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

For a fine-tea geek like myself, this book was enthralling. But even if that magic leaf is NOT your cup of tea, learning about the history of this rare commodity and its power in world economies is worth the read. Ms. Rose brings the career of Robert Fortune to life and illuminates the monopolistic power of the famous East India Company, tool of Britain's empire-building strategy. Rose reports history yet tells a story of living people set against a backdrop of culture clashes, espionage, political gamesmanship, and scientific discovery. Whether you're into tea, botany, sociology, history or just love a good page-turner, this book is for you. We learn that Fortune, a prominent British botanist, led the largest theft of intellectual property known to man: tea growing and processing secrets held closely by the Chinese. The social justice component is also an important theme running throughout the book. We learn of the intensive labor required to produce the teas that so captivated the upper classes of the time (and still captivate average people like myself). I even learned that American history books once again whitewashed the truth: those Chinese railroad laborers of the mid-1800s were actually victims of human trafficking; indentured servants at best, outright slave labor at worst. Despite all these harsh truths, Rose keeps the narrative both factual and interesting without crossing over into preaching. You cannot help but root for Fortune through all his failures and successes. The book is eye-opening and completely engrossing.

The story is fascinating, I really enjoyed it, and while I'm no historian on the topic, it certainly seemed that the author did her homework. The author reads this audiobook, which is the reason it gets four stars instead of five. It was not one of the better reading jobs I've listened to over the years (but by no means bad); this is one of those books that could have benefited from a professional...like some of the actors that have read other books. Her voice trails off in some places, and she lacks the voice modulation to express the drama and excitement of the material. The packaging indicates that it won an "Earphones Award" from AudioFile, for "Exceptional Audio Performance", but I have to disagree on that one. It's still certainly worth purchasing, but I feel it necessary to warn listeners that this could have been better had a professional read the book instead. Book is worth five stars; the reading, 4 stars.

I saw the title of the book and I thought it was an interesting title and I wanted to know where that phrase came from. I read the reviews and I thought this would be a good adventure story.This book surprised me in many ways. The first was to learn that the thing that made India the Jewel of the British empire was that they produced tons of opium. So I guess the British were the first drug lords and that is how everyone gets their start from corruption.It was hard for me to understand at first that no one noticed that Robert Fortune was not Chinese but British. I guess when everyone in the country is not allowed to go outside the country then you did not know that people look different in different parts of the world.The way they moved the plants from one place to another made sense to me once I understood how it worked. I can see why he had several problems in the transportation of the plants and you really can see the predjudices that occurred along the way. I am trying not to give too much of it away.The book was well written and interesting throughout and describes in detail the different countries that you travel in and describes the period that the story is in. I think this book would be good for anyone who is interested in history of that period and the history of tea and how it evolved.

Delightful read for those of us addicted to tea and prone to enjoying history. I am not inclined to believe or disbelieve her reportage, but am inclined to enjoy her point of view. Her writing style is engaging and the bottom line from my experience is I am now passionate about finding more information about "The John Company," Mr. Fortune and the history of the East India Company from Elizabeth 1 forward. Now That's something!The impact of such a simple thing as importing tea and the history and social impact are compelling, whether or not her dialogue or empathic comments are accurate. The net-net is, this is a good read. Other reviews critique the scholarly issues and miss the point entirely. This is a book about a frame of reference, of time and place, and the footnotes and accuracy of conversations are unimportant.Methinks the reviewers who attack the book on scholarly grounds have no concept of the Journalistic license popularized, but not invented, by Truman Capote ["In Cold Blood"] in the non-fiction novel genre. [The non-fiction novel is a literary genre which, broadly speaking, depicts real historical figures and actual events narrated woven together with fictitious allegations and using the storytelling techniques of fiction. The non-fiction novel is an otherwise loosely-defined and flexible genre. The genre is sometimes referred to as or faction, a portmanteau of "fact" and "fiction".]I only hope Ms. Rose has another book in the writing. I am thrilled with the doors opened to other historical adventures.