Part 3 – Dutch Treat.
The world conquest of Tea began in earnest in the early 1600’s. By this time, it was fairly common knowledge that in fact the world was not flat, and that there were other cultures out there willing to trade. This coupled with the advancement of various navies created sea-borne trade routes from Europe to nearly all corners of the globe.
Tea remained in the East until the Dutch arrived in Amsterdam with the first cargo load of Tea in 1606. The East Indies Company, a Dutch establishment who had a monopoly on trade with Asia, had close ties to exporters in China. Even after the forming of the East India Company in England in 1615, the Dutch maintained a monopoly on the Tea trade until the 1670’s. During this time, drinking Tea became popular in Holland, and by 1650 was introduced in New Amsterdam, later known as New York, in the New World. In 1636, Tea was introduced in France and quickly became an indulgence of the upper class.
In 1618, Tea was presented to the Tsar of Russia by envoys from China. It again became popular with the upper class. Tea was brought to Russia by a land route from China, a trek of over 6000 miles which could take over a year. This of course made tea quite sought after and expensive, keeping it out of the hands of the masses. It is with the trade route from China to Russia, who shared a border, that Tea was introduced to Europe a second time.
Tea made its appearance in England in 1657, being sold at Garraway’s Coffee House. It was promoted as a wholesome drink, promising to help everything from eyesight to extending one’s life, while also claiming that "it could make the body active and lusty." In today’s world, this would surely be advertised on late night television with some whistling geek getting all the girls.
Interestingly, Tea was initially met with some resistance in England with some making the claim that drinking Tea caused men to become shorter and ill tempered and women to lose their looks. With ale and gin being the more popular drinks of the time, I’m sure competition was not looked on favorably. While this is pure speculation, I imagine that back then, as now, drinking alcohol surely made everyone tall, invincible and good-looking, so drinking anything else was sure to have the opposite effect.
By the 1670’s England was beginning to import Tea on a commercial scale. It was still very expensive as well as quite heavily taxed (reaching an absurd 119% by the mid 1700’s) and spawned a whole new industry, Tea smuggling. Dutch ships would anchor offshore and unload the precious cargo into fishing boats which transported it to hiding places ashore. The smuggling business was profitable, and as such invariably led to greed. Tea started to become mixed with other types of leaves that were locally available, such as willow, as well as drying used Tea and re-mixing it. This practice was made illegal and punishable by the Food and Drug Act of 1875.
Since its introduction to America in 1650 Tea continued to grow in popularity and by the late 1700’s had become the most valuable and largest export to the colonies. Again, due to its popularity, greed took over and exorbitant duties were imposed on its import. This rankled the locals causing events which ultimately led to the Boston Tea Party and the Revolutionary War. Perhaps it also explains the popularity of coffee in the New World.
Tea is now worldwide of course and with nearly four million tons was harvested in 2009 is the second most consumed beverage on the planet, second only to water. While it is still primarily grown in only a few countries, its influence is still felt worldwide.
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