Legend says that nearly five thousand years ago, a few leaves drifted into Emperor Shennong's cup of boiling water - and the world's most widely drunk beverage after water was born. From that moment, tea would travel with Buddhist monks to Japan, along the Silk Road with Arab traders, and aboard Dutch and English ships to the drawing rooms of Europe. It would spark a revolution in Boston, wars in China, and a daring act of botanical theft that created the great plantations of India and Ceylon.

The History and Origins of Tea follows this remarkable leaf from ancient China to the modern global commodity market, telling the story of how tea moved empires, built fortunes and shaped cultures around the world.

Inside you'll discover:

• The legends and early history of tea in China and Japan
• The Silk Road and the first European tea trade
• The Boston Tea Party and the Opium Wars
• Robert Fortune's theft of tea plants and the rise of Indian tea
• The clipper ship era and the birth of the modern tea brand
• How tea is shipped, contracted, priced and traded today
• The legal, regulatory, compliance and sustainability framework
• The customs and tea cultures of the major producing and consuming nations

Written for general readers, students and trade professionals alike, this book is Volume 3 in The Origins of Trade series - A Journey Round the World - by John W Gates.