Tea: Addiction, Exploitation and Empire Hardcover – 12 Sept. 2003

I expected the book about the tea itself, but was immersed in history of the British Empire, and it refreshed many details of world history that are related to tea. A very rich story that reads like detective novel. Happy I bought it.

Nicely written. Shows a good and sometime view on British tea history and the politics and behaviour of the British in their tea colonies.

This is my favourite drink so it made sense to know a little more about it and in Tea, Roy Moxham has created a special brew.Part history, part observational commentary, full on enjoyment, he puts history into perspective through the rise of the humble cuppa.Well written, eminently readable and a gold mine of interesting facts, this fascinating account of the impact a few leaves have had on society is a rare treat.Put the kettle on and settle down for an eye-opening insight into our lives.

A great and insightful book, and a must for lovers of anthropology, tea or just a great historical read.

An excellent book and fast delivery

I actually didn't finish the book because despite my love of tea and my facination with tea history, the history-text style just put me to sleep. It is informative and I learned the most about tea growing, production and history from this book, but the dates and sections just become a repetitive blur after a while. It's mostly a recitation of fact, with some analysis - I found the section on the trade-balance between british silver and chinese tea interesting. I would love to see someone re-write it but focus on a few tea plantations or owners as a protagonist focus for the historical changes happening around & to them, or add more analysis and tie into other global & historal changes for context.

This relatively short book covers a lot of ground including the author's experience as a planter in the 1960s, the origins of the British tea trade in the 18th century, the opium wars of the 19th century and the massive task of establishing tea production in British colonies. The real value of this book for me is the insight into the cruelty of colonial plantations which is too easily glossed over. Moxham describes how for many decades after the abolition of slavery a system of indentured labour on Indian tea estates recreated a regime not so different from slavery. Large numbers of recruits died en route to the plantations, wages were poor, workers were sometimes beaten savagely and planters harrassed workers who tried to find other work. An informative and sobering read.

This is an excellent historical review of tea - though concentrating on the British (including British Imperial) experience. It starts with the author's experience as a tea plantation manager, which is quite fun, but then goes on to a sound account of tea in the British Empire - particularly in South Asia - the older orgins of tea in Japan and China get short shrift. It is really a History of the British addiction to tea. However, it is a sound account of that - not academic, but, as far as I can judge, historically accurate, well written and highly readable.