Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Dark History of Tea
    A Dark History of Tea
    A Dark History of Tea
    Ebook263 pages3 hours

    A Dark History of Tea

    By Seren Charrington Hollins

    3/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A look at Britain’s storied history with the beloved beverage, including slavery, war, drug smuggling, fortune telling, and the economy’s globalisation.

    A Dark History of Tea looks at our long relationship with this most revered of hot beverages. Renowned food historian Seren Charrington-Hollins digs into the history of one of the world’s oldest beverages, tracing tea’s significance on the tables of the high and mighty as well as providing relief for workers who had to contend with the ardours of manual labour.

    This humble herbal infusion has been used in burial rituals, as a dowry payment for aristocrats; it has fuelled wars and spelled fortunes as it built empires and sipped itself into being an integral part of the cultural fabric of British life. This book delves into the less tasteful history of a drink now considered quintessentially British. It tells the story of how, carried on the backs of the cruelty of slavery and illicit opium smuggling, it flowed into the cups of British society as an enchanting beverage.

    Chart the exportation of spices, silks and other goods like opium in exchange for tea, and explain how the array of good fortunes—a huge demand in Britain, a marriage with sugar, naval trade and the existence of the huge trading firms—all spurred the first impulses of modern capitalism and floated countries.

    The story of tea takes the reader on a fascinating journey from myth, fable and folklore to murky stories of swindling, adulteration, greed, waging of wars, boosting of trade in hard drugs and slavery and the great, albeit dark engines that drove the globalisation of the world economy. All of this is spattered with interesting facts about tea etiquette, tradition and illicit liaisons making it an enjoyable rollercoaster of dark discoveries that will cast away any thoughts of tea as something that merely accompanies breaks, sit downs and biscuits.

    Praise for A Dark History of Tea

    “The author gathers many of the dangerous and morbid events throughout tea history and compiles them into one well-researched book. An entertaining read for anyone looking for interesting tea history.” —Sara Shacket, Tea Happiness
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateJul 8, 2020
    ISBN9781526761620
    A Dark History of Tea
    Author

    Seren Charrington Hollins

    Since 2007 Seren Charrington-Hollins has been bringing history to life through food. As a professional food historian she has made numerous appearances on television and given countless radio interviews about our culinary history and traditions. Seren’s passion for history and food come to life in her food writing and re-creations of historical dishes and memorable meals. Her work has been exhibited in country houses, museums and castles across Britain, in addition to having advised on food history and trends throughout the UK and globally. Seren’s career started as a herbalist and nutritionist, but her love of history led her to giving lectures on herbal lore and the ancient role of the apothecary. Seren’s lifelong love of food and history have led her to focus increasingly on British culinary history. Today, her areas of specialty include rural and agricultural history, women's history, the history of domestic science, dining etiquette and the home front during the First and Second World Wars, as well as food and drink throughout the ages.

    Read more from Seren Charrington Hollins

    Related to A Dark History of Tea

    Related ebooks

    Beverages For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Drawing Down The Moon Magic In The Ancient Greco-Roman World

      Apr 7, 2023

      ISBN: 978-0691230214 Princeton University Press (2019) – £30.00 press.princeton.edu Given the nature of the literary evidence that is available to us, it is all too easy to image the ancient GrecoRoman world as one of scholars, philosophers, and stat

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Most Unlikely Suspect

      Apr 14, 2022

      A Most Unlikely Suspect
      6 min read

    • Article

      Beauty Through The Ages

      Mar 15, 2021

      Beauty Through The Ages
      3 min read

    • Article

      Lughnasadh

      Mar 27, 2020

      Lughnasadh
      2 min read

    • Article

      Voices From The 14th Century

      Jun 11, 2021

      Voices From The 14th Century
      3 min read

    • Article

      Q&A

      Jun 9, 2022

      Q&A
      4 min read

    • Article

      Readings: Seeing The Future

      Oct 6, 2023

      By Michael A. Flower University of California Press, 2008 ISBN: 978-0520252295 A comprehensive study of the position of the seer in ancient Greek society, from itinerant diviners to seers’ role in the ancient Greek military. Flower's discussion cover

      2 min read

    • Article

      7 Things You (probably) Didn’t Know About Neanderthals

      Jul 7, 2022

      One of the most common questions on this topic is what exactly is a Neanderthal? From an evolutionary point of view, Neanderthals are hominins, so are within the same genus as Homo sapiens – the species to which modern humans belong. For a long time,

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Royal Christmas

      Dec 1, 2022

      A popular 1848 engraving of Victoria and Albert decorating a Christmas may well have helped to popularise the tradition, originally from Germany, in Britain, but they weren't the first royals to do it. Victoria's mother had started doing the same fro

      1 min read

    • Article

      A Face From The Past

      Nov 25, 2021

      A Face From The Past
      1 min read

    • Article

      Welcome

      Nov 4, 2021

      Welcome
      1 min read

    • Article

      Cat Amongst The Cosmos

      Aug 10, 2023

      Cat Amongst The Cosmos
      1 min read

    • Article

      Did You Know?

      May 11, 2021

      Although the Hope Diamond is the most famous cursed diamond in the world, it’s not the only one. Diamond superstitions exist in folklore and mythology from all around the world. A traditional Eastern superstition is that the possession of extremely l

      1 min read

    • Article

      Champions Of The Cause

      May 13, 2021

      As the daughter of the Viceroy of India, Lady Constance Lytton (1869–1923) was born into a life of immense privilege. But her involvement in the women’s suffrage movement saw her swap palaces for prison cells. Lytton was converted to the cause after

      4 min read

    • Article

      Why Did The Salem Witch Trials Happen?

      Mar 17, 2022

      The trials are so well documented that it’s fairly easy to say what happened at Salem in 1692. What’s much harder to explain is why. Over the centuries, a variety of theories have been put forward as to what led to this outbreak of paranoia. Some hav

      1 min read

    • Article

      On The Prowl

      Mar 17, 2022

      On The Prowl
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Lawyer, The Witch, And The Way Forward: Sir George Mackenzie And The End Of Scottish Witch-hunting

      Apr 9, 2022

      From our vantage point in the 3rd millennium, the early modern witch-hunts seem difficult to understand. Over the course of the 16th and 17th centuries, some 50,000 people were executed for a crime we no longer believe to exist. The end of the trials

      8 min read

    • Article

      Two Of The World’s Most Ambitious Regenerative Tourism Projects: The Red Sea Project And AMAALA

      Jul 20, 2022

      What are the most pressing environmental challenges that need immediate attention, particularly from the private sector? As the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in April outlined, it’s now or never for the world to avert a climat

      6 min read

    • Article

      LATER LIFE mums

      Sep 23, 2021

      LATER LIFE mums
      6 min read

    • Article

      Valentine’s way AN WILSON Valentine Ackland: A Transgressive Life

      Jun 2, 2021

      Handheld Press £15.99 One old reviewer found a tear rolling round his cheek towards the end of this book. When the poet Valentine Ackland went into hospital with breast cancer, she wrote to her lover of 38 years, novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner, ‘You

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Price Of Love

      Feb 3, 2022

      The Price Of Love
      6 min read

    • Article

      Human Treasures

      Oct 11, 2020

      Human Treasures
      2 min read

    • Article

      In Search Of Sacred Places

      Feb 8, 2023

      In Search Of Sacred Places
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Dark History of Tea

    3/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Dark History of Tea - Seren Charrington Hollins

      ebook_preview_excerpt.htmlu[ےƑ-]WuSO$bk CS5/w0 )Hѧ_<6tL) "wjva8Ww:0̾.>t9taI:\䤿u3_ޥjCURU#4׆i鶊66ƃt򾟪>Bugew&i*?+zSarP)oN^#~tS%n=;t\*A 0-A;,-2іJs˷px)'8b=̍UF{Џƍ^F~<$lE|SHQ8!&)/1J|)f1 ȃd\4HU8BqPj,stJscgJCl<;U; $7s9M T5K \A1s"x.* 'M{#~'`9ЄPSX'4N'I'[ĂiWDh39XE6Pb([:!v\M!'!n ' y ±B8(BR3\9_1)?2$LG7˷ (PpͰ7s eyMii]e u@ L + /bkR8k?o>7g2()<;cqi BHЇ-ұ 8ups Kw5"$[o]!%e$,JZxM{Iwr:úJ삪eS-<+]JPƻ=˙Pd|j"eq<Z- k; /Q>]+%41u`.TL|!Jig7PD(bzʯ)L"c14M[\+=qgi}9tf hՈ(, Rj/c%X{B d~9Xa/y?U4f^7]znq J69L52V OXjyq6.Gp8|,AM1)& P( UX{qP+9$6ç_<{&s ޗ"ٝH \>l>;H-!%dPwJ<#L bCzxVU0zx?% OQUx9iۯ`$ ˎq4:]S l9P@BHgO bKA,#Rg+aZwLaEȪ::>6j9T?l-x_/3"<iFdQ ΥcQZGa@0inX2F)*͙RT)=!@~w^)670jlO]ήW Î_[ZږW A Ir,H@R2 ^|ϳ7P̈́6V,Y?22@##2;c;ؼIaj`Y9Տt7qu~I IeO3k<=paߏTm%&H1^e55x+V-"UU#[X2;/JEJ6\Z+ &8%=1̞լ>j#]!"Ob%(2ɣwkAU'#ЫR)9nx%BIɸ7z{)g~f-,i3%⡃|k7ְEaKBB޹va|?Ճ aؓM ȦzΐܙKsX@ dVd90Hɹ3ܴ ]m2\jCen3sZ@QN+H\5x޿!˳V{N)Ɲ"f#9F#t=‰;f%sù88b^l@ž}%B 0›%r,1p3c#C}v^<,:*L/n` Y?I>b9? kͶ2_,pgg)1t XԀ_"_>*s-ǰw.v||6os;:8&qB@4*6t 5Y&ѷ* $܈g-U'{B \c` o@~ž:mB/7*$@ƿFimôw?cא!)J`\:0>LHbt&ШP3!_5g[7‰m,>!7hg$j$ C Oτ{x!%_<{ų ~ * 5@)7&SXB^ܼ{K(#z碓sR^Avr[:8PyV4{59T2ɹ5/%5/Q7G 8;3o,i|$dx:.2:#@.9H "𙰊gRDeUOfWvJ^ VG!4s?ΠvOX,O;!XC. DAY gtӬ8UW]*wل,A@PtmcE2I%x٨P||=v+!`VJ_eYI!8G#`9󾥵[iwk@ wr'/g0zVX%-6^vawL< eK6TO~ٕQS;Ȝ||B5csѓL)+tI4ˬU'r Պrl*)6  V ҥ<\bxڡ?- ɔo )O_}:+W5)/ !}`In0<ޒ'ϼ?KHZP0'2N<RUH\U|WUdH"ٱY#Zmk{{I=yYM|n[ƴXYm,b ݮu곻qDTF}h $מ~<%$ԩL@{[d/yf/E`ɿA}5[X;슫_\Kw+[U9mƻشaH\ҰODˋ[a/efTݪG,d)c#ǩ *-q\ (' Rsѽ=jzV!oLQ+wE@XyA6b4\zqcb=zoNV%ҷWfM,jޔh)NMfoC!j=ٕ.岈)T?kxI䇴w:a07; uSvo^ vzDx袳zgTݣ`IǠ:X'l`g|XJ[_Mpo3ۥ9^,S]_ԙ 4 (l sz>j5aS?_~+sL]Uȫ:~8a%J,wj2L|jNWvw: Eef}55E_;իo$1kB$uBl+["tq,bXb>1evamǗ_̪rgg'_>'7zuUTޱ\>]uG4-gn% ySJ Y9oEII7|ρBcdWN)PfG]*eCmHU{ DA]V aS"x,"LZ@G?_|Y|]؝ʉyK,ݿEG=}>) 1Z0j҃bzLl۱+O}ViZ./р(tibݺ͎5T|+}f,%%$*SU3':!pl]?yX%`FϪg˧>5cyoc O^X4oR 8MW6RH"/ ŵrp3YϾn"{nW6E`Jo xg Ƌyk驓-YnQNl7nf{m ⽹5VTFޮ̦|Ѵǘh_DA>X;}78W@ԓ~t#D4Ʈu.@( G .G,Hx|VօQQ\S[y#afK"X<5`Mv\m7, Vcdv):C8Hk3Ca@=T8؇$3kO w˯Dg,OmWpرd&<({W|UnFxVX!EN[V<؆oAUy~<yŸvKXwYgJՕbe(9"dCP>x7$gn>hHiDΗ~f0͙h-x[ֻrN诛BNuqpK|1KyK[Ƶ5fD}/?[;GeX\NY}/f%v M><*U;;>~1[h67U93U熛?5(}N/qՌN_.U4ptC09>Iܲvl&0 ̧H7FAU3` +ГM,HrvՔ$r2<摕qi4!Mp tdðgHm3k]㍸ݳD!kNc6nrP᪵g.S,{^峧~ŗP^Hߨ? ("*bUk! O0 ,xO[v3M}FwѮ't*͍yNToann3Bl'󯧕1>E~̣]kp <(fw˻1Q(GLJ 2A^=9˔ P _Ft XR鞖 iBjurf[@wq`qZg*X|j׆N5 !}zfqQT6{%2+y:Ӣ3BՏ.JQ("EMŕ\`< X]\Vb:Xrm)su4*˝tv1VFj9w8cyo̞1 nK0f^eKcnc_z `{rfUzi_]VEWn5°&' ~lVj P_ ~`ޚaZV',?GOc f>kqs7l$|ǺC1 4lK(F'GmuwUq+I̃_9Yѡb;
      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1