HOW DID ENGLAND GET TEA?
A PRINCESS, SAILORS & TEA SPY
From China to East India Company & Afternoon Tea
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HOW TEA CAME TO ENGLAND
AN EMPIRE BUILT ON TEA
By the 1800s, tea wasn’t just England’s favourite drink — it was the engine of an empire. Tea profits financed the Industrial Revolution, and the British East India Company’s monopoly on the China tea trade swelled it into something no merchant had ever been: a pseudo-government with its own fleets and armies. At its peak in 1832 the Company commanded 450 vessels, not counting warships — the force behind “an empire on which the sun never set.”
LOVE FOR TEA BREWED ROMANCE AND WARS
TEA FOR OPIUM: FIRST OPIUM WAR
To satisfy Britain’s unquenchable thirst, the British East India Company flooded China with opium — igniting two Opium Wars. The love of tea in the American colonies sparked the American Revolution and the Boston Tea Party.
The First Opium War paved the way for the Great Tea Heist, culminating in the grandest, most elaborate, and successful botanical expedition with a singular mission — to smuggle the ancient Chinese tea secret into British India and to other colonies such as Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), forever changing the course of tea in the world.
ALL FOR THE LOVE OF TEA
THE FIRST OPIUM WAR: OPIUM FOR TEA
HOW THE LOVE FOR CHINESE TEA LED TO WARS
Britain’s thirst for Chinese tea drained its silver eastward — so to balance the books, it flooded Indian-grown opium into China. When China resisted, the “Battle of the Botanicals” erupted into the First Opium War (1839–1842). Not everyone in Britain was proud of it. A young Member of Parliament named William Gladstone — who would go on to serve four terms as prime minister (1868–1894) and be remembered as a humanitarian and reformer — rose to condemn it. (At the time, his own 24-year-old sister was addicted to laudanum, a legal opium-and-wine painkiller.)
"A war more unjust in its origin, a war calculated in its progress to cover this country with a permanent disgrace, I do not know and have not read of.
Justice, in my opinion, is with them [the Chinese]; and whilst they, the Pagans, the semi-civilized barbarians have it on their side, we, the enlightened and civilized Christians, are pursuing objects at variance both with justice and with religion… that flag is become a pirate flag, to protect an infamous traffic."
— William Gladstone, House of Commons, 1840
THE DRINK OF HARMONY
TEA: The Drink That Changed The World
HISTORY OF TEA: Rooted In Mystery
From a Single Plant In Ancient China to A Cup of Humanity
The history of tea begins with one plant — Camellia sinensis. From this single species, every tea on Earth is born, and with it a 5,000-year story of history and mystery that melts nature into the human spirit. What begins as medicine in ancient China becomes the soul of a civilization, then the most traded commodity on the planet.
TRACE THE HISTORY OF TEA
Tea does not stay in China. Carried by monks, merchants, and empires, it crosses oceans and remakes the world — crowning queens, building the British Empire, and sparking the Boston Tea Party, where 340 chests of Chinese tea — 234 of them Wuyi Bohea — were dumped into the harbor. It fuels the First Opium War and ignites history’s most audacious act of industrial espionage: the Great Tea Heist. No drink has changed the world more.
This is the story TEA: The Drink That Changed The World brings to life — filmed in the forbidden tea regions of China’s Wuyi Mountains 武夷山, with the tea masters, historians, and sacred places where the history of tea was made. Follow the global tea history timeline below — from a single plant in ancient China to a cup of humanity.
Once upon a tea-time
How did tea come to England? It all began in China. By the time this wholesome drink made its way to England, tea drinking had been around in China for more than four thousand years! Until the mid 19th century, China was the only country on earth that knew how to cultivate and process tea. Tea became a Chinese national symbol about a thousand years before the first English person tasted it.
Our documentary film, 9 Dragons Tea, details the evolution and history of tea. This page focuses on how Camellia Sinensis, the beautiful tea plant and her beloved beverage, came to England.
The British romance with tea began when Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza, a tea lover, married King Charles II of England in 1662. Turned out, England’s new queen played a pivotal role in the fate of tea around the world centuries later. Discover the full story in the documentary.
Birth of the British East India Company
On a fateful night, New Year’s Eve 1600, Queen Elizabeth I chartered the formation of Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading Into The East Indies (whew, what a mouthful). This was thankfully shortened to The British East India Company (BEIC). Aka John Company, the Honorable English East India Company, and simply The Company.
The BEIC would become the most powerful entity on the planet for more than 200 years. The British Empire dominated the tea trade, waged wars, and relentlessly drove the Crown’s reach throughout the world. More on this later.
Tea Leaves Began Swirling Toward England
The BEIC first imported tea via Java (Indonesia) in 1669, decades after the Dutch did.
How much tea was in that first order? A measly 140 pounds, primarily as a gift to the King’s new bride:
The first thing Princess Catherine of Braganza asked for when she first arrived in England in 1662 was a cup of tea. Although tea in Britain was available as a novelty in London’s coffee houses then, it was uncommon and not to be found for her in Portsmouth. Instead, she was offered a small ale (probably warm).
Before marrying King Charles II, Princess Catherine was already an avid tea drinker. The popularity of tea was deeply rooted among the Portuguese aristocracy by the early 1600s.
England’s Budding Interest In Tea
A decade later, the BEIC glutted the London market with 5,000 pounds of tea, both Green tea and Black tea (all imported from China), and held its first tea auction on March 11, 1679. However, tea drinking hadn’t caught on with the general public at this time, as tea was an exotic and expensive beverage with medicinal values consumed by the wealthy.
In 1660, the famous diarist (blogger of those days) Samuel Pepys wrote about his first tea tasting, “I did send for a cup of tee (a China drink) of which I had never drank before…
English Tea Trade with China
In 1689, China finally granted the British a trading post in the port of Canton (nowadays Guangzhou). The BEIC imported its first tea directly from China, nearly 90 years behind the Dutch. And her thirst grew as tea shops sprang up everywhere in England.
Blossoming of British Tea Culture
By the early 18th century, 1 million pounds of tea were imported. Tea drinking had become increasingly popular among the upper class, and it quickly filtered throughout society like tea steeping from tea bags. That is why just about every English person you meet drinks tea today.
Growing Thirst For Tea
By the 1750s, tea had become the most popular drink in England, outselling even beer! Tea’s high profit margins created a money-making machine for the British government, accounting for 10% of annual tax revenue.
British Addiction to Tea
The English fervent need for tea and its riches led to serious consequences–Two Opium Wars against China, loss of the American colonies, and continued expansion of her global empire.
THE HISTORY OF TEA IN ENGLAND
HOW TEA CAME TO ENGLAND: TIMELINE
FROM CHINESE MOUNTAINSIDES TO THE BRITISH TEAPOT
From a 5,000-year-old Chinese tea secret to the Great Tea Race of 1866, here’s the full journey of how tea came to England — at a glance.
Sources: TEA: The Drink That Changed The World, and historical record.
WHAT'S THE GREAT ENGLISH TEA DEBATE?
Are you a Miffy or a Tiffy? Milk poured first makes you a Miffy. Tea first makes you a Tiffy — and the British have cheerfully argued it for centuries. Explore the full story of how the British adopted Chinese tea culture and make it their own. Stream TEA: The Drink That Changed The World on Amazon.
FILMING SIX TYPES OF TEA
WHERE ALL TEA TYPES WERE BORN
Behind the Scenes of TEA: THE DRINK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD. On location in the forbidden tea regions of Wuyi Mountains with generational tea masters demonstrating ancient tea-making craft — including a 24th-generation direct descendant of the inventor of Black tea and 11th and 12th-generation Oolong tea masters. Explore the fascinating Chinese tea culture and living tea traditions behind every type of tea enjoyed worldwide today.
A Cup Of History.
Mesmerizing. Captivating. Fascinating.
ON LOCATION — TEA DOCUMENTARY
Christy Hui directing on the Stream of the Nine Windings — Wuyi Mountains, China's forbidden tea regions — with film crew capturing this historical tea waterway and its impact on tea culture.
FASCINATING TEA HISTORY & MYSTERY
TEA: The Drink That Changed The World reveals the never-before-told story of tea's epic journey from China's mystical origins to a global phenomenon. Shot in China's forbidden tea regions of the Wuyi Mountains—the birthplace of Oolong and Black tea—this 90-minute documentary uncovers the most audacious tea heist in history.
Featuring exclusive interviews with generational tea masters, including the 24th-generation descendant of Black tea's inventor, you'll discover how tea, the simple drink, sparked the American Revolution, fueled the British Empire, and became humanity's most favorite drink. From ancient Buddhist temples to historic Boston Harbor, this cinematic masterpiece transforms how you see your daily cup of tea.
HOW THE ANCIENT CHINESE TEA SECRETS GOT OUT
ONE PLANT. ONE DRINK. ONE SPY.
THE TEA SPY WHO STOLE CHINA'S GREATEST SECRET
For over 2,000 years, the secret of how to make tea stayed locked inside China. The legendary Wuyi Mountains (武夷山) — immortalized in Tang Dynasty poetry — produced the world’s finest teas. Then the British East India Company sent one man to infiltrate these forbidden tea regions deep inside the celestial kingdom. His mission: steal the long-held state secret and transplant tea to British India — culminating in the most audacious case of industrial espionage in history. How did the Scottish botanist and tea-hunter — aptly named Robert Fortune — pull this off? Watch this fascinating story unfold in TEA: The Drink That Changed The World.
HOW TEA SPREAD IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE
TEA CULTURE: FROM WUYI TO THE WORLD
DISCOVER UNTOLD TEA HISTORY AND MYSTERY
From the sacred Wuyi Mountains, the birthplace of Da Hong Pao and historic Black tea, this simple drink traveled the world — carried by Buddhist monks to Japan, by Western empires to Europe — sparking romance, wars, and spirits of independence and culminating in the most audacious, oldest case of industrial espionage. Explore how Chinese tea culture spread worldwide and became the global phenomenon it is today.
DA HONG PAO MOTHER TREES
GONG FU CHA TEA TASTING
GONG FU CHA tea tasting was invented to taste Oolong tea by the Buddhist monks of the Mother Temple, homegrown in the Wuyi Mountains, Fujian, China.
TEA BLOG — HARMONY IN A CUP
CELEBRATE GLOBAL TEA CULTURE
The history of tea is too rich to hold in a single page. Our inTEAllectual tea journal covers the rest — global tea culture and timeless tea stories, practical tips for steeping the perfect cup, tea’s surprising health benefits, and the legends behind the world’s most beloved cuppa. Explore a few favorite tea stories below.
