Tea Time
Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea.
~Author Unknown
When you think of drinking a hot cup of tea, you can’t help but feel rather British. Although tea did not originate in Britain, it certainly found a home there. At a time when the world was speeding up, the shuffle of the Industrial Revolution was embraced by some, avoided by others, and left some scrambling to find their place. Tom Standage’s A History of the World in Six Glasses, cleverly explains tea’s journey across the world and back and its lasting impact on all. As the Lipton tea company so perfectly claims, “Tea can do that”.
Tea’s roots in China stem from the Himalayan jungles on the border of India and China. The Buddhist monks of this region found the tea bush to have “invigorating and healing effects”(177) and it was helpful with meditation, concentration and fatigue. When they began migrating to China in the 6th century BCE, they brought tea with them (178). The Chinese claim that the first cup of tea was brewed around 2737-2697 by Emperor Shen Nung (177).
Tea would not become a domestic drink in society until the 1st century BC and cultivation for mass quantities didn’t occur until the 4th century. During this period, known as the Tang Dynasty, China found itself the wealthiest and most populated nation in the world, in part due to their openness to outside influence. It was also during this time that tea found itself as the drink of choice by the nation (179).
There were many reasons why tea was such a preferred choice. It was safer to drink then water of this time, which was filled with bacteria. These bacteria caused Cholera, Typhoid, and Dystery. The Chinese found by drinking tea they could greatly avoid their risk to such illnesses. In addition, tea greatly reduced infant mortality since the health properties of tea could be passed on to newborns with breast-milk (179). The health benefits of tea certainly gave it a popularity boost while increasing longevity.
Tea also had a major economic impact in China. At the turn of the 7th century, the tea trade in China was growing. Tea was even used as a currency at this time (180). The first tax on tea came in 780.
Before the emergence of silver, Chinese society isolated themselves from the global economy. Due to Confucian teachings and heavy voyage expenditures, Chinese officials restricted foreign interaction and trade. Also, being
Tom Standage has described the beginnings of six beverages: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola and has found many connections, and information helpful in finding out history of the drinks themselves but also their impacts on the growth of civilization as a whole. This book connects everything with society both past and present, it makes learning about history and the way drinks connect fun and interesting. Like learning without even realizing you are. A History of the World in Six Glasses is more than just talking about each beverage as a single but as a whole, it’s connections, uses, relations, and growth they started.
After importing tea into Britain, the East India Company was required to auction it off to other merchants, some of whom then exported the tea to the American colonies. By law, this was virtually the only tea permitted in the colonies.
In the first few months of 1773 the British East India Company found it was sitting on large stocks of tea that it could not sell in England. It was on the verge of bankruptcy, and many members of Parliament owned stock in this company. (USA, 1) The Tea Act in 1773 was an effort to save it. The Tea Act gave the company the right to export its merchandise without paying taxes. Thus, the company could undersell American merchants and monopolize the colonial tea trade. By October, the Sons of Liberty in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston threatened tea imports and pledged a tea boycott.
On a cold December night, a group of townspeople stormed the ships in the Boston harbor and tossed 342 chests of tea into the ocean. This event is known by the Boston tea party, it was a protest of the colonists against the Tea Act which passed by the Parliament on May 10, 1773. This act granted the British East India Company Tea a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies. Since the tea cargos were the only thing townspeople thrown overboard and they were really careful about the other things on the ship, they are sending a clear message: they are not going to pay the tax on tea. The colonists loved tea, they used it on daily basis. And it is
In the book, A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom standage, is about Standage trying to validate that these six drinks (Beer, Wine, Spirits, Tea, Coffee, and Coca-Cola) are what help create a path for America, human history, and the development in history. In the introduction of the book, Standage voices that “Drinks have had a closer connection to the flow of history than is generally acknowledged, and a greater influence on its course. Understanding the ramification of who drank what, and why, and where they got it from…” (5) Standage is an Author and Journalist from England. His book A History of the World in 6 Glasses helps probe the development of history and social branching. In the book civilization and globalization is also a key point because Standage believes that those six drinks are what created a catalyst for each drink to shape the world around us.
History of the World in 6 Glasses makes it clear that the history of mankind is a history of our consumption. Whether we are drinking "liquid bread" in Mesopotamia, pondering revolution in a Coffeehouse in Paris, or throwing tea leafs into the ocean in Boston, these drinks have had a profound impact on who we are. As Standage says in the introduction to his book "They survive in our homes today as living reminders of bygone eras, fluid testaments to the forces that shaped the modern world. Revealing its origins, and you may never look at your favorite drink in quite the same way again." I highly recommend this book to anyone thirsty for knowledge about the world around them... or even if they're just thirsty for a good drink.
It is not common that when one thinks of the history of the world that the thought of beer, wine, spirits, tea, coffee, or even Coca-Cola comes to mind. Matter of fact, the thought of a beverage having an impact in history may be the very last thing that comes to mind. But according to Tom Standage in his book A History of the World in 6 Glasses, he argues that these six drinks have had an all-round influence in the history of the world. It is hard to imagine that the drinks we know of today, were the foundation and building blocks of the history that has been engraved in us. As to which beverage has had a greater impact in history, it is a matter of the extent to which each particular drink has contributed to influencing, not just people, but the course of history. Not diminishing the impact of the other beverages, but coffee has had a greater impact in history over tea and the other drinks.
The Tea Act was passed on May 10, 1773 by Parliament. The act granted the British East India Company Tea a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonists. The main reason this passed was to get the East India Company out of bankruptcy, which the company was in due to reduced sales of their tea. The act gave the East India Company two benefits. One was to allow it to market its tea directly to America, using its own agents there. This allowing it to bypass the network of auctions, wholesalers, and colonial merchants through which the tea previously had seen sold. The other benefit was to free the company of the duty on tea that it imported to Britain and then reshipped to America.
One of the most relaxing forms of martial arts, T'ai Chi, can help to overcome such problems as arthritis, rheumatism, back problems, lack of balance, high blood pressure, stress, post-traumatic stress, lack of energy, and more. T'ai Chi is a non violent form of the martial arts whose roots are derived from the Chinese and correlated with Traditional Chinese Medicinal techniques. There are many forms of T'ai Chi, including T'ai Chi Chuan and T'ai Chi Chih; all of which have been studied for thousands of years to improve the Chinese way of life. There have been many records of the origin of T'ai Chi reaching as far back as over 3500 years ago. In addition to a Chinese Martial Art, T'ai Chi has origins related to Taoism, which revolved around calmness, "tranquillity of mind," and the improvement of health and persona (wysiwg://25/http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/tai-chi.html). Monks employed T'ai Chi as means of be coming more in tune with their bodies and their environment. Therefore, this martial art helped them to "defend themselves against bandits and warlords through physical health and spiritual growth" (http://www.maui.net/~taichi4u/overview.html).
Most people have heard of The Boston tea party. When American patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded the British ships in the Boston harbor and dumped all of the tea into the ocean. But what most people fail to realize is the great importance behind this protest. To fully understand a topic of history one must first acknowledge the actions behind it. The French and Indian war, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Revenue Act, as well as the Tea Act are all important catalysts of the legendary Boston tea party. Which is why we will discuss these topics before examining the events of the Boston tea party.
The Tea Act gave one British company the right to control all trade in tea with the colonies. Tea would be shipped to the colonists on this company's ships. It would be sold in the colonies by this company's merchants, while the colonists would still have to pay the tax on tea. This company was the East India Tea Company.The purpose of the Tea Act was not to impose higher taxes on the people but to rather bail out
George Hewes’ account of the Boston Tea Party is considered a firsthand account of this historically significant event. The Boston Tea Party took place the night of December 16, 1773. Three ships had arrived in Boston Harbor carrying Tea from the East India Tea Company. The Bostonians had were given a warning the cargo would be unloaded on December 17. Hewes recounts the events leading up to the Boston Tea Party including the actual attack on the ships and its aftermath. He provides a descriptive narrative, thus contributing to the historical context surrounding the Tea Party. This event as well as, the unfolding discord within the colonies provides the necessary spark to ignite the American Revolution.
The geography of China was something like a fence. This isolation made the people of China feel like their country was prestigious and secluded from the rest of the world. With deserts and the Himalayas running along most of the border, it was extremely difficult to cross over one of the most dangerous mountain ranges in the world and a few other scorching deserts with the little transport they had during that time. The only way merchants could come into the country was the southeastern coast of China where most of the prosper cities resided. What led China to become conceited was because they had an abundant of goods that most of the world wanted. In 1760-1830s, China was famous for its porcelain (rich Europeans loved it), silk, and of course, tea. Since this Eastern Powerhouse’s goods were so popular, therefore, there were only a few things that interested them to trade with. It seemed as if tea was a drug for the Europeans because for them it was just so addicting, to the point they would do anything just to get more and more. The only things that were worthy for trading with the Chinese were gingko (type of plant), shark fin, a soft type of wood (used for incense) and silver. As the demand for tea rose, Britain gradually ran out of silver to trade with, and was desperate to find what China wanted. Then, the British resorted to trading opium. China was very picky of their opium. There was a certain kind of make they wanted, it was a compact ball wr...
The best loose leaf tea offers various potential wellbeing profits. The primary importance of drinking loose leaf teas is that they are of higher quality. The clarification for this is basic. On buying loose leaf, whether it is loose leaf green tea or natural loose leaf tea, you get entire leaves, which hold their vital oils. In any case, what happens in the other hand is that the leaves utilized within sacks are frequently tea clean and leaf parts. The tea dust is gathered after the leaves are picked and transformed. These sections when put into sacks, lose their fundamental oils, which commonly exist in entire clears out. On the off chance that the tea in the sacks, if at all holds a percentage of the oils, then they are of low quality.