically out of England would have financially
collapsed the country and been impossible to transport safely
half way around the world. With plantations in newly occupied
India, the John Company saw a solution. In India they could
grow the inexpensive crop of opium and use it as a means of
exchange. Because of its addictive nature, the demand for the
drug would be lifelong, insuring an unending market.
Chinese emperors tried to maintain the forced distance
between the Chinese people and the "devils". But disorder in
the Chinese culture and foreign military might prevented it.
The Opium Wars broke out with the English ready to go to war
for free trade (their right to sell opium). By 1842 England had
gained enough military advantages to enable her to sell opium
in China undisturbed until 1908.
America Enters the Tea Trade
The first three American millionaires, T. H. Perkins of
Boston, Stephen Girard of Philadelphia, and John Jacob Astor of
New York, all made their fortunes in the China trade. America
began direct trade with China soon after the Revolution was
over in 1789. America's newer, faster clipper ships outsailed
the slower, heavier English "tea wagons" that had until then
dominated the trade. This forced the English navy to update
their fleet, a fact America would have to address in the War of
1812.
The new American ships established sailing records that
still stand for speed and distance. John Jacob Astor began his
tea trading in 1800. He required a minimum profit on each
venture of 50% and often made 100%. Stephen Girard of
Philadelphia was known as the "gentle tea merchant". His
critical loans to the young (and still weak) American
government enabled the nation to re-arm for the War of 1812.
The orphanage founded by him still perpetuates his good name.
Thomas Perkins was from one of Boston's oldest sailing
families. The Chinese trust in him as a gentleman of his word
enabled him to conduct enormous transactions half way around
the world without a single written contract. His word and his
handshake was enough so great was his honor in the eyes of the
Chinese.
It is to their everlasting credit that none of these men
ever paid for tea with opium. America was able to break the
English tea monopoly because its ships were faster and America
paid in gold.
The Clipper Days
By the mid-1800's the world was involved in a global clipper
race as nations competed with each other to claim the fastest
ships. England and America were the leading rivals. Each year
the tall ships would race from China to the Tea Exchange in
London to bring in the first tea for auction. Though beginning
half way around the world, the mastery of the crews was such
that the great ships often raced up the Thames separated by
only by minutes. But by 1871 the newer steamships began to
replace these great ships.
Global Tea Plantations Develop
The Scottish botanist/adventurer Robert Fortune, who spoke
fluent Chinese, was able to sneak into mainland China the first
year after the Opium War. He obtained some of the closely
guarded tea seeds and made notes on tea cultivation. With
support from the Crown, various experiments in growing tea in
India were attempted. Many of these failed due to bad soil
selection and incorrect planting techniques, ruining many a
younger son of a noble family. Through each failure, however,
the technology was perfected. Finally, after years of trial and
error, fortunes made and lost, the English tea plantations in
India and other parts of Asia flourished. The great English tea
marketing companies were founded and production mechanized as
the world industrialized in the late 1880's.
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