Tea (17 page)

Tea was grown by farmers with small plots of land in many different places in China, but wherever it grew, there were three main harvest times. The first, which produced the best quality of tea leaves, was from mid-April to June. The second and third pluckings (leaf harvests) were done later in the summer.

After the leaves were plucked, a process that was always done by hand (and still is, for the better-quality teas), farmers took their crops to a local merchant, who tested them for quality to make sure that they were not moldy and that they had been processed correctly. He then bought the leaves and bundled them together into a “chop.” A chop consisted of bundles or chests of tea leaves all processed in the same way, to make the same kind of tea. The chop was not an absolute measure but was usually made up of a little over six hundred chests of tea. The chops were carried across the mountains by “coolies” (laborers), a journey that tested the strength and fortitude of even the most strong and determined individuals.

In this way, enormous amounts of tea reached distribution centers, where dealers, both Chinese and European, tasted and argued and negotiated until they had purchased the kinds and amounts of tea they desired. The tea was then put on boats to be taken down to Canton on the Pearl River.

From the tea shrubs to the tea ships was a journey that took up to six torturous weeks, usually through rain and humidity. It was as far as twelve hundred miles to Canton from some of the more remote tea plantings, and the only path went through mountainous and difficult terrain. The coolies carried backbreaking amounts of tea—some accounts say up to
300
pounds (
136
kilograms) per person. Ernest Henry Wilson, the great British plant collector, wrote, “With their huge loads they are forced to rest every hundred yards or so, and as it would be impossible for the carrier to raise his burden if it were once deposited on the ground he carries a short crutch, with which he supports it when resting, without releasing himself from the slings.”

In spite of the difficulties, by September, the goods were usually at the ports. At Canton, European tea agents (men hired by the traders for their expertise in choosing the highest-quality teas) made their selections, and finally, in late fall or early winter, the ships set sail for Europe—a sea journey that could take several months.

After unloading the tea, silks, and spices, the traders indulged in a brief rest, then started the process all over again. The best time to begin the four-month journey to Canton from London was April, to take advantage of the summer weather. Even though this meant lying in a Chinese port waiting for the tea to come in for several months, it was preferable and much safer than trying to come in during the fall.

Bohea, a black tea, was considered the coarsest and cheapest. Congo and pekoe were both more expensive and higher-quality black teas. Hyson was thought of as a fine green tea, and imperial was a medium-quality tea.

Because tea was so expensive and because it was sold loose out of barrels, unscrupulous merchants sometimes added filler to bulk up the tea and make it look as if customers were getting more for their money. Anything and everything was tried, from vegetable to mineral. It was easier to taste adulterants in green tea than in black tea, and this may have been a factor in the growing preference for black tea in England.

“Secondhand” tea was also available. Tea was so expensive that it was not uncommon for maids in wealthy homes to take the used tea leaves left over from a meal and to dry and resell them.

TAXES AND SMUGGLING
IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

From the first importation of tea, beginning when the British East India Company first established a factory at Canton, the British government imposed a tax on it. The amount of tax on tea varied widely over the centuries, and brought enormous revenues to the British government. Even at the beginning, the tax on tea imported into England was five shillings per pound—equal to thirty-two British pounds today, or almost sixty dollars! Tea itself was costing about ten to twelve shillings a pound by the middle of the eighteenth century—a far cry from the two pounds sterling it cost a century earlier. In spite of the cost and the tax, there seemed to be an insatiable demand for tea throughout England, and people continued to purchase it in substantial quantities.

After
1750
, the British import of tea had increased from three to over ten million pounds a year. Because the tea was so heavily taxed, the government was making huge profits from the tea trade, and, not surprisingly, a black market for tea quickly arose. Smugglers brought tea into England from wherever they could get it. Even though China was still the only place that produced tea, it was shipped to other ports, such as those in the East Indies, India, China, and Japan (via Holland). Smugglers bought the tea from all these places and took it to the southern coast of England, where it was loaded onto wagons and horses and immediately dispersed throughout the country.

By
1760
, the tea trade was worth so much money that it became increasingly clear that the fortunes of Parliament and the British East India Company were inextricably intertwined. The rise or fall of one intimately affected the other. For example, in
1772
, there was a revolt by the working class against paying the high taxes demanded on tea. As a consequence, the stock of the East India Company fell, only to be rescued by the government, which reduced the tea tax, at least temporarily. Alan MacFarlane, coauthor of
The Empire of Tea
, says that between
1711
and
1810
, seventy-seven million pounds in
taxes
were collected from the tea trade—and one pound in
1800
was the equivalent of fifty pounds, or approximately ninety-four dollars in today's market. In
1800
, one-tenth of all British import tax came from tea.

William Pitt, who was responsible for increasing the tax on tea in Britain in
1797
, guessed that half the tea consumed in England was smuggled in. Tea was so popular by this time that the thought of doing without it was intolerable—as was the thought of paying the heavy taxes imposed by the government. From the late
1600
s until the late
1700
s, smugglers were very well organized and had the support of the common people (and many of the upper class as well). They were able to develop a good communication system and enjoyed great success selling their smuggled wares. The smugglers were so bold, so well connected, and so skilled that when their cargo was seized by the government and put into storage houses, they would simply steal it back and continue with business as usual.

THE EVOLUTION OF EUROPEAN TEA WARE

Tea and European Decorative Arts

The growing popularity of tea, particularly among the upper classes, inspired a parallel growth in interest in all the accessories of tea. The eighth-century Chinese tea master Lu Yu had written about the twenty-four pieces necessary for tea in China, but the British managed to figure out even more accoutrements to use with tea, including silver and furniture as well as porcelain and pottery.

Queen Anne, who succeeded William and Mary at the beginning of the eighteenth century, used a silver tea set— a custom that was quickly copied by aristocratic ladies throughout the country. These English ladies found out, however, that silver teacups are uncomfortable to hold when filled with hot tea…not nearly as easy to hold as Chinese porcelain. As a result, the paper-thin, beautiful Chinese porcelain cups were in great demand and were considered the only true and appropriate way to take the drink. Of course, the silver tea service, consisting of the teapot, creamer, and sugar bowl, remained a symbol of wealth and refinement.

The Chinese were quite willing to sell tea wares of pottery and porcelain as well as tea itself. At first, however, they refused to sell the best-quality wares, keeping them for their own use. Better and better porcelain pieces eventually became available to European markets, and these and other Chinese wares were brought to England. As the wares became more beautiful, the demand for them increased dramatically, until finally a mania for anything Chinese spread throughout Europe, particularly in England, during the middle of the eighteenth century.

Chinese artists began to make tea ware specifically for sale to England. They had invented hard paste porcelain and kept the secret of kaolin (the Chinese clay essential for creating porcelain) closely guarded for centuries, with the result that for quite a long time, Asian tea ware was superior to anything made in Europe. The first European porcelain was made in Meissen, Germany, in
1709
. For many years, British artists tried to produce their own fine ceramics, but everything they produced cracked easily when filled with hot liquids. It wasn't until the dawn of the nineteenth century that Josiah Spode developed the first good bone china in England. This is a hybrid porcelain, made by adding calcined bone to a hard paste.

In response to the demand for Chinese wares, British artists began to copy Chinese art, and a style called “chinoiserie” developed. Chinoiserie style was an imitation of Asian decorative arts, though it was done from a Western perspective and made no attempt to adhere to the rules and standards of the original. By the end of the
1760
s, the mania for chinoiserie had finally begun to ebb, giving way to gothic revival and neoclassic styles.

Teapots and Other Tea Ware

As noted earlier, the first vessels for brewing tea sent to Europe were probably the Chinese wine ewers. The first real teapots, however, were the prized Yixing pots from China, which were of unquestionable beauty and quality. Inevitably others of varying quality followed.

The first teacups in England were imported about the same time as tea. These looked more like bowls than teacups as we know them; they were small and had no handles, as the Chinese did not use handles on their cups. The diminutive size of the cups indicated that tea both in England and in China was still precious and considered a luxury item. The small size also suggested that the same tea leaves were used over and over again, to get as many cups of tea out of the leaves as possible. The concentrated space allowed one to gather the leaves together to reuse them.