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Coffee: A Dark History

“Masterful and exhaustive . . . eye-opening lessons in economics, ethics, culture and science, resulting in a comprehensive overview of a commodity that is second only to oil in its importance to world trade.” —Worcester Evening News Coffee trader and historian Antony Wild delivers a rollicking history of the most valuable legally traded commodity in the world after oil—an industry that employs 100 million people throughout the world. From obscure beginnings in east Africa in the fifteenth century as a stimulant in religious devotion, coffee became an imperial commodity, produced by poor tropical countries and consumed by rich temperate ones. Through the centuries, the influence of coffee on the rise of capitalism and its institutions has been enormous. Revolutions were once hatched in coffeehouses, commercial alliances were forged, secret societies were formed, and politics and art were endlessly debated. Today, while coffee chains spread like wildfire, coffee-producing countries are in crisis: with prices at a historic low, they are plagued by unprecedented unemployment, abandoned farms, enforced migration, and massive social disruption. Bridging the gap between coffee’s dismal colonial past and its perilous corporate present, Coffee reveals the shocking exploitation that has always lurked at the heart of the industry.

Darjeeling: A History of the World’s Greatest Tea

Darjeeling’s tea bushes run across a mythical landscape steeped with the religious, the sacred, and the picturesque. Planted at high elevation in the heart of the Eastern Himalayas, in an area of northern India bound by Nepal to the west, Bhutan to the east, and Sikkim to the north, the linear rows of brilliant green, waist-high shrubs that coat the steep slopes and valleys around this Victorian “hill town” produce only a fraction of the world’s tea, and less than one percent of India’s total. Yet the tea from that limited crop, with its characteristic bright, amber-colored brew and muscatel flavors–delicate and flowery, hinting of apricots and peaches–is generally considered the best in the world.This is the story of how Darjeeling tea began, was key to the largest tea industry on the globe under Imperial British rule, and came to produce the highest-quality tea leaves anywhere in the world. It is a story rich in history, intrigue and empire, full of adventurers and unlikely successes in culture, mythology and religions, ecology and terroir, all set with a backdrop of the looming Himalayas and drenching monsoons. The story is ripe with the imprint of the Raj as well as the contemporary clout of “voodoo farmers” getting world record prices for their fine teas–and all of it beginning with one of the most audacious acts of corporate smuggling in history.But it is also the story of how the industry spiraled into decline by the end of the twentieth century, and how this edenic spot in the high Himalayas seethes with union unrest and a violent independence struggle. It is also a front-line fight against the devastating effects of climate change and decades of harming farming practices, a fight that is being fought in some tea gardens–and, astonishingly, won–using radical methods.Jeff Koehler has written a fascinating chronicle of India and its most sought-after tea. Blending history, politics, and reportage together, along with a collection of recipes that tea-drinkers will love, Darjeeling is an indispensable volume for fans of micro-history and tea fanatics.

Tea: A History of the Drink That Changed the World

A fascinating account of the world’s favorite beverage from the son of Sir Percival Griffiths, author of the monumental and definitive tome The History of the Indian Tea Industry A study of the phenomenon as well as the commodity, this is a comprehensive survey of the drink that is imbibed daily by more than half the population of the world. After water, tea is the second most-consumed drink in the world. Almost every corner of the globe is addressed in this comprehensive look at 4,500 years of tea history. Tea has affected international relations, exposed divisions of class and race, shaped the ethics of business, and even led to significant advances in medicine. Thoroughly researched and captivating, this is a unique study of the little green leaf.

The Way of Tea and Justice: Rescuing the World’s Favorite Beverage from Its Violent History

What started as an impossible dream-to build a café that employs women recovering from prostitution and addiction-is helping to fuel an astonishing movement to bring freedom and fair wages to women producers worldwide where tea and trafficking are linked by oppression and the opiate wars. Becca Stevens started the Thistle Stop Café to empower women survivors. But when she discovered a connection between café workers and tea laborers overseas, she embarked on a global mission called “Shared Trade” to increase the value of women survivors and producers across the globe. As she recounts the victories and unexpected challenges of building the café, Becca also sweeps the reader into the world of tea, where timeless rituals transport to an era of beauty and the challenging truths about tea’s darker, more violent history. She offers moving reflections of the meaning of tea in our lives, plus recipes for tea blends that readers can make themselves. In this journey of triumph for impoverished tea laborers, hope for café workers, and insight into the history of tea, Becca sets out to defy the odds and prove that love is the most powerful force for transformation on earth.

Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World

Uncommon Grounds tells the story of coffee from its discovery on a hill in ancient Abyssinia to the advent of Starbucks. In this updated edition of the classic work, Mark Pendergrast reviews the dramatic changes in coffee culture over the past decade, from the disastrous “Coffee Crisis” that caused global prices to plummet to the rise of the Fair Trade movement and the “third-wave” of quality-obsessed coffee connoisseurs. As the scope of coffee culture continues to expand, Uncommon Grounds remains more than ever a brilliantly entertaining guide to the currents of one of the world’s favorite beverages.

The True History of Tea

A lively and beautifully illustrated history of one of the world’s favorite beverages and its uses through the ages.World-renowned sinologist Victor H. Mair teams up with journalist Erling Hoh to tell the story of this remarkable beverage and its uses, from ancient times to the present, from East to West. For the first time in a popular history of tea, the Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, and Mongolian annals have been thoroughly consulted and carefully sifted. The resulting narrative takes the reader from the jungles of Southeast Asia to the splendor of the Tang and Song Dynasties, from the tea ceremony politics of medieval Japan to the fabled tea and horse trade of Central Asia and the arrival of the first European vessels in Far Eastern waters. Through the centuries, tea has inspired artists, enhanced religious experience, played a pivotal role in the emergence of world trade, and triggered cataclysmic events that altered the course of humankind. How did green tea become the national beverage of Morocco? And who was the beautiful Emma Hart, immortalized by George Romney in his painting The Tea-maker of Edgware Road? No other drink has touched the daily lives of so many people in so many different ways. The True History of Tea brings these disparate aspects together in an entertaining tale that combines solid scholarship with an eye for the quirky, offbeat paths that tea has strayed upon during its long voyage. It celebrates the common heritage of a beverage we have all come to love, and plays a crucial part in the work of dismantling that obsolete dictum: East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet. 50 illustrations

The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide

Whether it’s a delicate green tea or a bracing Assam black, a cup of tea is a complex brew of art and industry, tradition and revolution, East and West. In this sweeping tour through the world of tea, veteran tea traders Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss chronicle tea’s influence across the globe and provide a complete reference for choosing, drinking, and enjoying this beverage.THE STORY OF TEA begins with a journey along the tea trail, from the lush forests of China, where tea cultivation first flourished, to the Buddhist temples of Japan, to the vast tea gardens of India, and beyond. Offering an insider’­s view of all aspects of tea trade, the Heisses examine Camellia sinensis, the tea bush, and show how subtle differences in territory and production contribute to the diversity of color, flavor, and quality in brewed tea. They profile more than thirty essential tea varietals, provide an in depth guide to tasting and brewing, and survey the customs and crafts associated with tea. Sharing the latest research, they discuss tea’s health benefits and developments in organic production and fair trade practices. Finally, they present ten sweet and savory recipes, including Savory Chinese Marbled Eggs and Green Tea Pot de Creme, and resources for purchasing fine tea.Vividly illustrated throughout, THE STORY OF TEA is an engrossing tribute to the illustrious, invigorating, and elusive leaf that has sustained and inspired people for more than two thousand years.

A Social History of Tea – Expanded Edition

British writer and tea historian Jane Pettigrew has joined forces with American tea writer Bruce Richardson to chronicle the colorful story of tea s influence on British and American culture, commerce and community spanning nearly four centuries. These two leading tea professionals have seen first-hand the current tea renaissance sweeping modern culture and have written over two dozen books on the subject of tea. For nearly four centuries, tea has occupied a remarkable position in British and American society. From tea s earliest introduction into London society in the mid-1600s, tea was an exotic commodity, commanding the highest prices while enjoyed only by a fortunate few. Ladies first drank tea at home, while the men enjoyed the beverage alongside coffee and chocolate in coffee houses. As the custom of drinking tea came to dictate the daily schedules of upper class families in London and Philadelphia, international traders scurried to keep up with the demand for sugar, furniture, silver, porcelains and fabrics to fill drawing rooms on both sides of the Atlantic. Profits from the East India Company s monopoly on tea trade with China subsidized Parliament and sparked a revolution in Boston in 1773. In the nineteenth century, tea rooms began to open, enabling respectable women to eat out unaccompanied – a truly liberating experience. Writers such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Lewis Carroll found teatime to be the perfect tool for setting a scene within their novels. And clipper ships were launched to bring tea ever-quicker from China and the new British tea gardens established in India. The twentieth century saw tea drinkers tango their way across the dance floors of fine hotels as fashion designers introduced new tea gowns every season. By the 1920s, a tea room craze spread across America, allowing women to become business owners and entrepreneurs. But the mechanization of tea and teabags nearly drained tea of its romance after World War II. Fortunately, tea made a comeback as a new century began and the world s most-popular beverage is enjoying a much-deserved renaissance as tea bars, tea shops and tea rooms spring up throughout Great Britain and the United States. Tea has reclaimed its reputation as an important ingredient leading to good health and a balanced lifestyle. As tea drinking becomes a ritual for many, tea has returned to its ancient Asian roots as a cup of humanity.

For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World’s Favorite Drink and Changed History

“If ever there was a book to read in the company of a nice cuppa, this is it.” -The Washington Post In the dramatic story of one of the greatest acts of corporate espionage ever committed, Sarah Rose recounts the fascinating, unlikely circumstances surrounding a turning point in economic history. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the British East India Company faced the loss of its monopoly on the fantastically lucrative tea trade with China, forcing it to make the drastic decision of sending Scottish botanist Robert Fortune to steal the crop from deep within China and bring it back to British plantations in India. Fortune’s danger-filled odyssey, magnificently recounted here, reads like adventure fiction, revealing a long-forgotten chapter of the past and the wondrous origins of a seemingly ordinary beverage.

The Devil’s Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee

In this captivating book, Stewart Lee Allen treks three-quarters of the way around the world on a caffeinated quest to answer these profound questions: Did the advent of coffee give birth to an enlightened western civilization? Is coffee, indeed, the substance that drives history? From the cliffhanging villages of Southern Yemen, where coffee beans were first cultivated eight hundred years ago, to a cavernous coffeehouse in Calcutta, the drinking spot for two of India’s three Nobel Prize winners . . . from Parisian salons and cafés where the French Revolution was born, to the roadside diners and chain restaurants of the good ol’ U.S.A., where something resembling brown water passes for coffee, Allen wittily proves that the world was wired long before the Internet. And those who deny the power of coffee (namely tea-drinkers) do so at their own peril.

Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties

Beautifully illustrated… this definitive guide will appeal to die-hard tea enthusiasts. — Library Journal The reference work we’ve been waiting for has arrived: a comprehensive but not-too-weighty, one-volume coverage of the world’s teas, abundantly and beautifully illustrated with photos of exceptional quality. — TeaTime This second edition has improved and refined tasting notes with updated content about non-herbal tea, the plant Camellia sinensis. The book’s elegant design is a complete guide to the world’s second most popular beverage — only water exceeds tea consumption. This book is now clearly the best book on this topic, concise and authoritative with dozens of photographs and images of the teas themselves, revealing the surprising variety of color and opacity of each variety. The book is an escorted tour of the world’s tea-growing countries — China, Japan, Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam and East Africa. Readers discover how like a fine wine, it is “terroir”, e.g., soil and climate, that gives a tea its unique characteristics. The book includes varieties of black, green, white, yellow, oolong, pu’er, perfumed, aromatic and smoked teas. Other topics include: An overview of the history of tea Tea families, varieties, cultivars and grades How tea is grown, harvested and processed The tea trade worldwide Timeline of the world history of tea cultivation Profile interviews with tea industry personalities. The special features legions of tea drinkers will especially enjoy are: Local tastes and methods of preparing tea (e.g. macha) Tea ceremonies Tasting notes and infusion accessories Teapot recommendations Caffeine, antioxidant and biochemical properties of 35 teas 15 gourmet recipes using teas A directory of 42 select teas.