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

By Sarah Rose

Categories: History

Sarah Rose tells how the Scottish botanist Robert Fortune was sent into China in 1848 by the East India Company to steal tea plants and the secrets of tea making. Disguised as a Chinese official, Fortune travelled into regions closed to foreigners and smuggled plants and workers to India. Rose shows how this early act of corporate espionage broke China's monopoly and transformed the global economy.

Recommended by 1 person

• Shane Parrish: “For All the Tea in China by Sarah Rose — The tale of the first known corporate espionage in history — the theft of tea from China by the British East India Company. Prior to this, the Chinese had the monopoly on tea, an insanely popular drink worldwide. The British were tired of dealing with the capriciousness that came with such a monopoly, so they set out to steal what they needed to start tea p”