About the Book
The Tale of Tea is the saga of globalisation. Tea gave birth to paper money, the Opium Wars and Hong Kong, triggered the Anglo-Dutch wars and the American war of independence, shaped the economies and military history of Táng and Sòng China and moulded Chinese art and culture. Whilst black tea dominates the global market today, such tea is a recent invention. No tea plantations existed in the world’s largest black tea producing countries, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka, when the Dutch and the English went to war about tea in the 17th century. This book replaces popular myths about tea with recondite knowledge on the hidden origins and detailed history of today’s globalised beverage in its many modern guises.
Table of Contents:
Preface
1 The Primordial Origins of Tea
A Brief Ethnolinguistic Preamble
Varieties of Tea Tree and Some Close Relatives
The Original Tea Emerges from the Mists of Time
An Ancient Trans-Himalayan Root Denoting Tea
An Ancient Austroasiatic Root Denoting Tea
Fermented Eatable Tea Becomes Fermented Drinkable Tea
Old and New Tea Etyma in the Original Tea Homeland
2 Tea Spreads to China
Shrouded behind the Veil of Writing
The Chinese Characters tú 荼 and chá 茶
From the Hàn Dynasty to the Suí Dynasty
Tea Becomes Fashionable in the Táng
A Tea Sage Is Discovered under a Stone Bridge
The Tea Sage Becomes a Man
Lù Yǔ’s Tea Treatise and His Old Age
Tea and the Water with Which It Is Made
The Blossoming of Tea Culture and Porcelain
Tibet Takes to Tea in the Táng
Tea Is Taxed by the Táng
The Sòng under Siege
The Sophistication of the Sòng
Chinese Tea Culture Blossoms Anew in the Míng
A ilha formosa
The Manchu and the Colours of the Chinese Rainbow
Chinese Green Teas
White Teas and Albino Cultivars
Chinese Yellow Teas
Blue Teas, Swarthy Dragon and Rock Teas
Chinese Red Teas
Chinese Fermented or Dark Teas
Scented Teas, Herbal Infusions, Punch and Cocktails
3 Tea Arrives in Japan and Korea
Tea Comes to the Land of the Rising Sun
Tea Comes to Japan yet Again
Buddhist Monastery Tea Rituals
Tea Tasting Competitions and Bawdy Bazaars
Nōami Takes Tea from the Tea Pavilion into a Domestic Setting
An Oasis of Calm in a Troubled Time
Jōō Picks up Where Jukō Left Off
Sen no Rikyū
Tea Schools Arising through the Seven Disciples
Tea Schools through Family Descent
The Tea Ceremony Fossilises
The Manufacture of matcha and tencha
Japanese Parched Green Tea or kamairi cha
Sencha, shincha and bancha
Kabusecha, Gyokuro and the Flavour Umami
Miscellaneous Other Types of Japanese Tea
Japanese Tea Culture Travels Abroad
Japanese Tea Cultivars and Tea Production
Innovations and Nostalgic Retentions in Japanese Tea
A Non-Japanese Drink with a Japanese Name
Tea Reaches the Korean Peninsula
The Renaissance of Korean Tea
4 East Meets West: the Intrepid Portuguese
Getting into Hot Water
Tea by way of the Silk Route
Setting Sail for Cipangu
A Surprise Welcome
Silk and Silver Rather Than Tea
Uma chávena de chá
The Tea Ceremony, Oolong Tea and Saying Mass
More Reports of the Tea Ceremony
Ricci and Rodrigues
Jewels of the East
5 Dutch Capitalism and the Globalisation of Tea
A Dutchman in Goa and a Landlubber in Bordeaux
The Birth of Capitalism
Amor vincit omnia
The Japanese Word Is Replaced by the Hokkien Word
Tea Comes into Vogue in the Low Countries
A Dutch Doctor Prescribes Tea and a Portuguese Jesuit Admires Eastern Mores
A More Famous Dutch Physician Prescribes Tea and Tea at the Siamese Court
A Third Dutch Doctor Extols the Virtues of Tea
A Milanese Jesuit in Cochin China
A French Jesuit Binges on Tea in Tonkin
An Italian Jesuit from Hángzhōu and a French Priest from Siam
Taking Tea a Hundred Times a Day
A Dutch Preacher in Ceylon and the East Indies
Tea and the Travels of Tavernier
The Baroque Dutch Spelling of a Hokkien Word
A Persian Interlude
6 The English Take to Tea: Wars in Europe
Tea as a Plant Species
The English Take to Tea
Yet Another Influential Dutch Tea Doctor
The First Anglo-Dutch War
The Second Anglo-Dutch War
The Third Anglo-Dutch War
The Catherine Myth
France, French Tea and Tea with Milk
On Taking Sugar in One’s Tea
The New Tradition of English Afternoon Tea
Government Greed and the Changing English Taste for Tea
Early Types of Tea Imported to Europe
Tea to the Barbary Coast
7 Interlude: Coffee and Chocolate
Vicissitudes of Fortune and Fashion
The First Tidings of Coffee Reach Europe
The Coffee Homeland in the Kingdom of Caffa
Coffee Is Adopted in Arabia and Then in Turkey
Tidings of Coffee Are Sent to Italy
Antique Oral Tradition vs. Modern Myth
Islamic Apologetics on behalf of Coffee
The English First Take to Coffee and Then the Dutch
The Wine of the Sufis Becomes a Global Commodity
Coffee Comes to Vienna, Whilst Fashions Change in the West
Good to the Last Dropping
Europeans Discover the Drink of the Aztecs and the Mayans
Cacao Comes to Europe and Asia
Modern Cocoa and Chocolate Are Invented
8 Taxes vs. Freedom from Oppression
The Rise of Canton and the Downturn in the Dutch Tea Trade
English Ascendancy in the Tea Trade
Silver for Tea
Gender, Tea Gardens and Tea Dances
Tea and Taxes
Extraterritorial Taxation and the Boston Tea Party
Ideological Legacy of the Boston Tea Party
A Threepence on a Pound of Tea and International Law
Scrambling for the Exits as a Re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party
The Surveillance State and the Tea Party
The Illusion of Democratic Choice
Tea Looks for a New Home and Chaos Erupts in Europe
9 Tea transformed: Wars in Asia
Opium for Tea
The Treaty of Paris and the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
The Napoleonic Threat Prompts Strategic Realignments in the East
More Reshuffling in the East
The Path to War
The First Opium War
Tea Plantations in the Dutch East Indies
Botanical Confusion
Tea Plantations in British India
Meanwhile in Sikkim, the Duars and Nepal
Opium Clippers and Tea
British Espionage in the Middle Kingdom
The Great Paradigm Shift in Global Tea Consumption
The Second Opium War and the Tàipíng Rebellion
The Opium Wars and India
Meanwhile in Russia
Orthodox Tea and the Invention of Brown Tea
Coffee Serendipitously Gives Way to Tea
Sir Thomas Lipton
Iced Tea, Tea Bags and Orwellian Tea
Germany and Denmark
10 Tea Terroir and Tea Cuisine
Terroir, Microbiome and Epigenetic Effects
Madagascar, the Mascarenes and the Seychelles
The Azores and Brazil
French Tea Cuisine and Other New Trends
Thailand and Laos
Tea Comes to the Malay Peninsula
Mozambique, Homeland of Yasuke
A Colony on the Cape Becomes South Africa
The Dutch East Indies Become Indonesia
From French Indochina to Vietnam
Georgia and the Russian Empire
Iran and the Persian Gulf
The Rise and Fall and Rise and Fall of Azeri Tea
Turkey Converts from Coffee to Tea
Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia
From a Colony under Wilhelm ii to Tanzania
The East Africa Protectorate Becomes Kenya
From British Protectorate to Uganda
Cameroun, Nigeria, Rwanda and Burundi
Across the Continent of South America
Tea in South Carolina
Late Bloomers of the Pacific
From Kew Gardens to Cornwall
Swiss Tea in the Ticino
Tea in the Dragon Kingdom
Bohemia and Moravia Take to Tea
Dutch Tea in the Age of Vertical Farming
11 Tea Chemistry and Fanciful Concoctions
Tea Science or Tsiology
Caffeine
From Teaism to Theanine
Vitamin P
Catechins and Tannins
Theaflavins and Thearubigins
Tea and Cancer
Tea, Obesity and Diabetes
Tea, Cardiac Health, Allergies and Immunity
Tea and Cognition
Tea, the Kidneys and the Liver
Bottled Tea Drinks, Bubble Tea and Other New Trends
Factors Affecting Fragrance
12 Tending the Tea Garden
Sustainable Tea Cultivation
Assailants of the Tea Plant
Physical Tea Pest Control
In Pursuit of Environmentally Friendly Biological Warfare
Tea Tree Diseases and Some Therapies
Consumer Protection, Labyrinths of Red Tape and Global Dangers
Index
About the Author :
George van Driem directs the Linguistics Institute at the University of Bern, where he occupies the Chair of Historical Linguistics. He has written grammars of Limbu, Dzongkha, Bumthang and Dumi and authored the two-volume ethnolinguistic handbook Languages of the Himalayas (Brill, 2001).
Review :
'The Tale of Tea traces the history of tea from the mists of its mountainous homeland to dynastic China, Japan, Korea, and the Indian Ocean under Portuguese, Dutch, and British imperialism. It highlights the globalizing dynamics, including the wars, hierarchies, economical systems, and political structures effectuated by mankind’s unquenchable thirst for the beverage. From an elaborate discussion on tea cultures worldwide (including those of Africa, South America, and the Pacific), the book moves to cuisines influenced by tea, the chemistry behind it, and, finally, the interrelated issues of modern-day tea cultivation and environmental sustainability. The Tale of Tea is mostly chronological, but occasionally hops between time periods when it is thematically justified.(...) The book equips beginners and experts alike with the knowledge to talk about tea confidently.(...) It is nothing short of a must-read for anyone genuinely interested in tea. Its value for tea enthusiasts outside the academic world, is almost self-evident. I have no doubt it will be warmly received by tea companies, museums, and online discussion groups.' - Tom Hoogervorst, KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, Leiden, The Netherlands, in: BKI,176: 2-3 (2020)
