Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Posted by 醉茶生 at 10:50 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Categories: Tea Related

In the 18th century, the wealth of the British Empire was underpinned by a small number of commodities: among them, sugar and tea. The triangular trade saw British ships carrying trinkets, gunpower, ammunitions, iron bars and alcohol to West Africa, to be traded for slaves. Slaves taken to the West Indies and sold to work in the sugar cane plantations. Sugar, rum and molasses were then collected and returned to the English ports of Bristol and Liverpool, thus completing the triangle. Ships plying the triangular trade were exceedingly lucrative as they made a profit each time they unloaded their cargo, and this trade was only abolished by the English Parliament in 1807.

A substantial portion of the wealth of the British East India Company was built on obtaining a tea monopoly with Qing 清 dynasty China (they also has interests in Indian spices, cotton, indigo and opium). The Tea Act of 1773 meant that they also had monopoly of the transatlantic trade with the American colonies. Indeed, the passing of the Tea Act led directly to the events of the Boston Tea Party and the American War of Independence.

English tea is frequently made very strong (at least by Chinese standards), which necessitates the addition of milk and sugar to take away the astringency. So remember, the next time you have a cup of English tea, that that two parts of the British Empire came together in that cup.

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