TEA 2 LAST

After making its way to 17th-century London, where it After making its way to 17th-century London, where itbecame an exotic, highly sought-after commodity, tea’spowerful psychoactive properties have being mesmerisingBritish society. Now the world’s most popular drink afterwater, tea was one of the first truly global products to finda mass market, with tea-drinking now stereotypicallyassociated with British identity. Becoming central to everyday life, tea was embroiled incontroversy, from the gossip of the domestic tea table to thecivil disorder occasioned by smuggling, and from the politicalscandal of the Boston Tea Party to the violent conflict of theAnglo-Chinese Opium War. Such stories shaped the contexts forthe imperial tea industry that later developed across Indiaand Sri Lanka. "The hot infusion of the oxidised and prepared leaves ofCamellia sinensis was an extraordinary innovation whendiscovered by British drinkers in the 17th century. There wasno language to describe its flavour, and few directions abouthow to consume it. Encountering tea for the first time was acreative and experimental process of curiosity andhabituation. "Grasping for analogies, a physician described tea asbeing ‘somewhat like Hay mixt with a little Aromatick smell,Â’tis of a green Colour, and tastes Sweet with a littleBitter’. It was also remarkably expensive: up to 60 shillingsper pound for the best quality, ten times the cost of thefinest coffee," the book says. PTI ZMNANS