[BITList] January 10, 1839 - The beginning of Assam in Britain

[John Feltham]

From

http://sensibiliteas.blogspot.com/2009/01/beginning-of-assam-in-britain.html

Friday, January 09, 2009

The beginning of Assam in Britain

Two Scottish brothers, Major Robert Bruce and Sir Charles Alexander
Bruce started tea cultivation in India in 1817. In 1823 Robert  
discovered
an indigenous plant used by the people of the Assam region of India.
Originally it was rejected as being just another form of the flower,
Camellia sinensis.

Before his death in 1825, Robert passed the information about the
plant on to his brother Charles. When presented more thoroughly
in 1830 by Charles, the find was declared ``the most important and
valuable'' ever made on agricultural or commercial resources of the
British Empire.

In 1835, the first tea company, the Assam Tea Company, opened.
On January 10, 1839 a shipment of 159k of tea (about 300 lbs of
Assam tea shipped in May 1838) from the Assam region of India
became available in Britain for the first time. Until this time, the  
nation
had seen only tea from China, and that had become very expensive.
As India was a British colony, there was no duty on the Indian tea
and it quickly became more affordable than the Chinese tea. This
lead to the popularity of tea drinking in Britain.




ooroo

If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door.

Anon.



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