History of Tea (More...)

1705 The yearly importation of tea to England grew to approximately 800,000 pounds
1710 Wealthy American Colonists developed a taste for tea.
1773 The Boston Tea Party, protesting high taxes that England levied on tea, began of the American colonies’ fight for independence. Under cover of night, colonists dressed as Native Americans boarded East India Company ships in Boston Harbor. They opened chests of tea and dumped their contents into the water. This was repeated in other less known instances up and down the coast.
1776 England sent the first opium to China. Opium addiction in China funded the escalating demand for tea in England. Cash trade for the drug increased until the opium wars began in 1839.
1835 The East India Company established experimental tea plantations in Assam, India.
1834 An Imperial Edict from the Chinese Emperor closed all Chinese ports to foreign vessels until the end of the First Opium War in 1842.
1838 A small amount of Indian tea sent to England was eagerly consumed due to its novelty.
1840’s Clipper ships, built in America, sped-up the transportation of tea to America and Europe, livening the pace of trade. Some ships could make the trip from Hong Kong to London in ninety-five days. Races to London became commonplace; smugglers and blockade runners also benefited from the advances in sailing speeds.
1856 Tea was planted in many areas of Darjeeling.
1857 Tea plantations were started in Ceylon, though their tea would not be exported until the 1870’s.
1869 A deadly fungus wiped out the coffee crop in Ceylon, shifting preference from coffee to tea.
1869 The Suez Canal opened, making the trip to China shorter and more economical by steamship.
1870 Twinings of England began to blend tea for consistency.
1900 Trans-Siberian railroad made transport to Russia cheaper and faster. Java became an important producer as well.
1904 Richard Blechynden created iced tea for the St Louis World Fair.
1908 Thomas Sullivan invented tea bags in New York, sending tea to clients in silk bags which they began to mistakenly steep without opening.
1910 Sumatra, Indonesia grows and exports tea. Soon thereafter, tea is grown in Kenya and other parts of Africa.
1970 The Taiwanese government encouraged its population to drink tea, revitalizing tea culture on the island.