Japanese Green Tea in America ... in the late 19th century!

[Salsero]

Shame. That and the politics of the Opium Wars are the two most interesting (and salient) bits about modern tea history.

In reading the book China Road, I was impressed by the huge issues those "wars" (really, just humiliating invasions) played in forming the current Chinese national self-image.

[leiche]

Re: the Boston Tea Party/tea tax stuff, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party

...the Tea Act, which allowed the East India Company to sell tea to the colonies directly and without "payment of any customs or duties whatsoever" in Britain, instead paying the much lower American duty. This tax break allowed the East India Company to sell tea for half the old price and cheaper than the price of tea in England, enabling them to undercut the prices offered by the colonial merchants and smugglers.

Essentially, the East India Company was selling tea for less than the American smugglers and merchants, who, angered by having their prices undercut, protested and finally had the tea thrown into the harbor and destroyed.